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Unsolicited calls concerning your computer |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,745
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Unsolicited calls concerning your computer
If you receive an unsolicited telephone call from someone wishing to discuss the performance or security of your computer, it is a scam. Do not divulge any personal details, and do not download anything to your computer.
Mods: please make this sticky |
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#2 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Liverpool
Posts: 4,071
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We need to get jra to sticky this. It is becoming commonplace here.
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: West Midlands
Posts: 6,914
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Quote:
Mods: please make this sticky[/b]
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Crawley, West Sussex
Posts: 9,295
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Quote:
Why make it a "sticky"? It is just one of many scams doing the rounds.
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: West Midlands
Posts: 6,914
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Quote:
Because this one results in more puzzled questions here than any other.
But, hey, let the Moderators decide. EDIT: And I doubt very much that the Moderators trawl all the DS threads looking for messages directed at them. |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bedfordshire
Posts: 1,557
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Do what I do.
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. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,775
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Quote:
Do what I do.
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. |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 8,843
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Quote:
I do not think that that is a good enough reason. By highlighting this as a "sticky" it may lead folk to think that this practice is the only one about which they ought to be wary.
Besides, the kind of people who should read stickies are usually the kind of people who don't. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Hull
Posts: 1,518
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I read the following on my ISP's forum, sounds similar, I've copied and pasted the content;
I got a phone call from someone with a heavy Indian accent. He told me that my PC had been sending out spam emails and he could help me get rid of the trojans on my PC. I played along. He first got me to run eventvwr, which shows system events, and tried to tell me every system hang recorded was due to the trojans. Hmm. Next he told me to go to a website. This is a remote access site, so if I had pressed the button he wanted me to, would have opened up my PC to remote control - they'd have been in and able to copy/download/install anything they liked. At this point I told them what I thought and put the phone down. I rang KC to tell them what was going on. The person I spoke to wasn't particularly interested, said it had been going on for a while and told me to ring the police. I asked if they could send out an e-mail to karoo customers to warn them but was told they couldn't! There is nothing on the KC site. This is complacent and negligent. I would like to know why KC has chosen to do NOTHING (sorry to shout) to keep its customers informed about something they admitted they'd been aware of for some time. I'm no internet novice and this was the first I'd heard of this kind of scam. Some people are going to get badly burnt. |
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 40,632
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Quote:
We need to get jra to sticky this. It is becoming commonplace here.
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Wolf359
Posts: 96,648
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I'm wondering if they could have a sticky for Scams in general?
There have been a few threads about the 'You could have £3750' text scam as well as the 'Trojans on your computer' scam among the many. |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Notts
Posts: 1,559
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Never had any of these scam calls but i have sales calls blocked by my telephone provider perhaps that is why maybe people should give that a go it may help.
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#13 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 2,411
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Quote:
I'm wondering if they could have a sticky for Scams in general?
There have been a few threads about the 'You could have £3750' text scam as well as the 'Trojans on your computer' scam among the many. My Mum fell foul of the "I'm from Microsoft and I see that there are lots of viruses on your computer"... phone call. Being 65, she went along with everything they said, including paying for their services and letting them install something remotely on to her pc... (Basically a derivitive of gotomypc, web based access).. It all had a happy ending, as the credit card company blocked any transactions and I was able to remove the software from her pc. But it does happen and a lot of people are fooled by it. |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 382
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We could have a forum section decaited to scams lol would be full in no time haha
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: The Sticks
Posts: 3,720
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Quote:
Never had any of these scam calls but i have sales calls blocked by my telephone provider perhaps that is why maybe people should give that a go it may help.
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Notts
Posts: 1,559
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Quote:
My number is on the TPS list but foreign callers are not bound by this.
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 40,632
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A useful fairly recent thread on the subject.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s....php?t=1400982 However, please add responses here, rather than on the linked thread, as this one is pinned. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 141
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Quote:
I read the following on my ISP's forum, sounds similar, I've copied and pasted the content;
I got a phone call from someone with a heavy Indian accent. He told me that my PC had been sending out spam emails and he could help me get rid of the trojans on my PC. I played along. He first got me to run eventvwr, which shows system events, and tried to tell me every system hang recorded was due to the trojans. Hmm. Next he told me to go to a website called www.ammyy.com. This is a remote access site, so if I had pressed the button he wanted me to, would have opened up my PC to remote control - they'd have been in and able to copy/download/install anything they liked. At this point I told them what I thought and put the phone down. I rang KC to tell them what was going on. The person I spoke to wasn't particularly interested, said it had been going on for a while and told me to ring the police. I asked if they could send out an e-mail to karoo customers to warn them but was told they couldn't! There is nothing on the KC site. This is complacent and negligent. I would like to know why KC has chosen to do NOTHING (sorry to shout) to keep its customers informed about something they admitted they'd been aware of for some time. I'm no internet novice and this was the first I'd heard of this kind of scam. Some people are going to get badly burnt. |
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: County Durham
Posts: 78,612
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I'm so glad this was made a sticky thread. Maybe a LOT of posters/lurkers will see this and won't get sucked in by these gits.
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Portsmouth
Posts: 6,088
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Just had one of these calls yesterday. He said I had a problem with my computer and he was from technical something or other. How come he knows my name?
Being 65 I said, "In that case I'll say goodbye". |
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Posts: 8,175
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I had one about a week ago saying my computer was infected with a virus and he could help me remove it.
I was already aware of this scam so asked questions like "how do you know it is infected?", and then "what IP address do you have my computer logged as?", he became somewhat evasive, and when I asked why I should trust him, a total stranger calling me, rather than the security software which I know is working properly and updating regularly, he hung up
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Bas Vegas
Posts: 670
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had this call last week, overheard mystep dad on phone so told him to hang up, they rang back so i playted along until the remote access and then asked why i needed to do this and asked what exactly he was trying to achieve, he kept saying dont worry i then told him i was a pc engineer and he hung up straight away lol
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 1,646
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Received in totaly 2 calls regarding this scam today. It isn't the first time they have called either but because they used a different technique a family member got slightly got out but fortunatley I deal with certain things in my house and new right away it was dodgy.
Guy said he was called Michael, was of indian origin and said he was calling from or on behalf of Virgin Media Broadband - as if that was the company name - When he rang back a short while ago I took the call. Started on about Hi I'm Michael from Broadband Technical support you have a problem with your computer, said as if it was a question. I told him I didn't have a computer which threw him right off. Kept asking again and again, you don't have a computer? No I said, so he asked if we had a Laptop I said no we don't, however my relative earlier in the day had said we had one so I simply said yes we HAD one but got rid because it was faulty, after that he couldn't get off the phone quick enough. You can never drill it into people enough, warning them of these type of scams, people think they won't get caught out and yet it's so very easy to be caught out. Got to keep on your toes with these people! I'm wondering if I should contact Virgin Media to inform them that these scammers are using their name again to scam people, is it worth me doing that? |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Posts: 8,175
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Unsolicited calls from people with Indian accents ... treat with caution (though you should treat all calls from unverified people with caution if they start asking you any questions about yourself).
The referee's whistle sounds good for use with obvious scams, or failing that, there is always the put them on hold option after having attracted their interest by seeming to believe them, whilst you do something else for a few minutes therefore wasting their time (get a drink, toilet-trip, post on a forum, whatever) and when you come back if they're still there, make the same excuse and do it again .
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 717
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Quote:
Do what I do.
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. |
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