Published on 12, July, 2020
I just had a call just now from an 'Energy Advisor' telling me my old fibreglass loft insulation is causing damp and mould and will need to be replaced and I needed an energy survey... - blah, blah. so I thought, ok, I'm in the mood - let's dance.... It sounded like a real person on the line - so I was getting comfy for the long haul - until I asked some random (confusing) questions and it reset to a different point in it's presentation and exactly repeated a couple of its previous lines - it was a semi-intelligent AI system based on snippet recordings done by a real person which it then assembled into plausible sounding conversation - so it is an 'automated con-man'. Once it decided I wasn't good prey, it cut off. Shame - I would love to have tested the limits of its programming for much longer. I'm impressed! Turing test 2/10 - fail. The number that comes up is 0113 509 7141I wonder how many people get signed up for a new insulation scam....?
i'm simply infuriated that these punks keep calling - at least in the us... they do this in the uk? the clincher is getting called, and a machine puts you on hold. look, i sort of no these punks (the flunkie on the other end) are generally just making a living, so i try not to be a total jerk-whad. but if they are actually scamming a real honest to gawd scam, yeah, i need to get a rise out of them.
i ask them to excrete certain bodily fluids on their keyboards. fun fluids. all over their keyboards. fun, ye gawds!
like i said, they infuriate me.
anyone else? i'm figuring aspies might be particularly sensitive to receiving a phone call, and it's just someone scamming, tricking, selling or otherwise prostituting themself.
in your own home.
aspies seem pretty reclusive and private, or some of them. anyone else?
My phone is for outgoing calls only. Many withheld numbers call but the ringer is always off. Even showable numbers get the same non response.
My one friend however, is an old skool septuagenarian who answers his phone. I taught him basic computing with extremely strong warnings to leave no trace of himself on the internet. Of course as a new user of computers what does one do but steer cautiously around limitless interests in the worlds biggest library. Needless to say he left some trace somewhere and he now gets upwards of 4 calls per week from persons with Asian accents offering services for protecting accounts he has not even opened, etc. Luckily he has me and the initial shock is now a regular chortle at another attempt of international fraud.
The sad fact is that so many people are not aware of these scumbags.