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

tfitzgerald

I am in Limerick and I got a call today telling me my pc infected with a virus I told him I was in the nude and would only talk to him if he was in the nude too he hung up

AndrewR

My tuppence worth - I've had three/four calls in the last month even though I've hung up on them the first couple of times.
They always use "english" names e.g. mark, robert etc. but "Mark Smith" with a thick Asian accent is a bit of a giveaway.
Can't remember exactly what I was asked to do but when I ran a windows command it was suddenly "Oh your PC is VERY infected I must escalate this to my supervisor "Rob" who then started the hard-sell - €90 to clean the PC and install up-to-date anti virus bla bla bla"
They told me they were "Windows Support" in Baggot St, and when I asked if they were connected to "Microsoft" I was told that Microsoft sub-contract the windows support to them. I asked for a phone number to call them back on...hangup
I'm intrigued as to how they've gotton the contact details of so many people, possible cold calling but I'd think the main-stream media might publised it before now? Mayby Joe Duffy can found out for us...:rolleyes:

Fogmatic

Forgot to mention yesterday I had my number removed from the National Directory Database 4 years ago, to stop cold calls. (Even Talk Talk & Pure Telecom stopped calling after a year or 2 of pointing it out). This crowd sure are persistent (and acting illegally just by ringing some of us).

fenris

Got one today from online PC care, left them talk until I got bored with them telling me how to shut down my firewall, aparently I just have to call 021 6019464 and ask for Alice Watson and all my PC problems will be solved for the next two years :rolleyes:

On the plus side I got an actual snail mail from Tanzania, Charles Taylor's son asking for help in getting $177m out of Liberia, aparently I will get a 30% cut - how bad!

DunLigger

Got a call from these guys today – “Shane”. I knew it was fake straight away but kept them on the line all the same. Could hear sounds from India (cars in background beeping, Indian music). They say that they are from Computer Service Department or something quite generic, and that they are Technical Support and that they know you are having a problem with your Microsoft Windows machine. They try to get you to run eventvwr and inf files – to show up errors which prove that your PC has a very dangerous virus. They pointed me towards techmysupport.com which is a bogus website (virtualpcdoctor.com is another one they use). They also tried to send me to http://www.ammyy.com where they could take control of my PC. While ammyy.com is a valid site, letting them take control of my PC is really not a good idea. I didn’t view any of the sites that they suggested directly but through Google’s cache. They were pretty relentless as I played dumb and asked them some even dumber questions. One guy said that he was in Galway, which he mispronounced. I asked him was it snowing in Galway (which it was, but he said it wasn’t). Eventually after giving him spurious codes for him to hack in to my PC via ammyy.com (aparently they also can use logmein.com) he got a little frustrated and gave up. Even when I hinted that I knew what they were up to they kept going. They had my name and address – but could have gotten it from an online phone book. Most of the websites they referred me to had privacy protected data in the admin section of the whois. Others purported to be based in Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal.

KonFusion

Love calls from these guys. Comp Science student.

I immediately put on an indian accent, and try and sell them software (linux or some such), all I need is they're address and credit card details etc. Can be a good 10-15 mins of entertainment when you're sitting at home bored.

In the end it's THEM who hang up and the added bonus is they never ring back.

patentseven

fenris wrote: »

Got one today from online PC care, left them talk until I got bored with them telling me how to shut down my firewall, aparently I just have to call 021 6019464 and ask for Alice Watson and all my PC problems will be solved for the next two years :rolleyes:

On the plus side I got an actual snail mail from Tanzania, Charles Taylor's son asking for help in getting $177m out of Liberia, aparently I will get a 30% cut - how bad!

Naw, hold out for 33%

red_eskimo

Got a call this morning from and indian chap called "Brian" saying we had downloaded something we shouldn't have and that he was detecting a virus in my computer. I'm convinced this is the same scan but i've run scans and everthing seems fine but an hour ago a message popped up saying "you've been hacked by Saudi Arabia, virus 3033. My mother answered the phone earlier and asked for him to call back later, any suggestions on what we should do?

patentseven

red_eskimo wrote: »

Got a call this morning from and indian chap called "Brian" saying we had downloaded something we shouldn't have and that he was detecting a virus in my computer. I'm convinced this is the same scan but i've run scans and everthing seems fine but an hour ago a message popped up saying "you've been hacked by Saudi Arabia, virus 3033. My mother answered the phone earlier and asked for him to call back later, any suggestions on what we should do?[/QUOTE

These calls are scammers chancing their arm. If your computer seems to be running fine just delete the pop ups. I'm not sure that is the complete answer though. I run AVG firewall & I wouldn't be without it.

Cuddlesworth

Have any of you questioned why and how your personal details are being handed out to these scammers?

_Whimsical_

I got another call from these further to my call a few weeks back in which the Indian man I was telling never to call here again started telling me I had an amazing voice etc and asking if he could start ringing me from home to be friends. I said no I'm married (a lie) and hung up on him.

Yesterday he rang again and started off by telling me he wasn't ringing about the computer but was ringing to hear my voice as he couldn't stop thinking about me and asking if I'm really married because I sounded "around 15". I said I was married and I didn't want be friends with him and never to ring again. Cue him howling "No you cant go i need you...I'm all alone,I can't stop thinking about you,I don't care if you're married...only you no one else". I hung up and he called back immediately sounding very angry & aggressive saying that I couldn't refuse a "humble request from the heart" and hurt him like this. I hung up again.

It was a little funny but also very creepy to be honest,particularly as he seemed to think I was 15! If it's a new sales ploy I wouldn't want any kids or old people answering the phone to it...if it's not a ploy I definitely wouldn't want them answering. Has anyone else had anything like it from them?

patentseven

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Have any of you questioned why and how your personal details are being handed out to these scammers?

From what I can gather your name, address, & phone no. are out there if you are on the national data base. And, you could be on that without you realising it. Get your phone provider to check it.

Badgermonkey

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Have any of you questioned why and how your personal details are being handed out to these scammers?

No, eh, you're the 1st :rolleyes:

Ally Dick

You can expect a lot more of this. The Indians are a powerful nation. They are sick of living in third world poverty. They want a piece of the first world pie. There are bound to be corrupt Indians who want to pull a scam. They have the technology

Conchurl

just got a call a few min ago. He told me my computer has a virus, i asked him how did my computer have a virus if i dont own a computer(i own a computer and a laptop ), he hung up when i told him i had none.

BostonB

I got a call earlier from a crowd calling doing online surveys. They rang our UPC number which is unlisted. Weird to get a call on it because we don't use and don't give out the number. They said they find numbers, then have a computer ringing all permutations.

This started a few years back, but seems now we get a call every other day from some crowd or other. Going to ditch the landline soon. Seems to be the only way to be rid of it.

patentseven

Ally Dick wrote: »

You can expect a lot more of this. The Indians are a powerful nation. They are sick of living in third world poverty. They want a piece of the first world pie. There are bound to be corrupt Indians who want to pull a scam. They have the technology

you are correct re. technology. David Cote CEO Honeywell was asked by
one of the anchors CNBC where the best engineers came from and he said without hesitation India. As regards third world image that's home grown -
child labour and that daft caste system.

jack presley

patentseven wrote: »

you are correct re. technology. David Cote CEO Honeywell was asked by
one of the anchors CNBC where the best engineers came from and he said without hesitation India. As regards third world image that's home grown -
child labour and that daft caste system.

As Principle Skinner said in an episode of the Simpsons, " we put on a pretty darn good science fair for a school with no Asian kids"

Johnny Storm

They're at it again :rolleyes:
calling from 00111111

coylemj

BostonB wrote: »

I got a call earlier from a crowd calling doing online surveys. They rang our UPC number which is unlisted. Weird to get a call on it because we don't use and don't give out the number. They said they find numbers, then have a computer ringing all permutations.

This started a few years back, but seems now we get a call every other day from some crowd or other. Going to ditch the landline soon. Seems to be the only way to be rid of it.

When you pick up the phone do not say 'hello', wait and see what happens. The automated kit these people use rings around and only when the call is answered and their machine detects a human voice is the call routed to an agent. If you lift the receiver, say nothing and if you hear silence, it's probably that crowd or some other cold callers, just hang up.

Yes, I know it's phone protocol to say 'hello' when someone calls you but if you don't recognise the number that's calling you, you should adopt the tactic of silence. An added bonus is that your number will probably be flagged on their database as a modem on auto answer or a fax machine so they won't call you again.

BostonB

I'm going to buy a really loud whistle.

Johnny Storm

4 calls so far between yesterday and today :mad:

kearneybobs

It might be a help if some people say where they are/who your phoneline provider is etc etc so as people can try and understand what regions they are 'attacking'. I've not gotten a phone call off them in about a months or more. In Dublin on NTL.

gezzamac

I'm one of the fools who was caught

jack presley

Johnny Storm wrote: »

They're at it again :rolleyes:
calling from 00111111

Apparently that crowd have set up their office in Earl Street in Dublin 1. That's what the guy told me anyway. When I asked him was he affected by the flash floods that swept through there this morning he hung up.

jack presley

gezzamac wrote: »

I'm one of the fools who was caught

I'd cancel your credit cards to be on the safe side and do a completer sweep of your computer. You never know what the F&^kers have put on there.

Dublindave2

Has anyone tried to claim a refund on a credit card based on the fact that these people don't actually exist.

cravings

they've called me a couple of times now. just got a call from a guy now.

"hello sir, your windows computer has been sending us messages that it is infected with a virus."

really? wow. where did you get this number?

"well when you bought your computer and filled in all your details, but don't worry i only have the phone number, i don't have any other personal details."

i don't think i filled in anything with a phone number when i bought my computer. i'm a bit confused about this. where exactly did you get my number.

"sir your windows computer has been sending messages to our server that it is infected with a virus so that is what i am calling about."

but where did you get this phone number?

"i already explained this to you. your windows computer is sending messages to the server that it is infected with a virus."

wow , really?

"yes sir, i can help you with your windows computer."

so you have my phone number and my computer is telling you that it has a virus.

"yes sir, your windows computer is infected with a virus."

damn

"yes sir i am calling to help you with your windows computer."

ok so you already know what version of windows my computer runs then.

"sir yes sir i will help you with the windows operating system."

but you must know what version it has.. this must be in the server message that you get?

"yes sir the windows operating system. i will help you with the windows operating system which is infected with a virus."

so you know if i have xp, or windows 7, or vista?

"yes sir i can help you with the windows operating system."

you don't know which version i have do you?

"sir i have explained to you that your windows computer is sending messages explaining that it is infected with a virus."

i'm still not sure how you have my number? where did you get this phone number?

"Sir you are wasting my time."

yes. i am. F*** you.

he hung up.

about 10 seconds later, the phone rang again.

hello?

"Yes sir, i am calling about something you have just said to me."

Excuse me?

"Sir i am calling about this last thing which you just said to me on the phone"

well. i was annoyed. because you told me that I was wasting your time.

"yes sir and then you said something else?"

i said "f*** you".

"the same to you sir"

I was quite amused he phoned me back. that's the only reason i thought i'd ad it to this thread.

all my computers run linux...

bhickey

Dublindave2 wrote: »

Has anyone tried to claim a refund on a credit card based on the fact that these people don't actually exist.

It's not something that has to be tried, you just do it. The credit card company is on your side and it's up to the vendor/scammer then to contest the chargeback - which they clearly won't. I'd be more worried about the fact that they have your card details and what they're installing on your computer

crazyguy01

Got my call from 00111111(at last, I was starting to feel left out:). Said thanks for calling, can you hold on while I sit at the computer, 10 minutes later I went back to the phone and they had hung up. I wonder how long before they realised......