Blog / Who is Calling Please? Aggressive Phone Solicitation Preys on Old Fears

Normally, if the caller doesn’t get a bite with this tactic, it’s the end of the solicitation.

Not this time …

They called back. This time the caller was very aggressive – raising their voice to almost shouting level. The caller was adamant that the network was in serious jeopardy and that their immediate action was required to save the network. Dire consequences were mentioned. It was rude.

The receptionist hung up.

Most of us would find this amusing; a chuckle in the middle of a normal workday. But some people are susceptible to pressure tactics and it plays on our basic fear that we rely on computing tools for critical parts of our business operations without really understanding how they work. Just like most of us don’t understand the minutia of how our car works; yet we drive them everywhere. When the mechanic says we need new ball joints or the car will be unstable – we meekly comply with an order to replace them.

No one has access to your network unless by design or through a sophisticated “hack”. Thus how can any caller know the network is at risk? If unauthorized access is through a sophisticated hack, then chances are the hacker will be using stealth methods to inflict damage; they wouldn’t be calling you to report it.

I suspect this might be an escalating campaign in the coming months – and we can expect to hear more reports of this type of activity. Here is a tip if you receive this type of call: