any one ever heard of a scam where some company phones you up and claims your PC's infected and tries to get you to put it on and they talk you through stuff?
scams
- Thread starter captcalhoun
- Start date
I've had those idiots call me on a few occasions. Initially I quizzed them about their credentials, asked if they worked for Microsoft, and asked them how exactly they knew what my PC was doing. When they had no answer I hung up on them. The last time they called I hung up after a few seconds. They haven't called since.
I Googled around and found out that they eventually get you to download a remote access program so that they can send freeware security software to your PC. And they charge you for the privilege.
I Googled around and found out that they eventually get you to download a remote access program so that they can send freeware security software to your PC. And they charge you for the privilege.
Scamming people into downloading and installing a program is not harmless. Who knows what that program actually does.
No of course not, but harmless in comparison to having your life-savings stolen.
Yeah, that was my point, if despite having that access they only steal $49.99 for some useless piece of shit software, you're getting off easy. 
I got one a few weeks back.
The lady who called spoke very bad English and it was hard to make out what she was saying. She was trying to say something about my ISP reporting to them, whoever they might be, that my computer was freezing when I use the internet, which of course it isn't. I told her to piss off and hung up.
the one we had was from someone - a Indian woman who spoke shit English - who said she was from 24/7 PC Secure or something and claimed the computer was infected.
i told her i couldn't let her talk me through anything as i was in the kitchen and the phone line there is a different one to the line the PC uses in the bedroom.
i then told her i'd 'look into it' said goodbye and hung up.
in reality, i ain't done jack.
i told her i couldn't let her talk me through anything as i was in the kitchen and the phone line there is a different one to the line the PC uses in the bedroom.
i then told her i'd 'look into it' said goodbye and hung up.
in reality, i ain't done jack.
It actually started on Warcraft, IIRC - it was a way for people to play each others' characters or something. Then of course the proper scammers learned the trick and a new form of phishing call was born
Not calls, at least I haven't had any of those yet, but I have encountered this through emails.
Yep. When I asked who they worked for, they claimed "Windows" in one particular case
Oops - double post - sorry
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If you have the caller's phone number (via 1471 in the UK), you can go here and do a search to see if others have similar experiences with that caller, and you can compare/share stories
I have neighbours that I trained how to use a computer some years ago and I've been dealing with any of their technical problems since then, and they got a call from them a few months back. They claimed to be from HP, they had heavy Indian accents while claiming to be in Dublin (which isn't impossible, I guess) and they warned about a virus on the computer. Thankfully, I trained them to be paranoid, so they hung up and rang me for advice. I told them that they did the right thing and to ignore it, but apparently they kept ringing for the rest of the day.
If they ever ring me, I'm going to waste their time by pretending to be a bumbling idiot (which wont be hard for me). "Internet? do you mean that FurFire button?"
If they ever ring me, I'm going to waste their time by pretending to be a bumbling idiot (which wont be hard for me). "Internet? do you mean that FurFire button?"
Remember to ask them if their "Virus Killer" protects you against swine flu as well.
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