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

srsly78

Pretty much everyone does, we are all sick of these calls. It has even been warned about on Joe Duffy etc.

uncle_sam_ie

There is a mega thred about this , http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055837564&page=108

Riesen_Meal

Lex Luthor wrote: »

just got one of these this morning
from an 00 161 ...... number
Indian sounding guy on phone
hung up but just spread the word they are on the prowl..!!

Havent rang me since I asked him where the Windows key was on my Mac....

doubie

I have for the same call a few month ago. Apparently, this is scam. When you provide them remote access to your computer, they infects it with all kind of virus/malware and then ask you for money later for repair.

doubie

The calls aren't from India anymore, they seem to show as Egypt or Switzerland now. Anyway, I got a call blocker thingy off amazon for e20 - sorted.

Gadgetman496

doubie wrote: »

The calls aren't from India anymore, they seem to show as Egypt or Switzerland now. Anyway, I got a call blocker thingy off amazon for e20 - sorted.

Which of the many on offer did you go for? Has it RJ11 sockets or the BT ones?

Mearings

doubie wrote: »

The calls aren't from India anymore, they seem to show as Egypt or Switzerland now. Anyway, I got a call blocker thingy off amazon for e20 - sorted.

It was the accents which indicated the source rather than the international telephone codes which varied.

FaganJr

yoyo wrote: »

Yeah the fact she is on dial up I doubt very much they could even work remotely on a system even after the remote access software is run. In saying that these services do scale quite well based on connection performance so it is possible they could have had control of the computer.
I would say she only opened the Event Viewer window when instructed and didn't get as far as remote access but just in case it is worth checking

Nick

Dont want to freak ye out but you can remotely control a users PC over dial up with the correct software on both ends, slow but you can have full control and lock out keyboard and user inputs on the victims side.
But obviously you would need that software to be installed and get the user to launch it.
So all in all I doubt they had that setup.
But it is possible from a technical point of view

manyoung

Got a call this morning about this. Got as far as pressing Windows key and R before I thought the website he was sending me was dodgy. Didnt finish typing the box, went to google and investigated and hung up.

I didn't even go onto the ammyy website, I should be fine, right?

Then he rang back and I said I knew what he was doing. The he hung up.

I just wish I could have had longer on the phone with him.....

Mearings

Emails this time.
Watch out for this crowd:

<< 365 Multiple Login Attempts Alert ID: 560129>>

In the most recent email they referred to Bank.of.Ireland.(sic)

degsie

Mearings wrote: »

Emails this time.
Watch out for this crowd:

<< 365 Multiple Login Attempts Alert ID: 560129>>

In the most recent email they referred to Bank.of.Ireland.(sic)

What's this got to do with PC phone scams?

Mearings

degsie wrote: »

What's this got to do with PC phone scams?

The clue is in your last word.

Get Real

Hi guys,

I know its been a while since anyone posted here. But I am just so angry.

This has just happened to my elderly neighbour. I am enraged. I know there's posts on here saying "we all know" etc. But even if we do, keep posting when you get a call, just to inform those who may not know about it.

Or as a reminder to let any older person you know about it. Parents, grandparents, elderly neighbours.

Let them know that Microsoft do not cold call. Do not give any information. Politely decline even if you "don't want to be rude to the man on the phone". If you must, forcefully decline. Hang up. Don't open your computer.

Again, I know that is all basic advice, but the fact it happens, meas some people still are not aware. Lets let them know

gctest50

you can get call blockers for landlines

this sort of yokie :



http://www.cprcallblocker.net/cpr-201-call-blocker.html

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/cpr-201-call-blocker-a59nj


http://officesupplies.absoluteoffice.ie/StoreFront/CPR-V201-Big-Button-Pre-Programmed-Call-Blocker-Ref-50970-P-1129143#.VMZhimezBdg

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CPR-Capacity-Nuisance-Call-Blocker/dp/B00JG02ZEY/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1422287045&sr=1-2&keywords=CPR+Call+Blocker

Sam Russell

I've had a few calls recently and the first one I said I just had new windows installed on my house and they are fine. He got cross when I kept saying I was happy with my allu windows. I hung up and he called me back, so I daid he was a spoofer.

The rest of them I say nothing and just hang up. They appear to spoof the CLI numbers because I doubt they call from USA (New York).

Just hang up is my advice - say nothing.

yoyo

Threads merged.

kerash

Does anyone know if it's possible to get this number blocked? My Grandmother is getting called at all hours by this crowd and is quite stressed by it. Last year she changed her number (eircom were quite unhelpful) and the calls stopped for a few months but have started again. Any advice appreciated.

**Edit I just noticed the above call blocker post!

Trompette

IMHO you have 2 ways to stop the calls:

- The hard one: Try to block it with you phone company.
- The simplest on: Write down on a paper the following sentence, your Grandmother will have to repeat when she will have a new call with a large smile:
"Hi, I use Linux, with the small penguin, would you like to help me?"
He will hang up before the end of the sentence. And he will never call again.

Hope this will help

BTW, phone companies sell there listings, I know because amongst all the companies I deal with, only one have my address in Gaelic. Few time ago I got a call from a scam company, they have my address in Gaelic....
Which company sold my data ? Vodafone.

srsly78

Yep I only got these calls after vodafone bought perlico, which we had account with. Also vodafone won't block anything for you at all!!

As mentioned already get a call blocker device for e20 off amazon. Problem is these scammers use many many numbers to call from, seemingly from many countries. Keep blocking them 1 by 1 and the frequency of calls vastly reduces.

Sam Russell

Trompette wrote: »

IMHO you have 2 ways to stop the calls:


- The simplest on: Write down on a paper the following sentence, your Grandmother will have to repeat when she will have a new call with a large smile:
"Hi, I use Linux, with the small penguin, would you like to help me?"
He will hang up before the end of the sentence. And he will never call again.

Hope this will help

I say - 'I got new Windows last week. No, not Microsoft, Aluminium ones.'

They hung up.

degsie

Trompette wrote: »

BTW, phone companies sell there listings, I know because amongst all the companies I deal with, only one have my address in Gaelic. Few time ago I got a call from a scam company, they have my address in Gaelic....
Which company sold my data ? Vodafone.

Fascinating!

mach1982

Simple solution tell them you use Linux or a Mac . That shut them up , also tell them that you know it a scam and that you can trace the IP and phone number and will report then to to the cops , that what I did no more calls , though he did call me "little ****", very unprofessional.

Javan

I got one of these calls this morning. At 7am. When I was trying to get out to work.

I got a little annoyed at the caller, to the extent that I said something like 'fsck off you stupid man'.

There was one detail on the call that I did not expect:he actually threatened me, saying he would break my computer, make it impossible to get online.

The number was a UK number.

mach1982

Javan wrote: »

I got one of these calls this morning. At 7am. When I was trying to get out to work.

I got a little annoyed at the caller, to the extent that I said something like 'fsck off you stupid man'.

There was one detail on the call that I did not expect:he actually threatened me, saying he would break my computer, make it impossible to get online.

The number was a UK number.

Impossible. Just scare tataics.

Javan

mach1982 wrote: »

Impossible. Just scare tataics.

I know. It just surprised me that they would take to that sort of threatening.

Did he think that having refused to accept the male bovine excrement about him monitoring some piece of malware on my machine I would accept the even less believable nonsense that he could damage my computer?
I stick by my original estimate. A stupid man.

Trompette

I had a first call yesterday morning.
The girl recited the text like a 8 years old child. "Windows company... computer at risk..."
I said loudly "I have a penguin in my computer"... 3 seconds silence then she start again.
I repeated "I have a penguin in my computer"... 2 seconds silence then she hung up.
I was thinking she didn't understand the joke.

After noon I had another call. Another girl, same text.
I stopped here and said "Why do you have my details, I use Linux, Ubuntu, do you know Ubuntu?"
I think she didn't hear the end of my question, she hung up so quickly.

Last time I had this type of call was 2 years ago, I think next will be in 2 years.

uck51js9zml2yt

I told them I worked in MS computer deptvon sandyford. He wanted my staff number. When I didn't give it to him in keeping with MS security policy he called me a scammer.

I was most upset

beya2009

Hey guys sorry to bring this up again as it seems this scam has been going on for ages lol

I got a call from this number: 0019904 to my landline and your not able to call the number back. Anyways some guy with a heavy Indian accent told me my computer had a virus and that someone was trying to hack it so he could help me. He tried to get me to run "eventvwr" but before doing anything I googled it and then hung up immediately.

Is there anything I need to do on my end? Should I run malwarebytes? I also have ad-aware anti-virus. Also how did he get my land line number?

Riamfada

beya2009 wrote: »

Is there anything I need to do on my end? Should I run malwarebytes? I also have ad-aware anti-virus. Also how did he get my land line number?

Your computer is fine. They had me run eventviewer. She got really angry when I thanked her for bringing it to my attention and i will call a computer repair technician straight away. I mean really angry but I just kept repeating that I would pay the local repair company.

I love these calls.

ART6

beya2009 wrote: »

Hey guys sorry to bring this up again as it seems this scam has been going on for ages lol

I got a call from this number: 0019904 to my landline and your not able to call the number back. Anyways some guy with a heavy Indian accent told me my computer had a virus and that someone was trying to hack it so he could help me. He tried to get me to run "eventvwr" but before doing anything I googled it and then hung up immediately.

Is there anything I need to do on my end? Should I run malwarebytes? I also have ad-aware anti-virus. Also how did he get my land line number?

If you didn't give the caller access to your computer then you have no need to worry. Running the event viewer simply gives the caller the opportunity to tell you that one or more of the reports it shows are infections when they aren't. Then they get you to give them access (at a price) to cure the non-infections, when they can then download all of your confidential details and strip your bank account.
How did he get your number? Well, there are shady operators out there who sell bulk email addresses to scammers, and who also (I bet) sell bulk telephone numbers with the names of their registered users. Buy a million of them and then set the call centre computers to call each in rotation until one answers. Hence the delay while the call centre operator wakes up to a successful contact screen.
The simple rule when receiving these calls, I find, is that if the caller has an Indian accent and, for some unaccountable reason given his nationality, is called "Charles" or "Andy", simply put the phone down. It is just one of those irritating aspects of the IT age.
No-0ne, not even Mr Microsoft, can tell you that you have a problem with your computer unless you have given them access to it.