[pmwiki-users] OT: Annoying Phone Call claiming to be from Google Adware

Sandy sandy at onebit.ca
Wed Oct 17 11:35:56 CDT 2007


This might be a bit of a rant, so be warned.

I just got a call from someone in a noisy phone-farm, with a definite 
accent, asking to talk to "the person who manages my company website".

I assume her bosses got our number from our domain name registration, 
but they didn't bother to give her the name of the Admin contact, or our 
company name, or the domain name (all of which takes one whois command; 
if I know how to do it, I'm sure Google does too). I don't think I gave 
our phone number when I registered with Google as a Site Manager (for 
sitemap).

She claimed to be a junior account something, and wanted to sell me the 
services of a Google Ad-something Professional. I didn't bother 
listening too clearly; impatience won over curiosity. May have been 
Adsense, may have been Advertising. But she had to ask if we were 
already using Google Ad-something!

Does anyone know if Google really has stooped this low? Cold-calling 
everyone with a domain name? The least they could do is give their 
caller more information. Like, check their own records about whether I 
already have an account with them? For all they know, I'm already paying 
them big bucks for platinum-titanium service.

My gut feeling is that it's someone fudging their intro spiel, trying to 
make me pay them money to give me advice that Google gives on their site 
for free, but my gut's been wrong before.

Anyone else get a similar call? Maybe someone who had more patience or 
curiosity?

Cheers!

Sandy




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