Is it OK to lure a telemarketer into resetting their phone?
Posted by jpluimers on 2024/10/07
The below link was on G+, and is usually posted as alt-text less image so the text has mostly disappeared from search engines.
Every now and then, I see it posted as a meme, but I wonder if it is OK to pull such a trick to lure a telemarketer into resetting their phone.
Thoughts?
The G+ post: [Wayback/Archive] Chris Blasko, G+, 20150804: Today is a good day. I just had a call from a telemarketer. Did I yell and sc…
Today is a good day. I just had a call from a telemarketer. Did I yell and scream at them, you ask? Certainly not. Like a good IT administrator I put my skills to use for their benefit. Here’s how the conversation went:Computer: “Press 9 to not be contacted in the future. Press 4 to speak to someone about your mortgage issues”
<presses 4>
TM: “Hello, are you having problems paying your mortgage?”
Me: “Hi, this is the IT department. We intercepted your call as we detected a problem with you phone and need to fix it.”
TM: “Oh… ok, well what do we need to do?”
Me: “We’re going to need to fix the settings by pressing 4-6-8 and * at the same time”
TM: “Ok, nothing happened.”
<alright, so he’s not using a Polycom>
Me: “Are you using the new Polycom phones that we deployed?”
TM: “No, it’s a Yealink”
Me: “Ok, I see. You haven’t had the new Polycom phone deployed to your desk yet. Let me check our technical documentations for the Yealink.”
<did a quick Google search, “yealink phone factory reset”>
Me: “Alright, do you see an “OK” button on your phone?”
TM: “Yes I do”
Me: “Alright, you’re going to press and hold that button for 10 seconds.”
TM: “OK, pressing it now”
Me: “Perfect, let me know if you get a password request”
TM: “OK, nothing has popped up ye-—”
<click>That’s right. I made a telemarketer unwittingly factory reset his phone which means he will be unable to make anymore calls until someone is able to reconfigure his phone and that will take at least an hour or longer if they can’t do it right away!
UPDATE: https://plus.google.com/+ChrisBlasko/posts/3ynFEM1sWWp
The update did get saved into the Wayback Machine, but it wont render correctly.
Some sources on the reset procedures:
- [Wayback/Archive] hard reset Polycom without password – Google Search
- [Wayback/Archive] hard reset Yealink without password – Google Search
Toot that triggered me to write this post had – as usual – a very bad screenshot: [Wayback/Archive] RevK :verified_r:: “That is genius! Image showing…” – Toot.me.uk
Image showing a humorous social media post by Chris Blasko dated August 5, 2014, about a conversation with a telemarketer. The post details how he pretended to be an IT administrator and tricked the telemarketer into performing a reset
--jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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