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

Leanne2112

I got a call like this today, very weird, the chap had my name and address and called on my landline (no one has this number, I never use it). He told me I was having problem with my oc being slow and kept asking me to turn my pc on. I aksed him where he got my details and he said there was a windows pc registered to my address (there isn't). I asked him to tell me the name of the company he was calling from and he got very bad, he told me he wouldn't tell because I'd only complain. I asked to talk to his supervisor and he said they 'didn't care'

At this point I got very annoyed, I asked what exactly he wanted, he said he only wanted me to turn my pc on. He was very persistant but got very annoyed when questioned, eventually he hung up on me. Kind of worried since Chorus are the only people who have my number and address in that combination...

OmegaRed

Leanne2112 wrote: »

I got a call like this today, very weird, the chap had my name and address and called on my landline (no one has this number, I never use it). He told me I was having problem with my oc being slow and kept asking me to turn my pc on. I aksed him where he got my details and he said there was a windows pc registered to my address (there isn't). I asked him to tell me the name of the company he was calling from and he got very bad, he told me he wouldn't tell because I'd only complain. I asked to talk to his supervisor and he said they 'didn't care'

At this point I got very annoyed, I asked what exactly he wanted, he said he only wanted me to turn my pc on. He was very persistant but got very annoyed when questioned, eventually he hung up on me. Kind of worried since Chorus are the only people who have my number and address in that combination...

I can only presume that this is where they got my number from (http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/). Enter your name, city and click Residential. If it exists here, than it exist elsewhere on the tinterweb…

My details are there (first and last name, phone number and address).

BopNiblets

Ha, I just got a call from one of these guys, led him on for a few mins and eventually he asked:
"Can you click on Start Menu and then Run please?"
"I can't"
"Why not?
"I don't have a Start button"
"What operating system do you use sir?"
"I'm running Linux Mint 9"
*beep beep beep*

lol

cooleo

Just got a call from onlinepccare.com there now. Was over in my parents' house and an indian guy rang, wanting to show me the virus on my computer- told him I'd anti virus and he said this was something else- asked what and he ignored me. The best was when I told him I wasn't interested and he started telling me this was charity! And if I went to a shop and bought food would I pay for it?! Then he shouted at me that I had no money and when I told him he was being rude and I was hanging up he thanked me for wasting his time!!!

I did laugh about it after but thinking about it now am annoyed-if my parents had answered the phone he might have convinced them to sign up. Very pushy and aggressive.

afmc

Somebody tried with me last week. It was an "out of area" number to my home phone number. Like others, I rarely give out my home number so when an indian person claiming to be from a company that was going to help me with windows XP virus (I'm windows 7 anyway) called, I was of course suspicious. He was very persistent, insisting that I go to my computer and log into a website. I asked him how he got my number and he said it was from cold calling the area (complete crap). Eventually having done none of what he asked, I told him not to call me again and hang up.

I phoned Eircom Malicious calls number. They said that they use an auto dialler, but I'm not sure about that because they asked for me by name. Malicious calls people said that the only thing you can do is change your number which Eircom do for free. But if they do use an auto dialler, they'll only phone again using that anyway.

My parents have had the call too and when my father said that his wife was the one with the computer, they asked for her by name on future calls.

And more recently, I have had calls from 001 888 408 4117 which I left unanswered (and my parents too in fact). From this thread, it looks like it's the same bunch. It is bad, because elderly people who have computers, tend to be scared of them and could fall for this quite easily. Nasty.

Mr. Presentable

I got one this week!

"Hello. Is this Mr XXXX? This is PC Professor."

"Go away"

Jumpy

afmc wrote: »

Somebody tried with me last week. It was an "out of area" number to my home phone number. Like others, I rarely give out my home number so when an indian person claiming to be from a company that was going to help me with windows XP virus (I'm windows 7 anyway) called, I was of course suspicious. He was very persistent, insisting that I go to my computer and log into a website. I asked him how he got my number and he said it was from cold calling the area (complete crap). Eventually having done none of what he asked, I told him not to call me again and hang up.

I phoned Eircom Malicious calls number. They said that they use an auto dialler, but I'm not sure about that because they asked for me by name. Malicious calls people said that the only thing you can do is change your number which Eircom do for free. But if they do use an auto dialler, they'll only phone again using that anyway.

My parents have had the call too and when my father said that his wife was the one with the computer, they asked for her by name on future calls.

And more recently, I have had calls from 001 888 408 4117 which I left unanswered (and my parents too in fact). From this thread, it looks like it's the same bunch. It is bad, because elderly people who have computers, tend to be scared of them and could fall for this quite easily. Nasty.

Auto diallers only ring you, when you answer they pass the call to an agent.
They will be getting a message up on the screen with your name when you answer the call.

LisaO

Had a call earlier today - from 009 number. Indian guy, claiming to be from Microsoft. Said he was calling as a result of receiving error report from my laptop.

Asked me to run prefetch-malware & then Event viewer - told me error/warning messages were evidence of malware on my pc.
Then asked me to connect to www.inonlinesupport.com. Went to website but when he asked me to click on link to remote access technical support I made excuse about having to go out & not having time. He was keen to establish another time to call back, so is supposed to ring back tomorrow morning. He was also going on about having to check if my Windows software was still in warranty or if I would need to re-register it (presume this is where they get you to pay).

Hopefully I am safe as didn't give any financial details or click on link to enable them access to my pc?

It didn't seem kosher but he had a lot of info that made me wonder if it was genuine - doh!

Of course, now I've read this thread I know a lot better. :mad:

Dermot Illogical

From the Garda website
http://www.garda.ie/Documents/User/Computer%20Fraud%20Advice.pdf

ED E

Got it an hour or so ago. The 'Aul fella quickly told him to f@ck off.

Was it on crimecall in the end?

Dermot Illogical

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

Got it an hour or so ago. The 'Aul fella quickly told him to f@ck off.

Was it on crimecall in the end?

There was a short piece on it alright.

Johnny Storm

These ****ers phoned me yesterday and again today
The number he appeared to call from was 0019476632176. They know my second name. I thought he said he was from PCK but it could well have been "PC care"
It's quite obviously a scam but I know at least one old dear who bought a laptop from PC World (or Currys?) and paid quite a lot for a subscription to phone support. If they had phoned her she would probably have fallen for it 100%
He got a bit stroppy today, I look forward to the next call

ED E

We should record them and give youtube a laugh:)

Nutmeg

I've just got a call from them for the 2nd time this week. Pretty brief call when I told him my computer was running absolutely perfect and I want nothing to do with them.

Really annoying and I'm guessing this won't be the last time they'll try and call the house here.

Leanne2112

Nutmeg wrote: »

I've just got a call from them for the 2nd time this week. Pretty brief call when I told him my computer was running absolutely perfect and I want nothing to do with them.

Really annoying and I'm guessing this won't be the last time they'll try and call the house here.

Very same for me this evening, second call. Getting very annoyed now!

racram

LisaO wrote: »

Had a call earlier today - from 009 number. Indian guy, claiming to be from Microsoft. Said he was calling as a result of receiving error report from my laptop.

Asked me to run prefetch-malware & then Event viewer - told me error/warning messages were evidence of malware on my pc.
Then asked me to connect to www.inonlinesupport.com. Went to website but when he asked me to click on link to remote access technical support I made excuse about having to go out & not having time. He was keen to establish another time to call back, so is supposed to ring back tomorrow morning. He was also going on about having to check if my Windows software was still in warranty or if I would need to re-register it (presume this is where they get you to pay).

Hopefully I am safe as didn't give any financial details or click on link to enable them access to my pc?

It didn't seem kosher but he had a lot of info that made me wonder if it was genuine - doh!

Of course, now I've read this thread I know a lot better. :mad:

Happened to me yesterday too and i'm in Waterford. I had a feeling it was a scam, I went to start, run and prefetch and then I opened event viewer when requested, then I copped on, turned off the computer and hung up. They called back three times after that but we never answered.

I'm a computer novice but I presume they did no damage to my computer as I didn't access their website, didn't get that far, refused to talk to their "technician".:mad:

I'll know better next time but we need to spread the word. I posted it on my facebook to make others aware.

fricatus

We got the phone call this morning - Waterford too, so they're obviously working their way through the phonebook geographically or by area code.

My wife answered, but she has a very good BS detector built in, so she just said that our PC was OK, thank you very much, and goodbye.

I hope they call back and that I get to answer. I've bookmarked Feeky's post, as an example of what I could try doing, since I think wasting their time by stringing them along is the best approach!

blondie20

btw there is a similar scam targeting three mobile phone users where the caller offers to put you on a significtanly better plan and then finally requests credit card details to action

andy1249

These guys called us twice today , the second time my wife answered.

It was some Indian guy saying our computer had a problem etc.
Luckily shes an IBM manager and knows this type of scam.

She gave him what for and told him not to call again.

The number he called from was 0061111111112.

Johnny Storm

Unbelieveable! Got a third call from them on Sunday. This time a woman.

VERYinterested

I was plagued all weekend, I now have a whistle beside the phone, hopefully they'll call again tonight

Obediahthebold

NEED HELP ON QUESTION AT END OF THIS POST:

At home and a nice Indian man told me I had been having trouble with my computer and he was there to help. After the first guy confirmed a few things the supervisor moved in for the kill. Of course I was flattered that teh supervisor was taking my case. It seemed as if was a follow up to a tech support i had called in a while back. (of course there was always some tech support thing I called up about in the last three weeks.)

They took me to a page, (administrative tools/event viewer/Windows Logs/application) I had never seen in my computer it should me application errors, "Worse than a virus" "Macaffe wont stop these." "your computer is about to crash anytime, good thing we got to this..." he never mention ed price. He tried to get me to give him online control of my computer. Once I saw what he was trying to do I looked up online pc care and found that this was a scam, and then found this forum.

QUESTION are the application errors in my windows log anything to worry about? Aren't they just general errors that happen to any computer and this is where they log them? even if it was a minor fixable glitch?

Computer experts, Please let me know...thank you.

ectoraige

I answered one of these calls at my mother's house a few weeks ago and kept him talking for at least twenty minutes, it was great fun. I found ways to confuse most things he said to me. First, I told him it sounded great, but it wouldn't be any use to me as I didn't have an "online" pc, it was a "Hewlit Paki", and that it wasn't very PC. After a while he twigged that it might be "Hewlett Packard". He then tried to explain that "online" meant that my PC had a connection through the phone lines, which I acted rather unsure about. I told him I didn't think that was right as I had the phone in my hand, I did offer to put the handset on top of the PC at one stage though if that would help him connect to it.

He then changed tack and started confirming that it was a windows PC. I told him that it was in the alcove, as there are a lot of burglaries and I didn't want robbers to be able to see it if they were casing my house. I asked if it needed to be near the window for the wireless signal to work. I was enjoying myself, but sadly didn't have the time to carry on so I made some excuse and hung up. I'd like to think I kept him away from one easily fooled victim.

youcancallmeal

Obediahthebold wrote: »

QUESTION are the application errors in my windows log anything to worry about? Aren't they just general errors that happen to any computer and this is where they log them? even if it was a minor fixable glitch?

Computer experts, Please let me know...thank you.

Errors in the event viewer or 'windows log' as you call it are generally nothing to worry about. If your PC is playing up then it is very useful for identifying what the issue is. If all is well then carry on

Broadband Kid

Just got a phone call from this no in Co. Cork and I didn't bother answering it as I thought it was a phone company as the number looked very long!

Killer Pigeon

Hey all,

I got a weird phone call from 0061111111112 today. In total this number rang me 5 time today. I answered the first time and the other end was silent for 10 seconds and hung up. I google searched the number and found out that it was some sort of internet scam where someone was trying to gain remote access to your computer. It seems as though it is an Australian number (Australia has a 00 61 prefix).

I'm kinda frightened now because I had the internet and was online on when I answered that number. Will something happened to my computer now? How do I protect my computer and information?

spider guardian

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

Hey all,

I got a weird phone call from 0061111111112 today. In total this number rang me 5 time today. I answered the first time and the other end was silent for 10 seconds and hung up. I google searched the number and found out that it was some sort of internet scam where someone was trying to gain remote access to your computer. It seems as though it is an Australian number (Australia has a 00 61 prefix).

I'm kinda frightened now because I had the internet and was online on when I answered that number. Will something happened to my computer now? How do I protect my computer and information?

Yes, if you're computer is plugged into the wall they'll be able to control your light switches and heating system now! No option but to wrap tin foil around your PC...

Only joking of course. As long as you didn't follow their instructions and didn't download anything then you should be fine.

Killer Pigeon

spider guardian wrote: »

Yes, if you're computer is plugged into the wall they'll be able to control your light switches and heating system now! No option but to wrap tin foil around your PC...

Only joking of course. As long as you didn't follow their instructions and didn't download anything then you should be fine.

Thanks, my heart was racing there :P

Just out of curiosity, why, went they ring you, do they remain silent for 10 seconds and then hang up?

spider guardian

Hard to know, could have a fault on their end. Connections to India can be shaky at times. Always keep a healthy sense of cynicism when dealing with calls like these!

paulrosswhelan

I've just recieved my 7th phone call from 0061111111112!!!:mad:
No-one on the other end!
Ive had this before last year! Trying to gain remote access to my Laptop! Pffh How Pathetic..How stupid has someone Got to be to Download/Follow instructions from a complete Stranger on the phone!
Like Come on:D
Must Ring Phone Provider Tomorrow And Block all Calls From that number!
BTW Good luck to All Sitting Leaving and Junior Cert Exams