I've been getting quite a few of these recently after going a long time without getting them? Has anyone else experienced that pattern? Maybe just a new set of scammers to replace the old, who'd been apprehended?

A scam that has been going years. Asking for a roll number should confirm it as they panic. Microsoft would never contact you in this way.

read the sticky at the top of the forum, all your questions and many more will be answered.

Same as what /\ c4rv said.
Get it moved and read the info in the sticky.

Link to the sticky in post 2

Yeah, I've had a couple in the last week, after going for months without.

I never usually answer "withheld", "international" or "unavailable" numbers, figuring that if it's something important then they will leave a message; but these ones were from a real number.

I just usually give them a cheery "Not today Thank-you". Not wanting to be rude.

I am not as polite as you are as I look upon these people as the lowest of life. I remember my dad when in his late 80s getting phone calls and callers at his door from this type of parasite. It used to worry and frighten him no end.

Agree completely with the above. I've not had the pleasure of dealing with the "Windows" lot but did have the same call centre trying to pull some kind of insurance scam on me. Only reason I didn't immediately hang up was I wanted to ask them to take my number off their database but the woman on the phone then started trying to transfer me to other people who then start spouting out the same bollocks before you can get a word in edgeways. The moment I did finally manage to politely say I wasn't interested they hung up before I'd finished my sentence.

These people are total scum and it winds me up a treat that you have the BBC trying to glamify what they do, which is essentially harass and attempt to defraud people in the privacy of their own home. The ones that do fall victim are usually those that are most vulnerable too.

Well, I'm never quite sure if these guys in India know they are part of a scam, or if they think it's a legitimate Call Centre type job?
But I gather if you are rude to them, then they will be rude back, so I guess they must have some idea?

Also potentially, if they decided not to hang up at their end, then they could mess up your phone line for a while.

Saw that in youre post, but its quite obvious people still dont use the search function, or read the big red stickys.
so thought the more post pointing it out would help others.

May be it needs flashing lights and whistles

The fact that Windows isn't actually a company from which anyone, Indian or otherwise, can call didn't make you suspicious?

Tis a scam.
Say you use a Mac and OS X.

They'll probably put the phone down before you can even say OS X.

I troll them.

I have a competition to see how long I can keep them on the line for and waste their phone bill.

We had one of these who was Indian a couple of weeks or so ago and my Dad answered the phone and I heard him saying not as far as I know, she's sitting at the computer now talking about my Mum and asking me to press the button as we have a call blocker device.

But over the years in the past I have worked for charity and suffered people steeling buckets as well as my own items - A radio cassette player at Sutton Train Station as well as a watch at Bexleyheath, also while on holiday a couple of years ago I was at Newbiggin and had a pop up sun shelter and went off to take a dip in the sea and while in the sea some scum stole my wallet with all my cards and money in as well as a camcorder and the Police who we called said it was too far to come to interview me or take details as we were staying at a camp site in Feltham so it is out of their area. Funny that considering if someone committed a serious crime in Newbiggin and lived in Feltham it would not be out of the area then.

Apart from that we have had a barbecue and washing line stolen from our garden as well as a visit from someone claiming to be offering to do some gardening work, cutting down bushes in our garden who we handed over around £40, he said he would be back with equipment but never returned. Utter SCUMS the lot of these people.

Also have Aspergers and have myself been in trouble with the Police and have to do the right thing by them and just feel that if I have to do the right thing how dare these people have the cheek to con you out of money, also I have seen Police documentaries on tv etc. And I know the things some of these come out with such as are you arresting me because I'm black or asian.

Anyway I would not say I am racist as I would not pick on people in the street or anything like that, but to this person on the phone that day I turned the tables and asked if I could order a curry, and said dilly dilly and said I know its a scam as there is nothing wrong with our computer and he said "now you listen to me" while putting the phone down.

I just feel I wonder how much money they made that day, and I really hate the SCUMS who do this, why should they get away with it when other people have to obey the law?.

I would add that in fairness it is not just Asians who do scams as anyone of any nationality does scams in all countries even here in the UK.

Hi folks,

So I've had a bunch of these calls recently and play along a little bit to troll them.
Had one this morning and when he asked me what I could see on my computer screen I said 'The Apple Mac logo' (even though I don't have a Mac ) which I assumed would put an end to things.
However, without missing a beat, he said 'Ok, load up Safari'.
Pretended to load it and when he asked me what I saw I just started saying random words until he hung up.

However, it surprised me that he didn't seem to be phased by the fact it was a Mac.
I know other people have said that normally gets rid of them. Does this mean they now have a new scam for Mac users?

It sounds like the scammer was particularly thick. If it were me, I'd say my PC/laptop uses a Linux Mint operating system which cannot possibly be infected with a Windows virus and then put the phone down on them.

I was plagued by these bastards for months. BT, useless as ever, claimed they could not block all calls from foreign countries, as I had requested. But, they could flog me a phone that did the job! Except, it packed up after a month, like the junk it was.

The answer, was and is the CPR All-in-One Call Blocker, which I bought from Amazon for £37. Much cheaper than the stupidly priced alternative foisted on the public by a company that went on Dragon's Den. So, instead of making Peter Jones even richer, do yourself a favour and get this little marvel.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Since using it, I have not received a single call from Indian people concerned over my PC, or from British people, with smoother patter, claiming to be from Microsoft! Well worth the price.

A friend of mine got the call.He actually has three desktops in his house
(three daughters,a son,plus himself and wife,all users!) plus an ipad and two
other tablets,as well as two laptops.
But his first line of defence,when the asian lady went into her spiel was
'I don't have a computer.......' She went on reading her script regardless,
and he again told her he did not have a computer.In all she was talking
(reading) her scripted guff for almost five minutes,in which time he
had repeated several times that he DID NOT HAVE A COMPUTER!!!!
Then without a word of apology or explanation,she simply hung up.
Another friend of mine,with any of these idiots,replies, 'Just a minute...'
and puts the phone down.Then he goes and continues whatever he was
doing before the call came in.His record was three hours once,before
going back to the phone,finding the hapless idiot STILL THERE and saying
'Oh, I'm sorry,I'm not interested,thank you!' and replacing the phone!

In my experience they are all utterly thick. In the past when they've asked what's on the screen I've told them all manner of things like 'BBC model B 32k BASIC' or 'Free strumpets sign up now', and they still just plough on with their script. Some of them can get really foul-mouthed when they realise you're stringing them along. One of them told me I was 'the most mother*cker in the world'! That was nowt compared to what I called him.....
We haven't had any of these calls for quite a while now, instead we are getting the 'would you answer a few questions it will only take a minute' (again from India or Pakistan). I always say no thanks, but they just repeat it!

Had one the other day from a chap called Steve....he asked me what my energy supply was...I said..I have no energy today...I feel whacked..he said..no..no...do you have gas...well I said..yes...I do have some gas..tell me Steve..were are you calling from...he said...Londown...I said..what....London...wow...you can hear it in London...?.I do apologize...I had a dodgy curry last night...I will fix it...thanks for letting me know....good by.

Just a note on Caller ID: (if you get it on your phone)

I usually Google unknown numbers displayed and they tell you a lot.

Most Junk Calls are Private/Unavailable on my phones though.

But newer phone BT handset, (on old Binatone Master Basestation),
displays Private/Unavailable (at time of ringing), but doesn't list in Missed Calls.

In last month I have been getting a lot of CALLER WITHELD numbers.
Now it's only my nasty ex partner who withholds her number, so I don't answer those.

But tonight I thought I would, to get it out of the way.

And it was a computerised Solar panel message with an option (Press 8) to unsubscribe.

So there ya go.

I thought my ex was still harassing me lol.


Edit: Oh and I did get a call yesterday where I strung a guy along for 10mins then his supervisor for 10mins and talked about scamming (They do Not Scam, Sir)...before they got fed up.

I got a second one today. I wonder where they got my name and number.
It sounded like the same man (Indian?) both times. He said the name of the company but did not remember it something IT. Conversation went;
Your computer is throwing errors at the server.
Which computer
The one with windows on it.
Which one?
Its windows 7 or an upgrade.
What is it doing to the server?
I am talking about your computer Mr .... not the server.
OK tell me what my system is.
....hung up.


Caller number withheld of course.
None of my computers was on at the time of call.
These calls should be blocked by telephone company (VM) as a matter of urgency.

I know this is not computer related but me and my parents have been getting calls on our landlines from various energy research companies for.............months on end basically claiming we can save 2 grand. Funny as soon as they ring they ask if they can speak to the homeowner which is strange considering we are a council house. They seem to be getting fly using different numbers each time

I've had a number of phone calls tonight with an automated British voice giving me the number +447781470659 and then a code such as 8822 or 7069.There's no live person on the line, no ID, just the number and the code.I've never had phone calls like this before.What's going on?