Any unsolicited calls of this nature gets the referee's whistle treatment. Sound interested, ask them to hold on a second then give 'em a 5 second blast. Doesn't half make you feel good afterwards.
Excellent idea. I have had many calls from so called windows technical department. What i do as soon as they mention the word windows i start talking about double glazing and that i dont need any more. You would be surprised at how long they stay on the phone to try and explain them selves to the caller.
I love it when they start sounding frustrated and eventually hang up.
Suspended sentence handed out to someone hiring a call centre making those types of calls, and Microsoft taking legal action against a number of firms who are misusing their name. No details given where those firms are operating from or where the calls are being made to.
Suspended sentence handed out to someone hiring a call centre making those types of calls, and Microsoft taking legal action against a number of firms who are misusing their name. No details given where those firms are operating from or where the calls are being made to.
Good. I hope Microsoft takes legal action against everyone they come across that's running these scams. The people running these scams are parasites! Hopefully the more people they take legal action against, the more it makes others think twice before starting something like this.
Good. I hope Microsoft takes legal action against everyone they come across that's running these scams. The people running these scams are parasites! Hopefully the more people they take legal action against, the more it makes others think twice before starting something like this.
Agreed. But if those people making the calls change their name to "Desktop Support" or "Desktop Help" or whatever, Microsoft can't really do anything about them and I suspect the parasites wont care much if all the courts hand down is a suspended sentence.
I am asking if high level lobbying can be made to the Indian Government for these particular companies.. Could take 5 minutes at next Ministerial discussions when we visit them or they visit us.
Doesn't need an Act of Parliament.
I'm fully aware that cracking down on all scams would be nigh impossible.
And companies can change scams.
Bit on BBC News about Philippines Cyber Crime Unit (anti-porn article).
At least they are doing something.
It's interetsing that the NSA and GCHQ can monitor our phone calls and emails, but nobody is able to identify scammers making 1000s of calls about PPI and fake IT support.
It's interetsing that the NSA and GCHQ can monitor our phone calls and emails, but nobody is able to identify scammers making 1000s of calls about PPI and fake IT support.
I suspect filtering out the odd terrorist communication is a relatively trivial matter compared with analysing every support email and call in and out of India on a daily basis
Agreed. But if those people making the calls change their name to "Desktop Support" or "Desktop Help" or whatever, Microsoft can't really do anything about them and I suspect the parasites wont care much if all the courts hand down is a suspended sentence.
Yeah, I suppose that could happen. Naming themselves Microsoft means that more people will trust them.
My 81-year-old mother received a call from a company this morning. After half an hour of nagging on the phone, she had installed "Magic Desktop for kids". This disables the windows desktop, task manager and most of the options on the ctrl-alt-delete lockscreen. Also cannot run pre-installed software eg Firefox. Ended up removing the software via W7 safe mode, the PC came back up with the conventional Windows desktop, but the registry was still messed up, ie still could not get into task manager at all. Spent an hour on Google this afternoon to work out how to reinstate "Switch user", "Lock this computer", "Start a Task Manager" and "change a password" using regedit. This desktop is free for 30 days then extorts £5 per month payment.
PC is a HP laptop running Windows 7 Home 64-bit, so does not have a Group Policy editor.
Tried ccleaner to see if it could spot any obvious registry problems, but it did not.
Ran ESET web cleaner to check for malware/spyware, said the PC was clean.
Ran Malwarebytes, also reported that the PC was now clean from malware.
Avast was active the entire time and there were no errors showing in the logs.
If anyone knows of a registry policy checker it would be appreciated.
Don't know who the caller was, they did not leave a company name, and they withheld their caller ID. Magic desktop for kids appears to be designed for under-fives.
Got the laptop stable now. Had McAfee SiteAdvisor, Web of Trust and Avast on the PC, and instructed her to stick to Firefox. All were working, and the crapware still got control. Not sure what software can protect a silver surfer against aggressive cold-calling telephone salesmen (she is already on TPS). She tells me they were on the phone to her for over 20 minutes. Sorry drifting off topic will shut up now.
Got the laptop stable now. Had McAfee SiteAdvisor, Web of Trust and Avast on the PC, and instructed her to stick to Firefox. All were working, and the crapware still got control. Not sure what software can protect a silver surfer against aggressive cold-calling telephone salesmen (she is already on TPS). She tells me they were on the phone to her for over 20 minutes. Sorry drifting off topic will shut up now.
My number is on the TPS list but foreign callers are not bound by this.
Ah, that explains it, I wondered why TPS was letting these calls through. I may be in the 'upper age' bracket, but that does not indicate that I am gullible - just the opposite. ;-)
I get these calls about once a week and as soon as I hear the word 'computer' I end the call.
Another call I get is saying 'I am calling with regard to your 'send error report'. something which I never do, so knew it was yet another scam.
Liking the 'whistle response'
I don't think we can be reminded & warned often enough about these scam calls.
Ah, that explains it, I wondered why TPS was letting these calls through. I may be in the 'upper age' bracket, but that does not indicate that I am gullible - just the opposite. ;-)
TPS does apply to some overseas calls. If a UK company employs an overseas call centre they must filter their call lists with the TPS list just the same as if they were calling from the UK
Companies based abroad who call into the UK and who are making calls on behalf of UK based companies, must comply with UK regulations and screen their call lists against the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) before making an unsolicited sales and marketing call to a UK telephone number. We do make the file available to overseas based companies under licence for the purpose of suppression so they know whom not to telephone but, many overseas companies who telephone the UK on their own account from overseas do so to avoid legal and self regulatory restrictions.
One with an indian-style accent this morning from a support company called "The Windows Support Hotline" in Nepal, who were telling me that my Windows PC is constantly connecting to their server to report problems. I then told them I run Linux, not Windows, at which the company name suddenly changed to "The Linux support hotline". I dragged things out slowly as they talked me through downloading and installing Teamviewer for Linux Mint, and when asking me for the session number I chose to not give it. I asked them for their full company name so I can google it, and they insisted they were registered and approved so there was no need to be concerned. They then gave me a right earful for wasting their time. Hang on, they phoned me so why am I wasting their time? Idiots.
I had another one yesterday asking if my PC had a "windows" key, then asked me to press Winkey+R. Mint does not support that sort of combination so they thought I was out to make trouble and I hung on them.
Two scam calls in 2 days, I must be popular.
Have got TPS set, and a block on anonymous incoming calls. However telephone providers can't block international calls so the Asian scam callers still get through. I can tell something fishy is going on because of the weird caller ID being shown.
Have got TPS set, and a block on anonymous incoming calls. However telephone providers can't block international calls so the Asian scam callers still get through. I can tell something fishy is going on because of the weird caller ID being shown.
Yes, they use fake called ID rather than withheld numbers as som many people block them now. The last one I saw used a US style 00 1 number. It's still pretty obvious.
It amazes me people can be taken in by these calls.
How can these scammers know people have a problem / virus etc.
Where are these computer fixers when I do have a problem ?
Comments
Excellent idea. I have had many calls from so called windows technical department. What i do as soon as they mention the word windows i start talking about double glazing and that i dont need any more. You would be surprised at how long they stay on the phone to try and explain them selves to the caller.
I love it when they start sounding frustrated and eventually hang up.
An adviser recommended calling the bank back, but forgot to mention about making sure the phone had been properly disconnected.
Story
Good. I hope Microsoft takes legal action against everyone they come across that's running these scams. The people running these scams are parasites! Hopefully the more people they take legal action against, the more it makes others think twice before starting something like this.
Agreed. But if those people making the calls change their name to "Desktop Support" or "Desktop Help" or whatever, Microsoft can't really do anything about them and I suspect the parasites wont care much if all the courts hand down is a suspended sentence.
Personally I think we (The British Establishment) should put some resources into this too.
National Security means protecting our citizens from a variety of threats not just terrorism.
Thousands of vulnerable or merely un-savvy people are being conned on a daily, ongoing basis.
Why can't we lobby the Indian Government to crack down on these companies?
I suspect that the British government will only push to crackdown on things that they know is a big issue with the people of this nation.
1; Win the next election ................
16,048; Crackdown on scam telephone calls.
99,999; Crackdown on unsoliced calls about PPI etc.
....... and all their usual stuff inbetween.
I am asking if high level lobbying can be made to the Indian Government for these particular companies.. Could take 5 minutes at next Ministerial discussions when we visit them or they visit us.
Doesn't need an Act of Parliament.
I'm fully aware that cracking down on all scams would be nigh impossible.
And companies can change scams.
Bit on BBC News about Philippines Cyber Crime Unit (anti-porn article).
At least they are doing something.
1 x 17 yr old suicide in UK due to blackmail over visiting sex sites.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30558698
I suspect filtering out the odd terrorist communication is a relatively trivial matter compared with analysing every support email and call in and out of India on a daily basis
Yeah, I suppose that could happen. Naming themselves Microsoft means that more people will trust them.
The blackmailers running that sextortion blackmail really are scum. I don't think much of the people working for them either.
PC is a HP laptop running Windows 7 Home 64-bit, so does not have a Group Policy editor.
Tried ccleaner to see if it could spot any obvious registry problems, but it did not.
Ran ESET web cleaner to check for malware/spyware, said the PC was clean.
Ran Malwarebytes, also reported that the PC was now clean from malware.
Avast was active the entire time and there were no errors showing in the logs.
If anyone knows of a registry policy checker it would be appreciated.
Don't know who the caller was, they did not leave a company name, and they withheld their caller ID. Magic desktop for kids appears to be designed for under-fives.
I take your mother is a silver surfer.
You should educate her on the subject of computer security.
Have you tried a windows system restore?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/system-restore
Hardware maybe? not tried myself but lots of positives on
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004BTVQ5E/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl
Ah, that explains it, I wondered why TPS was letting these calls through. I may be in the 'upper age' bracket, but that does not indicate that I am gullible - just the opposite. ;-)
I get these calls about once a week and as soon as I hear the word 'computer' I end the call.
Another call I get is saying 'I am calling with regard to your 'send error report'. something which I never do, so knew it was yet another scam.
Liking the 'whistle response'
I don't think we can be reminded & warned often enough about these scam calls.
TPS does apply to some overseas calls. If a UK company employs an overseas call centre they must filter their call lists with the TPS list just the same as if they were calling from the UK
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/contactfaq.php
"We are the company that operates the internet":D:D:D
"Your computer is telling us that the Windows updates did not install and you have virus infections on your computer"
(Fake) number from 1471 was 00 1 435 765 988
I had another one yesterday asking if my PC had a "windows" key, then asked me to press Winkey+R. Mint does not support that sort of combination so they thought I was out to make trouble and I hung on them.
Two scam calls in 2 days, I must be popular.
Have got TPS set, and a block on anonymous incoming calls. However telephone providers can't block international calls so the Asian scam callers still get through. I can tell something fishy is going on because of the weird caller ID being shown.
Yes, they use fake called ID rather than withheld numbers as som many people block them now. The last one I saw used a US style 00 1 number. It's still pretty obvious.
How can these scammers know people have a problem / virus etc.
Where are these computer fixers when I do have a problem ?