Because they make a lot of money off that 0.1%, which is actually probably closer to 5%.
Why do these people still call and say : I'm from Windows Tech support and you have virus? Don't they know that 99.9% of people know it's a scam?
“There’s a sucker born every minute”
This phrase is associated with PT Barnum (the circus guy) but there is some dispute about who actually said it.
Google the quote if you are interested in etiology.
I have a relative that is highly educated, has a great supervisory position at a large firm and makes a ton of money. She was scammed via a Paypal scam and had her checking account cleaned out. This same woman always leaves her purse, cell phone and laptop on the front seat of her car when parked at home. TWICE, she's had it all stolen. Super smart but still dumb as a stump.
I had a call from an elderly friend who had been approached by a scammer. She wanted to know what to do. I explained the situation and she was reassured.
BUT the next time I spoke to her she admitted that she had sent them the money they asked for, "just to be safe".
They find plenty of gullible people and computers are still a mystery to many, especially when they seem to malfunction.
Unfortunately, there are still people who believe them.
How did they get your numbers? Ive been getting 973 and 800 number calls, but I have not been answering. I just might out of curiosity! Maybe its them. Im still thinking of a revenge tactic...
They get really upset when you start asking them about the dots on their forehead, then keep them on the phone before telling them you have an apple computer.
I think they're great fun. For years I never had a Windoh$ machine in the house (mainly Linux machines and a Macbook. I still used to let them womble on and on, until they finally realized that I did not have a Win-doze machine.
Then they got wise to that, and started asking first up if I had a Windows computer. I usually replied in the affirmative and still strung them along for as long as possible.
Then there was the "I'm really old and don't understand these things" where I would deliberately mis-hear rhe instructions and ask them to repeat things. "I haven't got a patrol key next to the fingers key". "What do you mean by the West Ham side of the screen?" etc.
Then finally, I became the main designer for the windeaus fault reporting system (a complete lie, of course) and half way through a discussion I would explain how it worked at great (and completely nonsensical) depth.
I rather miss those calls.
Of course, I could have taken my son's approach, which was always to respond with "**** off, you """"ing cheating """"hole, and stop wasting my time!". It worked for him, but was much less fun.