Weird phone call! "online pc doctor" - Only thread on these scam calls please

jack presley

Sunday Business Post's journalists with a breaking news story!!

http://www.thepost.ie/news/ireland/microsoft-ireland-warns-customers-about-scam-52463.html

Seriously, this has been going on for months now and they only get wind of it now. Good investigative journalism lads, well done!

therecklessone

I'm averaging a call every two weeks from these jokers.

I'm going to buy a whistle and let rip down the line to the next one who calls.

CptSternn

therecklessone wrote: »

I'm averaging a call every two weeks from these jokers.

I'm going to buy a whistle and let rip down the line to the next one who calls.

Better yet - just tell them to stop calling or you will go out and kill a cow or two.

CptSternn

A few mates of mine get the calls every two weeks or so. They have a few things in common.

First, everyone I know who has gotten these calls are Eircom customers. Second, all are on the do not call list.

Companies have to get a copy of the do not call list so they can make sure they do not call those numbers. It looks like someone in India got the idea of getting the Eircom do not call list and using it as a cold call list for this scam.

demanufactured

CptSternn wrote: »

Better yet - just tell them to stop calling or you will go out and kill a cow or two.

Im hoping i get a call from the soon.....I have my line ready for them....


"CALL HERE AGAIN AND IM GONNA MAKE TIKKA FU.CKING MASALA OUT OF YOU!!"

Ally Dick

CptSternn wrote: »

A few mates of mine get the calls every two weeks or so. They have a few things in common.

First, everyone I know who has gotten these calls are Eircom customers. Second, all are on the do not call list.

Companies have to get a copy of the do not call list so they can make sure they do not call those numbers. It looks like someone in India got the idea of getting the Eircom do not call list and using it as a cold call list for this scam.

My dad left Eircom and went to NTL, and he got his first scam call last week as an NTL customer !

jak/mar

got 2 calls from these today.
On the second call I told I am running windows 95 and she was shocked.
Told me to event viewer and did I see any errors. I told her that there were loads and she asked did I know what these meant and I said no and she said neither do i.:D
She then passed me onto her supervisor and asked how many errors are there and i said 200 and he asked how old is the pc and i said 15 years. he then asked me what age i was and i replied with a fake age. the then told me to go to his website and fill out forms and stuff. i told him when it came to the credit card that i didn't have one. i then got a whistle and blew it as hard as i could but he didn't seem to notice. i then had to go "search" for my credit card. He kept on asking what part i was filling in and i told him that i am looking for my card. at this point ive had them on the line for 27 minutes.

How should I end this abruptly?

jak/mar

Sorry for the double post but at 35 minutes he told me to go to my wash room.
i told him a was there and he told me to look in the mirror. he told me to pull down my pants and asked if i could see my card up my backside. He was pretty mad and told me to have a nice day.
I then shouted an insulting comment down the line at him :L

demanufactured

jak/mar wrote: »

Sorry for the double post but at 35 minutes he told me to go to my wash room.
i told him a was there and he told me to look in the mirror. he told me to pull down my pants and asked if i could see my card up my backside. He was pretty mad and told me to have a nice day.
I then shouted an insulting comment down the line at him :L

LMFAO

BopNiblets

Where can you learn some colourful insults in Hindi or whatever?

patentseven

I got several of these calls. I'm UPC subscriber & he called me by my name (although mispronounced). The last time he rang I just said "Tell me something curry puff how do you know I have a computer? - he hung up.
If he rings again I'll ask him for a delivery of Lamb vindaloo, Dhal tarka, two corriander naan & poppadoms. Very nice & spicey.:P

Shtanto

Same story here. It's a bit unsettling to have a social engineering scam played on you. I'm an IT myself, so I knew this phish reeked from a mile off. I blasted him with some actual IT terminology, he couldn't talk the talk and I reckoned he knew he was dead from the first second. Good laugh for me. Still, a bit unnerving - the indian himself was of course reading a script. My folks know to consult me when anything computer related comes up, but these shysters are crafty.

The important point to get across is reporting. If you don't report these scammers to your ISP (UPC in my case), they don't have the stats to back up a response. The caller ID came up with 001111, so a fake number to be sure. Looking back, I should have run the spike on them, but I was pretty jetlagged at the time. There wouldn't have been time to set up a proper tracing honeypot.

So, Please remember to report each individual incident. ISPs need to be aware of the full scale of this problem, and it's up to us to give them figures.

ST

Have just received on of these calls. Phone rang with 3531234567 coming up on the Caller ID.
There was a second of silence and then a few seconds of music before an Indian sounding man came on the phone.

He said I have a problem with windows on my computer.

I told him I didn't have a problem with windows, my computer wasn't running windows.

This seemed to confuse him a little!

I said my computer was running linux!

He said to hold on a minute, then came back and said something like "ok then" and dissappeared.

I reckon this isn't the first time they have tried calling as the kids have answered the phone sometimes saying that there is music on the line. They have then hung up.

BTW I'm a not an Eircom customer.

Boom_Bap

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

shanebrk

Boom_Bap wrote: »

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

No, it wouldn't seem so. I built my pc myself from separate parts from a wide range of internet and bricks and motor shops ie. it's not a dell or any other brand, and i am on a vodafone phone-line and dsl broadband.

I got a call this morning and while i didn't wait around long enough to get the name of the company i'm very sure it was this same scam. I acted worried and asked if the "software malfunction" was with my win 98 pc or my win 7 pc, he said win 7 so i told him i didn't have either and hung up. They had called the last week too and i told them to get stuffed that time too. I wonder will they call again

carbsy

jak/mar wrote: »

Sorry for the double post but at 35 minutes he told me to go to my wash room.
i told him a was there and he told me to look in the mirror. he told me to pull down my pants and asked if i could see my card up my backside. He was pretty mad and told me to have a nice day.
I then shouted an insulting comment down the line at him :L

haha brilliant!

carbsy

BopNiblets wrote: »

Where can you learn some colourful insults in Hindi or whatever?

Read the book, "Shantaram".I have it upstairs, there should be some Hindi and Marathi insults in it lol

Cork24

I got one of them about a Month ago telling me i had a PC Crash that it was logged in their system, i told him how could that be he when i have a Mac?
he cut the call right after i said that

Cork24

Boom_Bap wrote: »

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

i got my Mac in Harvey Normans did'nt have a phone so gave o2 number.

got in UPC phone so how did they get the numbers i dont hand my house phone out, i dont fill it in either with bank forms etc. just my o2 number i can always change that.

osnola ibax

My dad got a call from care4windows.com, has anyone come across this name or know if they are legit? The phone call seemed to go the way as the previous anecdotes. Lady had an Indian accent and he was passed on to two other blokes then.

Gadgetman496

osnola ivax wrote: »

My dad got a call from care4windows.com, has anyone come across this name or know if they are legit? The phone call seemed to go the way as the previous anecdotes. Lady had an Indian accent and he was passed on to two other blokes then.

I would recommend that there is only one simple rule in relation to all these types of cold calling instances.

None are legit, they are all scams and should be hung-up on immediately.

-

BostonB

+1 Cold calling is almost always a bad thing.

jack presley

Boom_Bap wrote: »

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

Me and my parents both get these calls and here's our purchasing/internet provider history:

Me: Bought PC from Dell and laptop from PC World. I was originally with Digiweb but am now with UPC.
Dad: Bought laptop from Dell and has always been with Eircom.

The Dell connection might just be a coincidence though. It could just be as simple as them scanning through the phone book and taking a chance although they do sound really surprised when I tell them I don't have and have never had a computer.

maccer666

the missus got this call today,she just hung up as i had warned her about it (they tried to ring a couple of days ago but i missed it),hope they call back when im home

Anyway the number was 00111111,tried ringing it back but it doesnt even dial

jarvis

Ben Dunnes column on page 11 of today's Sun warns of this too. We're famous!!!!

martinAD71

We had a call from these people as well, they were told no thanks and hung up.

They will try anything these days just to get a few quid out of you

Martin

Daemonic

Boom_Bap wrote: »

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

Similar to shanebrk my comp is a mongrel built over the years and I've only had broadband from BT and now Vodafone so there really doesn't seem to be any pattern. Been a few weeks since I had a call and I've warned all family members etc about this.

degausserxo

Thanks so much for this thread. My dad just got a call from a lovely Indian man named Seán, based in Limerick (!) and almost fell for it. Absolute scumbags.

BostonB

Assuming they are ringing on a variety of numbers, is there anyway for the provider to block these calls?

Royale with Cheese

Have had a few calls from them but none in the past 6 months or so. Funny thing is my granny has gotten a couple. She's 81 and is at home most of the day so loves when the phone rings. She just wants a nice chat and on the other end there are these Indian guys desperately trying get some money out of her when she doesn't even have a credit card, let alone a PC. Would love to hear a recording of those conversations.

In terms of narrowing down the leak... she doesn't have a PC or internet, but I would guess she does have an eircom line.