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

fti

Edthehead wrote: »

They both had my full name.

They always have their victim's full name. Either from a directory search or from customer lists leaked out of legit call centres (also located in India, just like the people who will take the job out of Waterford's Talk Talk people )

Bob Z

What do these guys actually want you to do on your computer?

Do they try it with macintosh and linux too?

jack presley

Bob Z wrote: »

What do these guys actually want you to do on your computer?

Do they try it with macintosh and linux too?

They just want your money. They want you to think that there are virus/malware etc. on it so that you'll pay them to clean it up. Their victims allow them to remotely access their computers and they show what to the non-nerds looks like scary stuff which is actually harmless but the victim pays them to clean it up as it looks like a virus to them.

That's the scam basically. There's also the worry of what else they do when they have access to your computer.

To date, they've only targeted Windows users as their opening line is usually about how they work for Windows Repairs or some other company named like that.

Bob Z

jack presley wrote: »

They just want your money. They want you to think that there are virus/malware etc. on it so that you'll pay them to clean it up. Their victims allow them to remotely access their computers and they show what to the non-nerds looks like scary stuff which is actually harmless but the victim pays them to clean it up as it looks like a virus to them.

That's the scam basically. There's also the worry of what else they do when they have access to your computer.

To date, they've only targeted Windows users as their opening line is usually about how they work for Windows Repairs or some other company named like that.

They phoned me today and said they fix windows and macintoshes. when i told them i use linux (i don't) they said they can fix that too.

I told them i would phone thm back and they gave me their number. Its a Dublin number but i havent tried it

jack presley

Don't ring them back whatever you do, unless you want to string them along for a laugh. Do not give them access to your computer anyway.

Interesting that they are expanding into other operating systems. I hadnt heard that

daftdave

jack presley wrote: »

Don't ring them back whatever you do, unless you want to string them along for a laugh. Do not give them access to your computer anyway.

Interesting that they are expanding into other operating systems. I hadnt heard that

wow these guys must be top end technicians if they can troubleshoot across so many different operating systems !!:p

Khannie

Bob Z wrote: »

I told them i would phone thm back and they gave me their number. Its a Dublin number but i havent tried it

Pass it on to a radio station. There could be some fun to be had here.

jimoc

Khannie wrote: »

Pass it on to a radio station. There could be some fun to be had here.

Even better, send it to the Rubber Bandits!!!

Sobanek

Tell them you've a Mac and they hang up
They did with me

Nodferatu

mac will utterly confuse and destroy them mwahahahaha

Bob Z

jack presley wrote: »

Don't ring them back whatever you do, unless you want to string them along for a laugh. Do not give them access to your computer anyway.

Yes i was thinking of doing that but dont know enough about computers to know what they would be doing

jack presley wrote: »

Interesting that they are expanding into other operating systems. I hadnt heard that

Yes i was surprised too unles they were lying. Do macs have run the same as a pc?

Joe Public

It would be worthwhile recording a few of the calls and posting them here. A radio station would be more interested then.

watna

I got another one today. I was home sick from work and they called about 3pm. God knows how many times they call during the week when we're not here.

They asked to speak to my partner - Mr hisname and I said he wasn't here. I knew it was them because it took about 7 seconds for me to hear anything when I answered. They said can "Ï speak to you about his computer" and I said "no, you can f*ck off though" and hung up. Didn't get a call back - simple but effective!

mach1982

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/370054/microsoft-dumps-partner-over-support-call-scam

now we know who these guys are

oh look there so nice they have a contact page on there web site with phone numbers,

http://comantra.net/site/cms_pages/5/Contact-Us

any up for giving them a taste of there own medicine

Kintarō Hattori

Just got a call from an Indian women. I wouldn't entertain anyone looking to do anything with my PC but was aware of the scam as a result of Boards. I explained I wasn't interested, I was aware that it was a scam and that I wouldn't entertain a conversation. She hung up.

Sad to say I'm sure some folk will fall for this.

norbert64

Anyone ever get this number relating to the scam?
706 1200

Don't recognize it myself, ran to the phone but just missed it.
Was just there a while ago, little after 2pm
I'm thinking it probably is the scammers again. :cool:

I'd say we're getting on for a dozen or so calls from them over the past year.

fionny

FYI:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/sep/22/microsoft-drops-partner-accused-scam?newsfeed=true

This can only be the crowd, at least it will make it a bit harder for them.

EDIT ach sorry i see it was posted already... oh well.

Bob Z

norbert64 wrote: »

Anyone ever get this number relating to the scam?
706 1200

Don't recognize it myself, ran to the phone but just missed it.
Was just there a while ago, little after 2pm
I'm thinking it probably is the scammers again. :cool:

I'd say we're getting on for a dozen or so calls from them over the past year.

Yes i got a number to phone them back but didnt try it to see if it was genuine it started with 01 so i presume it was a dublin number

Has anyone actually actually to follow rthier instructions for a laugh? i wouldnt do it but surely there are people here who enough to stop before it gets dodgy?

Inkers92

Got a call from these guys this morning. Long story short -foolishly I went four steps with these guys before cutting them off. What a muppet!
Anyway I followed instructions and in the run box typed
eventvwr
inf computer crashing files
cmd
www.xpertpcsupport.com

At this stage I was passed to "supervisor", got highly suspicious and hung up. Don't know a lot about pcs so concerned I have allowed these guys in? Ran a full system scan with AVG after and nothing showed up but just wondering if I need to take any further action. Feeling like a dimwit. any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Gadgetman496

Once you did not allow them remote access (Let them connect and control your machine via anything like logmein 123 or such) you should be fine. If all you actually done was enter the above commends in the RUN Box you have nothing to worry about.

Never entertain these idiots, just hang up straight away.

-

Inkers92

Thanks Gadgetman. I am a bit worried because when I said I was suspicious of the call after the first step he asked me to put in CMD - it brought me to black screen. He told me to put in something (can't remember). A long list of stuff came up and he was able to read back a serial number to me that was three or four lines from the bottom. This makes me worry he could see what I was seeing or that i allowed them in at this stage?

diarmuid79

Hi ya,

Same thing happened to me today with an Indian women, first she said it was all free but once she mentioned money I ran her, like yourself I stupidly typed in eventevw as well and went through a couple of steps before I got suspicious :mad::eek:

Inkers92

Yeah Diarmuid. Very annoyed with myself. Usually I would be very alert to this kind of thing, but was just back from stressful school run etc. Kind of caught me on the hop. Also was getting some weird messages a couple of months back and rang my anti-virus provider. At that time I was told there may be a problem with my Windows and someone would be in touch. Made me a bit less sceptical than usual.

diarmuid79

I think what got me was that I just turned on my computer and I got a phone call two minute later from an Indian call centre I presume. Whenever I had problems with my dell computer it was always an Indian call centre that I called so didnt think much of it hopefully no damage done.

discobeaker

OK all,i just got a call from these indian ones and they claim to be from the anti hacking department. They gave me a phone number and an address for their company but they said that they need 100 euro to "secure" my computer or else it will be classed as being involved with hacking.

They say the computer will be locked within an hour

also he was indian yet called ricky james!!!!

I called microsoft and they say its a pile of balls

The phone number is 0044 2032872600

What should i do???

cookie1977

ignore the call disco. Do nothing and carry on.

discobeaker

cookie1977 wrote: »

ignore the call disco. Do nothing and carry on.

They keep calling. It was my mum who got the call and let them access the desktop and put some program on it,she i arrived in a grabbed the phone from her and called microsoft and they said it was a scam but the cheeky twats are calling up all the time and are getting really pushy.

They claim the address for their business is

24 Northside Road
North London
YR2J3

And the "company" are called infinity

cookie1977

Ah crap. Disconnect the computer from the internet. If you know what program she installed then uninstall that too (it maybe "log me in").

If that's uninstalled then go online and try the following


You probably need to run a malware and antivirus software.
www.malwarebytes.org
http://devbuilds.kaspersky-labs.com/devbuilds/AVPTool/avptool11/setup_11.0.0.1245.x01_2011_09_26_17_13.exe

Download the above, install and run the malwarebytes first. Then the kaspersky virus removal tool. No one will ever ever ring you about a problem like this so make sure your mother understands that.

cookie1977

Post back if you've still got problems after you've run these programs. I have to go now but some of the others on boards may be able to help too.

discobeaker

Yeah i disconnected from the net straight away,i called Microsoft and the guy said i should use microsoft safety scanner which is scanning now,i have removed all the junk that i can and the computer is being cleaned as we speak.

Will post back asap

Thanks again cookie.