Degsy Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Beware of phone calls from a guy who claims to be a Microsoft engineer claiming that you have a computer fault. He is an Indian guy but uses a very English sounding name and in my case said they had traced a fault with my hard drive which would cause complete failure unless you follow his instructions which will only take a couple of minutes. What in fact he will lead you into is giving him control over the computer, ie bank accounts, passwords etc. I realised immediately it was a scam but played him along for at least half an hour and he is very polite and very persistent even when told in no uncertain terms that he has been sussed and to 'go away'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike65 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Yes I have heard of this one. He phoned my mother-in-law using the same excuse. He was very insistent that she had a computer problem and that it was imperative that she did what he said. However was totally stumped by her response "I don't have a computer" Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Beware of phone calls from a guy who claims to be a Microsoft engineer claiming that you have a computer fault. He is an Indian guy but uses a very English sounding name and in my case said they had traced a fault with my hard drive which would cause complete failure unless you follow his instructions which will only take a couple of minutes. What in fact he will lead you into is giving him control over the computer, ie bank accounts, passwords etc. I realised immediately it was a scam but played him along for at least half an hour and he is very polite and very persistent even when told in no uncertain terms that he has been sussed and to 'go away'. Hi Degsy, A friend in Australia recently had one of these calls and was told to go to a certain website, etc. but noticed a warning come up on the computor and realised something was not right. Then I had one, definitely an "Indian" type accent and hard to understand, he told me to turn my computor on and follow his instructions, I said yes, but did nothing, he must have suspected something and got annoyed saying I was messing with him, told him bluntly, that I knew his scam and **** off. A lot of info on this scam was found, although I do not remember the details now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 My Dads had the same one, the "indian" sounded puzzled when my dad told that his computer is in one room, and phone in another, when he asked if dad's comp was a laptop, dad said no, a normal tower, the "gentleman" rang off Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schliesser92 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 It's going around Germany as well. I used a naughty Punjabi expression, and he hung up! Makes a change from the e-mails from those nice west-african gentlemen who seem to be keen to "borrow" my bank account! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woa2 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Yes, I had this call as well. Unfortunately it came at a time I was having a call from BT about my Internet speed and I thought the scam call was BT. I realised the mistake after a few minutes and ended the call. They tried to phone back but my phone gives caller ID and I just ignored the call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Suslowicz Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I had one asking if I had a television. I replied "go scam someone else" and hung up (since the caller-id showed "International". I then regretted not having fun with them. A couple of days later I got another call, this time "Unavailable". Scammer: "Mr (attempt at pronouncing Polish name in (probably Nigerian) accent)?" Me: "Yes." Scammer: "Do you have a television?" Me: "No." Scammer (surprised): "You do not have a television?" Me: "Television is the work of Satan, we do not permit it in this house." (Call is instantly dropped and I get the "number unavailable" tone for some bizarre reason.) Gotcha!:-D At some point I'm going to connect the Racal SS 2931 JAMCAT to the phone, purely to see what the telepests make of trying to talk to a radio jammer on fast look-through mode.:-D:-D:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 You can't get the jammer to send a couple of thousand volts down the line can you? I've had to stop answering the phone except to recognisable numbers. Annoying as mine is an unlisted number! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 I've had this call as well - "You are having a computer problem?" And coincidentally, yes I was at the time so it would have been so easy to fall into the trap. I ended the call after a minute or two when I guessed it was a scam - but the guy immediately rang me back to learn why I did not wish to proceed with his help and to find out what was bothering me.......... I am guessing that a lot of us have a computer problem of some kind or other which is probably ongoing so it would be so easy to fall into this trap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff66 Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 just play along with it if u have time tell him u are following his instructions whilst doing nowt may be browsing hmvf ! and make it your mission to wind up a indian chap!!:cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiketheBike Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Its so obviously a scam.....having worked with Indian IT support desks they never ring back, and know nothing about IT! :cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 Its so obviously a scam.....having worked with Indian IT support desks they never ring back, and know nothing about IT! :cool2: Sorry but I disagree, it may be obvious to you having worked in the industry but a lot of people especially older people like myself do not have a great degree of computer literacy. As Minesweeper said very often you can be having issues with your computer which I actually was at the time and could so easily have fallen for it but something just didn't quite ring true and I then thoroughly enjoyed arguing with him and winding him up for half an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Do you think that there is even more dishonesty around at this present time - compared with just a few years ago? You hear so often that years ago, people would not even think of locking the doors of their houses when they were not there - knowing only too well that they would be quite safe. Things change - as some of you might know, I had two heavy anvils stolen from my premises - I live in a remote area - and my lane is almost a cul-de-sac so the thieves were also in danger of being trapped at my place if I had come home during their thieving "operation". I guess they knew that they were taking a chance in "lifting" the anvils so that they knew that they would have to be quick. My parents never locked their doors - during the war when my father was away, my mother continued with that practice initially of leaving everything unlocked and was very startled one night when the door opened and two American Servicemen came in as they had been given an address where they could find "certain facilities" - but got the wrong house in the blackout! I think that it was right after that, my mother locked the front door! I must add that the two Yanks were full of profuse apologies when they realised that they had gone to the wrong place! And nowadays with so much going on with computers, it becomes yet another opportunity for thieves and rogues to have a go at the ordinary honest person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Its so obviously a scam.....having worked with Indian IT support desks they never ring back, and know nothing about IT! :cool2: Agree and disagree here, once had an IT problem with BT internet, and got their Indian based support centre, the guy was a complete numpty, asking me to switch one of the cables around, being in engineering, I failed to see what difference that would have made and also the mass of wiring behind my pc, all taped up, that was not on, he kept going away from the phone, so obviously asking someone else, after half an hour I gave up, left it for a while. I then rang back hoping I got someone different, sure did, an Indian lady who had a very good knowledge and gave me more confidence, in about 10 mins she had worked out the problem, very minor, forgotten what now, but I made her day with my thanks to her. So they are not all bad over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiketheBike Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Sorry Degsey, I was just trying to funny I agree there is more dishonesty these days, and I think some of it is people are more transient these days (not only moving houses/towns/counties) but also countries...so fewer folk look out for each other. The other is there is that technology allows people to scam other people without meeting face-to-face...its easier i guess if you dehumanise your dishonesty? And finally, how else will I be able to transfer my money out of the country due to the dictatorship, straight into your account if that pleasing your kind self. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted December 17, 2011 Author Share Posted December 17, 2011 Hi Mike, no need to apologise, I missed the point.:blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honeileen Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 [TABLE] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD]Service Windows Live Hotmail Alertes Utilisation optimale de la messagerie électronique [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Cher (e) membre En raison de la congestion dans tout les comptes d'utilisateurs Windows Live. pour des raisons de sécurité Windows Live arrêterait tout comptes inutilisé . Afin d'éviter la désactivation de votre compte, vous devrez confirmé votre émail COMPLÉTEZ près votre information d'ouverture ci-dessous en cliquant sur le bouton de réponse. Les informations personnelles demandées sont pour la sûreté de votre compte Windows Live . LAISSEZ svp toute l'information demandée. Nom :....................................................... Pénom :.................................................... Adresse Windows live:.................................... mot de passe:.......................................... Date de naissance:......................................... profession:.................................................... pays Résidence:............................................. Région :..................................................... Après avoir suivi les instructions dans la feuille, votre le compte ne sera pas interrompu et continuera en tant que normale. Merci de votre coopération habituelle. Nous faisons des excuses pour n'importe quel inconvénient. Windows Live Soin de client Nombre de cas : 8941624 Propriété : Sécurité de compte I just recieved this at my hotmail address looks like another scam:cool2: Christian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
private mw Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 i changed from hotmail since i had my account hacked and then my paypal and having £2500 taken from my bank account , did get the money back , be very careful out there . like X files trust no one ! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog8811 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 "we have detected that you are having a computer problem" I get these calls on a regular basis, I have a number of responses which depend on my mood and whether I have the time to play.... Put phone down when I hear it ringing other end (obvious autodialer picked up at other end only when answer detected). "Stop calling me you scamming B*****d [indian accent] Hello my name is trevor [/indian accent] I say "I bet it isn't"....this usually causes a short discussion to try to convince either way, followed by termination of call. "Oh god which computer has the fault, I have 10 running at the moment" I go on to suggest that if he has detected a problem he must be able to tell me which one has the fault as I am really worried about this... can be extended to cover a full tea break! The trouble is with this is that there must be enough people who fall for it or else they would not keep on doing it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Anyone care to give a phonetic English version of what Urdu etc, we should respond to these calls with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog8811 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Anyone care to give a phonetic English version of what Urdu etc, we should respond to these calls with! Start with translation of "hello my name is mahesh/ranji" etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.