Technical support scam

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 06 Nov 2010 Posts: 1

Hi guys, it's my first post here. I just wondered if anybody has any information on a scam phone call I received earlier. I live in the UK and these scammers seemed to know my name.

dude on the phone: "mr mcguinness?"
me: "yeah?"
dude: "we are from the technical support, it appears you have viruses on your computer sir, please can you open your internet explorer and visit this website"
me: "i can"
dude: "can you do it then sir?"
me: "yes, i can.. sir"
dude: "well just do it then"
me: "why are you lying to me?"
dude: "i am not lying sir, you have a virus"
me: "no, you are lying sir, you were going to give me a virus, weren't you?"
dude: "no i wasn't sir, we have checked your computer remotely and you have a virus"
me: "no buddy, i work with computers every day, i find it hard to believe that you have remote access to my personal computer.. besides, that doesn't look very good for a so called legitimate company, does it?"
dude: "yes okay sir, goodbye sir"

Before speaking to this man, I was first spoken to by a female, they both had South Asian accents.

Any information is appreciated.

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:56 pm

I had a co-worker tell me he had received a similar call. He captured the phone number on his caller ID and when he called the number got a "Magic jack" recording.

here · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:07 pm

it doesn't help when legitimate companies use the same trick, there is at least one AV vendor who does this - I removed this *** from a friend's computer only the other week

god only knows what other info it was calling home with grrrrr

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:35 pm

I had a similar one.

Scammer [strong Asian accent]: "Hello, Mr <name withheld>?"
Me: "Yes, speaking."
S: "Yes, hello, I'm with Technical Services, we're working with Telstra. It appears that your computer has been infected with several viruses, and ..."
M (interrupting): "I'm sorry, which computer are you talking about? I have two." [I do - a PC and a laptop]
S: "It is your Windows computer, sir, that has been infected with viruses, and you will have to follow our instructions to clear it ..."
M: "Wait up, both my computers run Windows. Which one are you talking about?"
S: "It is your computer that is running Windows XP, sir, that has the viruses ..."
M: "Both my computers are running Windows XP. Which one are you talking about?"
S: "The computer that is on right now, sir. Now, if you will follow the instructions ..."
M: "They are both on right now. Which one are you talking about?"

<click>

Very Happy

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 8:40 pm

I havn't had first hand expierience of this scam but I have read a few reports of it happening here in the UK and the version here was quite a nasty one.

The scammer would tell you there was a problem with your pc and give you instructions how to open a comand line window and input the required comands to cure the problem.

What in fact you were doing (unless you were computer savvy enough to realise) was giving the scammer remote access to your computer and they could then go through all your files looking for bank and credit card details etc and plant keyloggers so they could grab all your usernames and passwords for sites that you visited.

The moral to the story seems to be that unless you are expecting a call from a computer supprt company because you have contacted them first with a problem then tell them to "go away".

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 24 Mar 2009 Posts: 12

I managed to keep one of these scammers on the phone for 15 minutes, being increasingly "helpless" with my Windows Vista infection, before revealing my self as a very proficient Mac OS user. She STILL wouldn't give up the pretence.

The specific scam avenue here was to try and get me to alow her access via team viewer (look it up if you don't know this remote access program). Presumably either a pretend or a real virus would be introduced.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Feb 2011 Posts: 2

These phone scams are just about epedic proportions in Ireland. The
accents seem to be from Indian sub-continent. They will ring the same number repeatedly. If they catch somebody out they charge their credit card E200 or so + VAT along with stealing their info. The posts are on
boards.ie "weird phone calls. PC doctor"

Not quite a Newb Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 21

Its quite simple...Yellow pages..Names ..numbers.. work down the list. Opportunism.

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 12:13 pm

I've experienced two of these.

To the first one I reponded by telling them I knew they were a scam and should be ashamed of themselves. I then said that the caller could be accused of conspiracy to defraud and if they were resident in the UK or ever visited they might be prosecuted and could receive a prison sentence if convicted.

'Click'

The second I asked who they were and how they got my 'phone number. I then said I suspected that someone had contravened the Data Protection Act and I wanted to find out who to report them.

'Click'

In both cases 1471 gave "we do not have the caller's number".

Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:07 am

I had two in two days last week. the 1st one caught me unawares and when I mentioned I used Linux, it just went over his head. Then I mentioned I'm on the do not call register and they hung up immediately (good thing to know, you don't have to BE on it, you can just name drop it and they freak).

Next day I was prepared. In RL, I've just removed windows server 2003 from my desktop PC, with plans to make a small fileserver with Linux. My PC currently has a little quirk where the first time you boot it up, you get an error message. Ctrl-alt-delete always fixes it, though I wasn't going to tell them that. Wink

So they ring, and tell me to turn the computer on, which I do. And as usual the error message comes up. I suddenly "freak out". "OMG, it's broken! you were right and now it's fucked!" I scream down the phone. Guys asks me to reboot which I "do" (in reality I make coffee), then I say "same shit! You're technical support FIX IT!" Guy freaks, says there's nothing he can do. He's clearly flustered and actually transfers me to someone with some actual computer knowledge! I'm trying so hard not to laugh. He's asking for my list of boot up options (there aren't any btw), and I "lose it" and abuse them for not being able to do their job!

In the end I lost interest and told them I was taking it back to Microsoft and reporting their complete inability to do their job...

I can't wait for them to ring again! Twisted Evil

Not quite a Newb Joined: 12 Jun 2011 Posts: 20

internationalchrysis

Your a nasty Sh*t ... I LIKE YOU Laughing