Beware of Indian PC Doctors phone calls

Thoie

Sorry, I can't get to the PC right now, the donkey's on the kitchen table again and I'm afraid he'll get at the ham and the chickens are doing nothing to stop him.

Aquos76

Sorry for bringing up an old thread but these calls seem to be happening quite a lot lately again, My Mam and Dad are been plauged by them as are atleast 2 friends of mine, the one thing thats common between my Mam & Dad and 2 friends are, they are all UPC phone customers, I am just wondering if any others on here that were getting these calls, happen to be UPC customers also.

jake is right

It's not just in Waterford. I'm in Dublin, and at least twice a week they are on with the same rubbish. Funny thing; they always ask for me by name. Wonder where they got their info.

Aquos76

jake is right wrote: »

It's not just in Waterford. I'm in Dublin, and at least twice a week they are on with the same rubbish. Funny thing; they always ask for me by name. Wonder where they got their info.

Are you a UPC phone customer by any chance?

sunshineoh9

lol, whenever i get calls a answer with a strange voice or accent (my friends know i do this and just start talking to me like normal) but when sales call they try to start talking and i pretend i don't speak the language (in miami we get english and spanish but even in english i won't speak spanish) sometimes i play deaf and start screaming "TTY I DEAF TTY I DEAF" in a voice of someone who has had a cochlear implant. even if they try to call back with a TTY machine they can't get to me since i don't have one myself

the best is when i pretend i'm an old woman with Alzheimers or someone with some sort of mental disorder... they usually don't know how to handle the situation and usually just hang up.

warning though, you need to be able to somewhat act in order to pull these off

jonnyfingers

sunshineoh9 wrote: »

lol, whenever i get calls a answer with a strange voice or accent (my friends know i do this and just start talking to me like normal) but when sales call they try to start talking and i pretend i don't speak the language (in miami we get english and spanish but even in english i won't speak spanish) sometimes i play deaf and start screaming "TTY I DEAF TTY I DEAF" in a voice of someone who has had a cochlear implant. even if they try to call back with a TTY machine they can't get to me since i don't have one myself

the best is when i pretend i'm an old woman with Alzheimers or someone with some sort of mental disorder... they usually don't know how to handle the situation and usually just hang up.

warning though, you need to be able to somewhat act in order to pull these off

The best is just to say yes to everything until they hang up.

bluesfan

Aquos76 wrote: »

Are you a UPC phone customer by any chance?

We've been plagued by these for the last week or so and we're on vodafone so it's not just a UPC problem.

Aquos76

bluesfan wrote: »

We've been plagued by these for the last week or so and we're on vodafone so it's not just a UPC problem.

Well so, that rules out that theory so, I've spoken with UPC and they did confirm to me that they do have an indian company working on their behalf cold calling customers trying to sell UPC's own services, they've assured me they would look into these type of calls though.

As your not a UPC customer then it's less likely that our details have been passed on by upc's Indian company to these scammers so.

sunshineoh9

jonnyfingers wrote: »

The best is just to say yes to everything until they hang up.

i just love confusing them

MitchKoobski

"There is a virus in your Windows system."
"I'm using Linux actually.....still care to help me?"
"No.....*click*"

"There is currently a virus on your Windows system and you need to be protected."
"I have a MAC."
"....what is Mac?"
"Well its.....*click*"

".....virus...computer.....help you?"
My grandfather: "I dont even have a feckin computer."
"Oh......well......bye."

ikeano29

These guys are really starting to do my head in now.
They call the house phone at least 3-5 during a week.
The first time they ever called i just told them i don't use windows, i use a version of linux, i think it debian linux i said and he just said "oh" and hung up the phone.
I dont understand why they are still constantly ringing back all the time though.

ikeano29

im with upc too by the way.

Minstrel27

MitchKoobski wrote: »

"There is a virus in your Windows system."
"I'm using Linux actually.....still care to help me?"
"No.....*click*"

How would you know if I have a virus would be my question.

fricatus

They called me some time ago and I'm on UPC.

Interesting to see whether our Vodafone subscriber was originally with UPC...

sham2

My wife's parents are getting the same thing in Cork. They allowed them take over the PC!!!!! Silly. Coincidentally their phone is one the non-eircom outfits. Now I'll have to 'disinfect' their PC because of the 'virus'. Unfortunately it's the only language they understand. Any problem with the PC and they say 'it's a virus'.

bluesfan

fricatus wrote: »

They called me some time ago and I'm on UPC.

Interesting to see whether our Vodafone subscriber was originally with UPC...

Never with UPC not even for tv.

bullpost

Had them on to me yesterday.
Asked him where he got my details and he said "From our Research and Development team" :eek:
I had the first caller so wrapped up in riddles she passed me on to her supervisor who she claimed was a "expert". Strung him along nicely until he asked for money . I told him I wasn't working and couldn't afford to pay at which point he hung up.

jake is right wrote: »

It's not just in Waterford. I'm in Dublin, and at least twice a week they are on with the same rubbish. Funny thing; they always ask for me by name. Wonder where they got their info.

deisemum

They phoned me about half an hour ago. I said I didn't have a PC but had heard about their scam.

sham2

Here's how to freak them out. Come up with a phrase here and the next time they ring any of us we just say the say the phrase and hang up. The phrase should be 'The Board is on to you.' said in an ominous tone.

addob

I'm on UPC as well, a few weeks back I had two calls on the same day, within 5 minutes of each other. Thankfully none since!

VERYinterested

They use an autodialler, and they can get your number from the eircom online telephone book. Just don't answer the phone if you have caller id, if you don't keep a whistle by the phone.

I used to be with Eircom and got the calls 3 or 4 times a week back in May/June. I switched to UPC in July and have only had one call from them since. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a way of reversing the charges for a call, so don't engage them for too long. Ignore or answer and hang up instantly is the best advice.

flutered

i get at least two every week, all from different scources, i just say sorry and hang up, just in case they have a way of reverseing the charges, i am with smart.

VERYinterested

I haven't had a call for months and low and behold I got one half an hour ago.

Unavailable number rings me.
Him: Hello, could I speak to Mr. Dermot?
Me: Speaking, what do YOU want?
Him: Are you working on your PC, is it running very slow?
Me: Listen, you are a thief and a scammer, don't ever ring this number again, f__k off, F__K OFF! (I then hung up)

Twenty seconds later unavailable number rings me again, by this stage I located the whistle I have by the phone since June hoping they'd call me.

Him: Listen Man...
Me: Peeeeeepppp! (It was so loud the dog ran out of the room!)

He hasn't called back again. Bear in mind he's probably wearing a headset, so his ears are probably still ringing. My Missus just informed me that we had a good few calls earlier today from the unavailable number, she just didn't answer. But they are persistent and a bloody nuisance.

Trotter

They rang my grandparents a good few times this week. Its annoying me now. They dont have a computer and once or twice the phone rang at 2am and just stopped. Its not on. Who do we contact to stop it?

STIG83

My dad received one of them calls yesterday, he told them where to go, we have caller id, the number that came up was 01234567890

Boooourns

Called me last week, i played this down the phone at them....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj2oXMdZ4sk

fricatus

Hehe... wish I'd seen your post half an hour ago, since I would have had an ideal plan!

Anyway, they called again 15 minutes ago, so I decided to fcuk with them for a while. I listened to about 30 seconds and said "oh sorry, there's someone at the door".

I then stripped the bed, brought the bedclothes down to the washing machine, grabbed the rest of the wash basket, went back downstairs, put the wash on, put back the liner of the wash basket... then grabbed a biccy for good measure, since 5 minutes had not yet elapsed!

Once I'd kept him waiting for a little while I went back to the phone, whereupon he started asking me whether my computer was turned on (first mistake, I said "yes" - I should have kept him hanging for another three minutes while it "rebooted up" :P).

He started asking me stuff like "do you see all the usual icons" (yes), then "what version of Windows are you running, is it Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7?", to which I replied "oh no, I'm not using Windows, I'm using Linux! Ubuntu!"

He then wanted to know if I had any other computers that used Windows, and I said sorry no, my brother-in-law is in IT and he set up Linux for me. He's a real computer whiz you know! He reckons Windows is sh!te! I thought you were calling from his company! Are you not calling from (quick, make up a name!) QFT Systems?

He said that no, they were called "on-line PC care" and didn't do Linux. I should have asked him (like I did with the other guy the last time) where he got my number.

Still, I wasted 10 minutes of his time!

Ideo

These Indian guys are calling my parents 3 - 5 times a day sometimes and it is becoming a huge pain in the ass. How can I stop them from calling/block their numbers? Any suggestions???

In the meantime, I will buy a whistle tomorrow.

flutered

Ideo wrote: »

These Indian guys are calling my parents 3 - 5 times a day sometimes and it is becoming a huge pain in the ass. How can I stop them from calling/block their numbers? Any suggestions???

In the meantime, I will buy a whistle tomorrow.

insist it has a high sharp whistle, test it before purchase.

Sully

Ideo wrote: »

These Indian guys are calling my parents 3 - 5 times a day sometimes and it is becoming a huge pain in the ass. How can I stop them from calling/block their numbers? Any suggestions???

In the meantime, I will buy a whistle tomorrow.

I find if you play them along they wont keep calling back.