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I just had a real dodgy phone call!


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Old 21-05-2011, 10:20
graham001
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I few months ago I had a call from someone claiming to be from microsoft windows virus centre. They asked for me by name. They told me the type of computer I was using and that it was sending virus messages to this "department" within Microsoft so they were phoning me to help me detect this virus and eliminate it. Anyway after about an hour and a half of discussion and pushing this button and that button etc they informed me that I needed to purchace their anti virus for £200 and all would be well. I of course declined and suggested they should be on their way .

This morning I have received a call (asked for me by name again) from someone claiming to be from Computer care centre at Microsoft. . I told him to leave me alone as I was not interested and I put the phone down on him. He imediately phoned back so I asked him for his number so I could pass it onto the fraud department at the local police ... he proceded to give me an obviously fabricated number and followed it up by saying "you f*$king mother f*$ker"!!!! I know I shouldnt have done but I retaliated by giving him a few choice titles of his own, some beginning with F, some w etc etc. I am sure you get the picture .

I am gobsmacked!!!
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Old 21-05-2011, 10:25
richclever
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This scam has been going on for a couple of years now. Luckily you obviously saw it for what it was. Someone I know was not so lucky the other week and ended up giving them remote access to their pc and paying them 20 quid. I found out within about 20 mins that it had happened so was able to get my friend to cancel her debit card and also give her pc a good going over. Luckily nothing dodgy had been done to the pc.

Our SysAdmin managed to keep one of these scammers on the phone for an hour before they realised he runs Linux. Don't think they were too amused.
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Old 21-05-2011, 10:28
njp
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Are you seriously telling us you spent an hour and a half talking to this scammer, and actually followed the instructions he gave you?

What did he persuade you to do to your computer? I hope you didn't download anything...

Unless you were just playing him, in which case I admire your fortitude!
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Old 21-05-2011, 10:29
eveningstar
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Put the phone down gently on the nearest table and leave them to talk to themselves. They can keep going for several minutes before they realise and it is costing them money to call you.
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Old 21-05-2011, 10:39
spikydog
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Put the phone down gently on the nearest table and leave them to talk to themselves. They can keep going for several minutes before they realise and it is costing them money to call you.
I had one of these calls this week too. (Is your PC on, are you in front of it now? etc). I then couldn't get a word in but eventually told her to shut up and give me my IP address if she was genuine. She did give me a number but it was clearly made-up and I terminated the call.
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Old 21-05-2011, 11:55
graham001
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Are you seriously telling us you spent an hour and a half talking to this scammer, and actually followed the instructions he gave you?

What did he persuade you to do to your computer? I hope you didn't download anything...

Unless you were just playing him, in which case I admire your fortitude!
It may not have been an hour and a half (I have told myself a million times not to exagerate) but it was probably an hour. The caller gave me my ISP he told me the computer I was actually using so he sounded very genuine. Yes I did give them access to my computer (fortunately it was my laptop that is only used for "evening" internet surfing ) so I have absolutely no personal/bank details or passwords on that computer.They downloaded some share preogramme onto my computer and they controlled it for ages, telling me where my pc was infected etc. I was passed between departments and each of them controlled my PC. It wasnt till they told me I would need to BUY something that I realsied I was being blonde!!

I immediately deleted the downloaded share programme and have been very careful with my laptop since to ensure I dont put anything on there that could be used to embezzle me.

TBH I had forgotten all about it till this mornings call.
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Old 21-05-2011, 11:59
j4Rose
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It reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUZOexiCFmE
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Old 21-05-2011, 12:10
Simon Rodgers
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I few months ago I had a call from someone claiming to be from microsoft windows virus centre. They asked for me by name. They told me the type of computer I was using and that it was sending virus messages to this "department" within Microsoft so they were phoning me to help me detect this virus and eliminate it. Anyway after about an hour and a half of discussion and pushing this button and that button etc they informed me that I needed to purchace their anti virus for £200 and all would be well. I of course declined and suggested they should be on their way .

This morning I have received a call (asked for me by name again) from someone claiming to be from Computer care centre at Microsoft. . I told him to leave me alone as I was not interested and I put the phone down on him. He imediately phoned back so I asked him for his number so I could pass it onto the fraud department at the local police ... he proceded to give me an obviously fabricated number and followed it up by saying "you f*$king mother f*$ker"!!!! I know I shouldnt have done but I retaliated by giving him a few choice titles of his own, some beginning with F, some w etc etc. I am sure you get the picture .

I am gobsmacked!!!
When you get calls like that, just keep them on the 'phone for as long as you can, especially if they called you on a mobile. Not only does this burn their finances which were probably raised by ill gotten gains but if you use their money and time, they will be less able to affect other people.

Pointless asking for their details to pass ointo the police or getting angry because: -
[LIST=1][*]It will show them you're onto them[*]It will show them they're getting to you[*]If they are abroad, which they usually are, they can't be touched anyway[/LIST]
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Old 21-05-2011, 12:15
Bulletguy1
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Blimey.......and I thought I had problems with stupid cold callers which I get on a daily basis.

Never had one of these pc scammers though. Anyone thought of reporting it to OFTEL?
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Old 21-05-2011, 12:39
Ollie_h19
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I had one of these the other day. An Indian gentleman from 'Windows Security Centre' or something telling me there were error messages showing from my machine. I interrupted him by saying 'No there's not!' and then put the phone down. 1471 gave 'withheld'. If i had more time and imagination I'd have thought of something a bit more fun.
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Old 21-05-2011, 12:41
psionic
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I few months ago I had a call from someone claiming to be from microsoft windows virus centre. They asked for me by name. They told me the type of computer I was using and that it was sending virus messages to this "department" within Microsoft so they were phoning me to help me detect this virus and eliminate it. Anyway after about an hour and a half of discussion and pushing this button and that button etc they informed me that I needed to purchace their anti virus for £200 and all would be well. I of course declined and suggested they should be on their way .

This morning I have received a call (asked for me by name again) from someone claiming to be from Computer care centre at Microsoft. . I told him to leave me alone as I was not interested and I put the phone down on him. He imediately phoned back so I asked him for his number so I could pass it onto the fraud department at the local police ... he proceded to give me an obviously fabricated number and followed it up by saying "you f*$king mother f*$ker"!!!! I know I shouldnt have done but I retaliated by giving him a few choice titles of his own, some beginning with F, some w etc etc. I am sure you get the picture .

I am gobsmacked!!!
It's sadly a common scam. There's a sticky thread in the computing forum about this. http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1435992
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Old 21-05-2011, 12:49
BumbleSquat
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A friend of mine got a call like that as well a few days ago. He was told there was a virus on his Windows computer and wanted more details so they could 'fix the problem'. Which was odd considering he doesn't have a Windows computer!
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Old 21-05-2011, 12:52
BBTweets
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A friend of mine got a call like that as well a few days ago. He was told there was a virus on his Windows computer and wanted more details so they could 'fix the problem'. Which was odd considering he doesn't have a Windows computer!
I got a similar call a few weeks ago and just told them I didn't have a computer at all. Told him they were too dodgy to have around
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Old 21-05-2011, 12:53
anneliese
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Eeesh! At least you knew it was a scam, someone like my mum or nana who can just about manage to use facebook and youtube probably would have fell for it!
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Old 21-05-2011, 13:01
RegMonkey
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I've had about 4 of these calls. I suspected something dodgy, and the person was quite firm, to the point of bullying, insisting 'switch on your pc right now'. So I told them I had a Mac which didn't use Windows, (fib, but my husband has a Mac) and they just hung up.
Next few calls I was prepared for, and when I challenged them they said 'Are you Mrs Brown' and I said no, they then said 'oh I have the wrong number' and I asked them - 'what number were you trying to teach' and they said - honestly - 'I was calling 01234 56789'. I hung up.
Now I've got the good idea mentioned here to just put the down and let them babble on for as long as it takes them to figure out I'm not actually there.
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Old 21-05-2011, 13:01
stvn758
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Do the people ringing realise it is a scam, might just be some poor Indian peasant on the other end who thinks they're selling virus software.

If so they must find the English people quite offensive.
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Old 21-05-2011, 13:02
grendel
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They downloaded some share preogramme onto my computer and they controlled it for ages, telling me where my pc was infected etc. I was passed between departments and each of them controlled my PC. It wasnt till they told me I would need to BUY something that I realsied I was being blonde!!

I immediately deleted the downloaded share programme and have been very careful with my laptop since to ensure I dont put anything on there that could be used to embezzle me.
You realise you probably have a zombie in the house now?
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Old 21-05-2011, 13:06
paulbrock
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I immediately deleted the downloaded share programme and have been very careful with my laptop since to ensure I dont put anything on there that could be used to embezzle me.
You should run a few cleaning utilities (virus,spyware) on it as well, or take it somewhere that can do this for you.

Or if there's nothing much on it, reinstall a clean copy of Windows to be sure.
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Old 21-05-2011, 14:14
grumpyscot
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My Dad got a call like this. He let them ramble on for ages, asking what he should do to get his windows fixed. He was told that the company would clean things up for him. Dad advised them that he had a window cleaner who came every two weeks, and that his windows were were all double glazed and fitted with security locks. They said "No we mean your computer". He asked "What computer". "The one that's reporting the problem". "But I don't have a computer. At 87 years old, it's a bit late to get one as I do all my shopping at Asda."

They hung up!
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Old 21-05-2011, 14:25
Bedlem
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I remember receiving one of these kind of calls years ago before I even had a computer. Didn't mention a virus though - apparently, I had been downloading porn and she knew this because she had my IP address.

Done the sarcasm thing for about a minute before she copped the nark and hung up.
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Old 21-05-2011, 14:26
Simon Rodgers
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If you get a call like this on your landline, just keep the line open and call the police on a mobile, they can trace where the call come from, even if they have hung up. Just don't hang up yourself.
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Old 21-05-2011, 15:07
Talullahmay
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My Dad got a call like this. He let them ramble on for ages, asking what he should do to get his windows fixed. He was told that the company would clean things up for him. Dad advised them that he had a window cleaner who came every two weeks, and that his windows were were all double glazed and fitted with security locks. They said "No we mean your computer". He asked "What computer". "The one that's reporting the problem". "But I don't have a computer. At 87 years old, it's a bit late to get one as I do all my shopping at Asda."

They hung up!
Love this LoL..
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Old 21-05-2011, 15:20
psionic
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If you get a call like this on your landline, just keep the line open and call the police on a mobile, they can trace where the call come from, even if they have hung up. Just don't hang up yourself.
It's doubtful that the police would take an interest, as you aren't in any immediate danger. Besides, many of these type of calls are from overseas, so what can the police do?
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Old 21-05-2011, 18:39
Free as a bird
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My Dad got a call like this. He let them ramble on for ages, asking what he should do to get his windows fixed. He was told that the company would clean things up for him. Dad advised them that he had a window cleaner who came every two weeks, and that his windows were were all double glazed and fitted with security locks. They said "No we mean your computer". He asked "What computer". "The one that's reporting the problem". "But I don't have a computer. At 87 years old, it's a bit late to get one as I do all my shopping at Asda."

They hung up!
Love your dads humour
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Old 21-05-2011, 19:03
Twenty10
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Just get an answerphone and leave it switched on so you can monitor who is calling you and decide whether to answer or not. It cuts out all the nuisance calls completely.
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