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

Jimmy444

I recently got a similar call, this time asking me to sign up for a maintenance agreement with a 15-day free trial. I did not have time to go into it so I ended the call, but I presume I was soon to be asked for credit card and other personal details so I could be enrolled in their scheme. It's a pity I was short of time as I was looking forward to giving my next scammer the Liam Neeson treatment:

"I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what you want, but if you are looking to scam me I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
If you hang up now, that will be the end of it; I will not look for you, I will not pursue you.
But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you. And I will kill you."

donalg1

Keep getting phone calls from a private number on my mobile and when I answer there is just silence on the other end I get these calls maybe three or four times a week, does anyone know if I can find out what the number is.

fionny

donalg1 wrote: »

Keep getting phone calls from a private number on my mobile and when I answer there is just silence on the other end I get these calls maybe three or four times a week, does anyone know if I can find out what the number is.

Ask your provider? complain about it?

Jimmy444

donalg1 wrote: »

Keep getting phone calls from a private number on my mobile and when I answer there is just silence on the other end I get these calls maybe three or four times a week, does anyone know if I can find out what the number is.

I sometimes get that on my landline. Phone rings with "Unavailable" caller, hangs up immediately I answer. My paranoid mind tells me it's scammers doing an automatic search for valid numbers and logging the fact that I replied but it's probably just a technical glitch in the phone system.

CraigSmith_IO

Nb12 wrote: »

Anybody recognise this number +353 (01) 706 1200. I'm living in Ireland so iv never seen it before!!

Just received a message to say I missed a call from that number today! Ring it back and just disconnects. So its an extension at an office somewhere. Let's see if they ring again.

KoolKid

CraigSmith_IO wrote: »

Just received a message to say I missed a call from that number today! Ring it back and just disconnects. So its an extension at an office somewhere. Let's see if they ring again.

That number 706 1200 is definitely a scam. Can't remember which one right now.
There was a timeshare one doing the rounds where you pay them & you get 10 weeks a year instead of 1. Totally believable stuff.. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

CraigSmith_IO

KoolKid wrote: »

That number 706 1200 is definitely a scam. Can't remember which one right now.
There was a timeshare one doing the rounds where you pay them & you get 10 weeks a year instead of 1. Totally believable stuff.. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Can't wait til they ring again. I shall be a gentleman with Tourettes when they ring. Should make an interesting conversation.

TAPlank

Had a call from one of these guys the other day, after explaining to him that I did not understand what he was on about he launched into his speil, the discussion went something like this.
Him: Turn on your computah.
Me: My computer is a very old one are you sure that you can help?
Him: Yes I fix, turn on your computah.
Me; I told you it is a very old one, I got it from my grandfather when I was a little lad.
Him: Thats OK, turn on your computah.
Me: Two of the little green balls that slide across it broke off and I don't know where to get new ones, are you sure you can help.
Him; Yes I can fix, turn on your computah.
Me: Turn it on? I can pick it up, I can turn it over, how do I turn it on?
Him: Turn on the switch.
Me; Switch, you mean an electric switch?
Him: Yes, turn on your computah.
Me: We don't have electric, electric is dangerous.
Him; No it's OK, turn on your computah.
Me: We never got electric, we were to get it years ago, but a bull that we had climbed into the next field after some cows, he got tangled up in an electric fence and has lost all interest in cows since. Electric is dangerous.
Him: Turn on your computah.
Me: We don't have electric, there's no switch on this computer.
Him: Turn on - short silence

---

then hangs up.

micayla

Got a missed call from 01 7061200 today, googled it and found this thread, I really hope they call again cause there's some briiliant lines here I want to use

FunkSoulSista

Had a missed call from 01 7061200 this evening, kind of wished I answered too to have some fun with them!

Light Switch

Just had a call from them and googled the number, Went along with it, then said i have an apple computer and she gave me a site to go... Called out each letter.. Asked me to call it back and i said sorry can you start again... And she said okay just go **** yourself and hung up.

I may have been talking like Ned Flanders though... Hokaly Dokily.


Anyway, Weird thing is they knew my full name?

Soby

just had a miss call tonight from the same crowd , too many pages to read but should i be concerned at all with how they got my number ?

FSL

They didn't get your number. They can just auto ring every combination of numbers for any exchange until one answers. e.g. if you were 01 123 xxxx there are less than 10000 combinations a large proportion of which will be live.

PlanIT Computing

They will probably up their ante around the Christmas period so be on the alert for any more of these calls.

There has been an increase in calls to businesses too - some bizarre scenarios.

fillefatale

In Sligo area, this week we've received two phone calls to our house phone from "Microsoft" in London. The line is terrible, and sounds like they're ringing from the bottom of the ocean, rather than London, and the man had an East Asian accent, with a poor grasp of english.

I'm not stupid when it comes to these scam calls, but it wasn't me that answered the phone the first time, they spoke to my mum who didn't know how to access the computer without the password (thank goodness) and the man actually got pissed off with her because she told him she didn't know how to use the computer. When they called back today I had no answer for them besides calling them scammers. They were claiming there was a virus called "DNA" on my computer.

Microsoft would never make a house call, and they wouldn't even know whether or not there was a virus on my computer. How did they manage to get our contact details and full name?

We were also receiving a number of phone calls where there would be no one on the other end when we answered... after reading this board I can see how they were probably checking lines to see who would answer. After having a laugh over some of the posts here I wish I had taken the total piss out of them and wasted their time.

The man's supervisor said to my mum when she said she didn't know how to access the computer "You don't bloody know how to turn the computer on?!" She said the "supervisor" had a flat accent, almost like an Irish accent, but I don't know.

Irishgoatman

I'm in Mayo, haven't had any of these for a while but had an odd one today.

I was waiting for a call from the U.K. so when the 'phone went and the number shown started with 0044 I just answered without checking the rest of the number. A recorded voice told me that " this is a recorded message" asked me to dial 1 to receive the message or 9 to reject it. I hung up without pressing either. Twice more within about half an hour I got two more calls from the same number, which I ignored so I can't tell you what they are about but the number started with 004411...... .

No doubt another scam, but If anyone has found out what it's about I'd be interested to know.

celticbhoy27

fillefatale wrote: »

In Sligo area, this week we've received two phone calls to our house phone from "Microsoft" in London. The line is terrible, and sounds like they're ringing from the bottom of the ocean, rather than London, and the man had an East Asian accent, with a poor grasp of english.

I'm not stupid when it comes to these scam calls, but it wasn't me that answered the phone the first time, they spoke to my mum who didn't know how to access the computer without the password (thank goodness) and the man actually got pissed off with her because she told him she didn't know how to use the computer. When they called back today I had no answer for them besides calling them scammers. They were claiming there was a virus called "DNA" on my computer.

Microsoft would never make a house call, and they wouldn't even know whether or not there was a virus on my computer. How did they manage to get our contact details and full name?

We were also receiving a number of phone calls where there would be no one on the other end when we answered... after reading this board I can see how they were probably checking lines to see who would answer. After having a laugh over some of the posts here I wish I had taken the total piss out of them and wasted their time.

The man's supervisor said to my mum when she said she didn't know how to access the computer "You don't bloody know how to turn the computer on?!" She said the "supervisor" had a flat accent, almost like an Irish accent, but I don't know.

They get your name and address from the phone book

tricky D

New Version

Got 6 calls from persistent fcuker 'Jason' looking to issue some refund to me from Windows Service. I presume they are looking for bank details but I didn't hang around long enough to find out. Eventually, after a few terse and suitably rude responses by me, I just told him if he has our details, he would be able to post it, wouldn't he.

GhostInTheRuins

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

They get your name and address from the phone book

No they don't, because when they called here they asked for a member of the family (by name) that isn't mentioned in the phone book.

PrzemoF

"Just to let you know, the call is being recorded here, and I’m a journalist and also a security expert," Paine told the scammer. "And I have also been communicating at the same time with some people who are on the Internet, this has been streamed live on the Internet. And I now have your IP address, your name, and your company name, and I will be following this up as a security issue because I believe you have tried to hack my computer. Do you understand what I’m saying? Hello?"

A must-read, I can't stop laughing :pac:: http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/10/can-you-fix-my-windows-95-computer-how-to-troll-a-tech-support-scammer/

ART6

PrzemoF wrote: »

"Just to let you know, the call is being recorded here, and I’m a journalist and also a security expert," Paine told the scammer. "And I have also been communicating at the same time with some people who are on the Internet, this has been streamed live on the Internet. And I now have your IP address, your name, and your company name, and I will be following this up as a security issue because I believe you have tried to hack my computer. Do you understand what I’m saying? Hello?"

A must-read, I can't stop laughing :pac:: http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/10/can-you-fix-my-windows-95-computer-how-to-troll-a-tech-support-scammer/

I tried something similar a long while back and posted it here somewhere. I recorded a message on my Mac, something like "Your are connected to International Computer Security Inc. Your call is being traced and your IP address has been recorded." --- etc etc. Every time I received one of these calls I simply played the message.

It made no earthly difference. I still receive the calls from people called Michael or David, with fractured accents than can only originate in the Indian sub-continent, vowing that they represent Microsoft or some specialist agent. They always ask for me by name, and promptly get told to do things that are actually sexually impossible!

I assume that they get 'phone numbers and names from the sort of Internet outfits that offer a million email addresses for a fee -- servicing the spammers and the scammers. Maybe that's where the ISPs and law enforcement agencies should start. Close them down and lock up the proprietors!

Generally nowadays I work on the principle that if my 'phone display says "Number withheld" then it's not someone I wish to talk to.

fifth

Just had a call at work from my partner who is at home this morning. 'Microsoft' just rang the house phone and asked about our computer, said they were calling about windows, from their london office.

She told them we don't have a computer (we do), and they said she was lying and that there are people trying to hack into our machine, many people apparently. If we didn't give them the details of our computer they were going to give all of our details out to these third party hackers and let them hack our computer.

Herself asked them why would they do such an unlawful thing, and they said 'because you're lying to us!'. Technically we were lying to them about not having a computer. But letting our PC's get hacked is hardly fair is it?

Anyway, she eventually hung up as they were shouting and being quite abusive and agressive on the phone, I imagine someone a little less savvy than her could have been fooled by this (very long in the tooth at this stage) scam.

Dan Jaman

funkyflea wrote: »

She told them we don't have a computer (we do), and they said she was lying and that there are people trying to hack into our machine, many people apparently. If we didn't give them the details of our computer they were going to give all of our details out to these third party hackers and let them hack our computer.

Herself asked them why would they do such an unlawful thing, and they said 'because you're lying to us!'. Technically we were lying to them about not having a computer. But letting our PC's get hacked is hardly fair is it?

Anyway, she eventually hung up as they were shouting and being quite abusive and agressive on the phone, I imagine someone a little less savvy than her could have been fooled by this (very long in the tooth at this stage) scam.

You know; that sounds to me like a desperate scammer who's been told to feck off all day as the word has spread and more and more potential customers are now wise to it.

furmi

Whatsyourface wrote: »

I have a missed call from this crowd. Is there any way for them to have gotten my bank details without me telling them or will i be fine??
017061200 is the number right?

Have this number (01) 7061200 calling me on a regular basis looking for a family member saying they are MRBI. After putting the number in to google there are a lot of complaints and definately a scam number. Beware !!!!

Cork24

Got a call the other day telling me that I had a virus, but this was something I never heard,.. It doesn't cost u a thing I told him it was a scam he said no sir it is not a scam it doesn't cost you a thing you can see what we are doing on your computer

I told him its funny that you said I have a virus on my computer as I'm using a Linux computer he hung up right away

Yuppie

Six missed calls from this number (01 7061200) in the past few days, tried calling back to get a busy network line.

7/02/13 - 17.37
11/02/13 - 14.04
11/02/13 - 19.43
12/02/13 - 15.18
12/02/13 - 16.46
12/02/13 - 19.23


Added to Blocked callers list, problem solved.

Squeaky the Squirrel

Robocalls are annoying, so this man is using Raspberry Pi to stop them

pjmw

The folks calling from 001253820308 are still in action.

I just had a call on a very bad line which dropped after 9 seconds.

I missed a call from the same number back on January 25.

If the number had one more digit, it would be a legitimate number from Washington State. By coincidence, I had been in e-mail correspondence with someone in Washington State just before the first call, so almost jumped to the conclusion that she had phoned me and almost returned the call.

I presume the number displayed by Caller ID is not a valid number, which leaves me wondering why Caller ID can transmit invalid numbers.

Last time I reported something like this to Comreg and Data Protection Commissioner, I was told that unsolicited calls from one Irish number to another are illegal, but there is nothing to stop unsolicited numbers from non-Irish numbers to Irish numbers!

ballsymchugh

does anyone know anyone who proceeded with this phone call?
apart from taking credit card details, what do they do to the computers when they ask for certain things to be inputted?

Squeaky the Squirrel

ballsymchugh wrote: »

does anyone know anyone who proceeded with this phone call?
apart from taking credit card details, what do they do to the computers when they ask for certain things to be inputted?

They get people to look somewhere like in windows error reporting or the event viewer which will be full of red exclamation marks with error wrote beside it, this'll put the fear in the ones who know know better. Then they'll get them to install a program (like logmein, which is fine) to get remote access to their computer so as to provide the"service" of deleting all the imaginary viruses*/fixing problems.

Thats usually it but you can never know for sure.

You'd have to give it the once over with malware scanners and undo the remote access stuff if you get caught ,personally I'd reinstall windows as their is a world of zero day access stuff out there now that the scanners won't pick up.