Lenny and the Windows Support Scam

I got a suspicious call today from “Martin” with “Windows Technical Support” offering to help with my computer. Martin couldn’t tell me which computer he was calling about, so I transferred him over to my buddy Lenny. Bonus: Lenny’s ducks make an appearance just after the 6-minute mark!

Lenny is a set of fairly generic audio clips from Mango that fit well into any conversation. A simple script on Asterisk PBX can trigger the next clip in the sequence each time there is silence on the line:

[Lenny]
exten => talk,1,Set(i=${IF($["0${i}"="016"]?7:$[0${i}+1])})
same => n,ExecIf($[${i}=1]?MixMonitor(${UNIQUEID}.wav))
same => n,Playback(Lenny/Lenny${i})
same => n,BackgroundDetect(Lenny/backgroundnoise,1500)

The system pausing for conversation leads to some pretty life-like results. I set up my own installation over a year ago as a birthday present to myself and I’m always excited when the rare scammer tries to sell me on something.

Mango also runs a YouTube channel if you want to listen in on more of Lenny’s phone calls.