Funny phone call

daenerysstormborn3

My boyfriend just got a call to the landline from some some scam artist. I think somebody posted a thread about this a few months ago so just thought I'd warn people that they're at it again.

The person that phoned was a male, foreign (possibly Indian but my boyfriend isn't sure) with fairly broken English.

The conversation went like this:

"I'm a technician in computers calling you from Dublin. There's hardware problems with computers in your area and viruses etc."

My boyfriend asked him multiple times if he was going to ask for his IP address and he wouldn't say yes or no. I said to my boyfriend to ask him how he knew we had a computer in the house, funnily enough he couldn't answer that, I said to my boyfriend to ask him how many computers we have in the house (as we have a few) and he couldn't answer that either.

The "technician" then mentioned something about Microsoft software, basically grasping at straws because it's fairly safe to assume quite a number of people use Microsoft software.

I don't know what he was hoping to achieve by phoning my boyfriend and asking for this information but just wanted to warn other people in the area about this, obviously don't give your information out to anybody over the phone that you don't trust. If you are uncertain about who is calling you then insist on finding out what company they are calling from and tell them you will ring back the registered number for the company and you will soon find out if it's real or fake.

Finnbar01

I think he would have asked your boyfriend to check for a particular file on his computer. This file is harmless.

However, the scam artist would then try and convince your boyfriend that the file is a very serious threat and he needs his computer 'cleaned'. The scam artist would of course do this for him, providing he hands over his credit card details.

byhookorbycrook

Various threads on that here, well known-scam.

daenerysstormborn3

Well lucky for us we both know a fair thing about computers.

I'd love to know how he got the landline number though as we are unlisted.

Cabaal

the good old pc doctor scam, there's a thread with over 1k posts and 150k views on this in comp and tech

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055837564

decies

Yep pixie this going around for nearly two years now, am privelaged to be rung about 30 times.

jayboi

Yea hes after ringing me a fair few times as well!

Mind you im still waiting for em get the dam virus off the computer must be after giving em my credit card details about 10 times!
Terrible service definatly wouldnt recommend them!

daenerysstormborn3

Can anyone tell me how they'd get phone numbers? We're unlisted so we're a bit puzzled about that.

They're some chancers, 2 years?!

ex_infantry man

ya should blow an airhorn or a whistle into phone and blast the ear off the fcuker or just let the phone down and build up his bill

tramoreman

they phoned a couple of months ago knew straight away was told there was a problem with the pc told him i was a technician and that there was no problem he said there was and i hung up it was a indian that rang.

Finnbar01

I hope I get one of these phone calls. I'll just keep him on the phone for as long as possible, playing little kind games with him.

longshanks

I answered one of those phone calls once. Listened to the shpiel for a while, then asked the chap
Hey, did ya hear Mohammad was caught having sex with a sheep?
He said it was 'is lamb and he could do what he liked with it...

then I laughed while he stuttered, and then I hung up.

Not The Real Scarecrow

Finnbar01 wrote: »

I hope I get one of these phone calls. I'll just keep him on the phone for as long as possible, playing little kind games with him.

Tried it.He hung up on me after a minute.Think he realized I was taking the piss when I asked him whats a computer?

Faq

Tell them you use linux see where that takes you

Cabaal

If you want to waste their time your better of pretending to do what they want you to do, but of course not be very computer savry and keep saying things ain't working right.

Atleast if your wasting their time they can't be conning somebody else

SUNGOD

Finnbar01 wrote: »

I hope I get one of these phone calls. I'll just keep him on the phone for as long as possible, playing little kind games with him.

thats really sweet playing little kind games with him...like "i spy" or "guess who"








i know you meant mind games:D

CardBordWindow

SUNGOD wrote: »

thats really sweet playing little kind games with him...like "i spy" or "guess who"

i know you meant mind games:D

NEVER underestimate the power of 'I Spy'!!

mecco

Faq wrote: »

Tell them you use linux see where that takes you

Did that, it moved the conversation straight to "ok, bye"

scico rocks

CardBordWindow wrote: »

NEVER underestimate the power of 'I Spy'!!

Something beginning with "s". - SCAM!:p

CasaBonita

Cabaal wrote: »

If you want to waste their time your better of pretending to do what they want you to do, but of course not be very computer savry and keep saying things ain't working right.

Atleast if your wasting their time they can't be conning somebody else

The best approach if you have some time to spare. I nearly drove the Indian guy up the wall on the last call I received. Just go along with their instructions (up to the point where they either request a credit card or ask you to download something) and pretend to be a right thicko when it comes to computers. As Cabaal mentioned it leaves less time for them to scam someone else.