Bizarre Phone call this morning from someone who claimed to work for "Windows"

Hi all,

I received a bizarre phone call this morning (I'm in the UK) from an articulate lady with an indian accent. She claimed she worked for "Windows" and told me that they had identified that my laptop was infected and I need to switch it off then back on again while she was on the phone.

I obviously did not comply with her request and told her that I have Bit Defender running on my laptop and that it was not infected when I did a full scan yesterday. She tried to challenge this and I then asked her why they were not contacting me via email and how was she able to link my laptop to this phone number. She called on my father's number but I have a skype landline number linked to all my online accounts (bank, forums etc). I cannot be traced online with my father's telephone number. When I challenged her on this she put the phone down.

Have any UK members had this phone call. Does anyone know if it is some sort of scam? It worries me that many computer users are not very experienced with computer security and may fall for this ploy, whatever it is.

Regards,

Talen

I have received similar calls in Canada .I just tell them now that I am scrapping my LT and don't need it fixed .. a reply to: earthblaze

Yes. I've had that phone call loads of time. I find it particularly funny considering I'm on a mac.

It's a scam..cold calling people to gain remote access to computers. Google it.

Statistically the odds of dialing any UK number and getting someone with a computer that has any version of windows on - is extremely likely.

It could just be a 100% cold call, had you complied, when nothing happened, thats when the real bull# con starts - probably requesting you to go to a website and download and voluntarily install the virus/spyware/maleware/ransomewere etc. yourself.

Now i base this on pass experience and story's from within the anti-virus community, i have not had this happen to me nor have i heard of this exact scam before - purely a speculative hypothesis.

a reply to: earthblaze

Phishing for information. They may have info on a computer but don't have the whole picture, so they need to make sure the computer is yours by combining it with info attached to your phone number account. It is very common and can lead to some very unfortunate circumstances.
When ever someone like this calls I give them NOTHING not even verification of stuff they already know. I handle all through mail and in person. I also never put my main accounts on my phone or computer I have separate credit cards specifically for these purposes that have little to no money on them until the need arises.
I hope they can fix these problems someday but it probably will only make the thieves smarter in the end. People like convenience and this is the sacrifice we all pay for it.

Yeah I'm in the UK and get them about once a week claiming my computer is running slow and they can fix it.

I just tell themI don't have a computer and they hang up most of the time.

Its a scam.

This happened to me last year. They rang me, told me my computer was infected, then gave me a code to type into the URL, it started downloading something, that is when I pulled the plugs from my walls that lead to the laptop, just not the Ethernet cable.

My computers moused moved on its own, they had control of my laptop, until I switched off my router and left just the house phone plugged in. They immediately rang back to which I had a foul mouthed rampage at them, and told them I knew their game, they just laughed and hung up.

I factory reset my whole laptop that day and I still haven't had my Identity stolen thus far.

I was a fool, but my quick thinking sorted that out.

I got that same call last year here in the US. They said they were receiving errors from my computer and could fix it. I knew it was b/s and decided to mess with them.

I asked them what the error said and they couldn't tell me. They said go to the computer, I said the phone won't reach. (I forgot to ask if it was an ID-10-T error). I asked enough stupid questions that the guy got frustated and passed me off to a "manager". So the manager gets on and starts giving me directions. I interruped him and said, first off I run Linux. Secondly, I told him that I've kept the call open long enough that it can now be traced.

I never heard anyone hang up faster.

a reply to: earthblaze

It's a scam.

It's especially funny to confuse them if you have a Mac and say I don't have a Start button.

Yeah it's a scam. I work in IT and we have had loads of users who have had the calls and have contacted us to see if they are legit. The way they do it is they get you to go into your event logs and they tell you to sort it by event id and more often than not people have various event id errors, so they use a common number and say do you see a red X next to it and if they confirm yes, they get them to download team viewer, take control of their computers and proceed to delete the event logs that make reference. They then charge the user between £60-£75.

Hey thanks for all the answers. RomaSempre's made me laugh. On a serious note there must be laws against this type of cold calling?

a reply to: earthblaze

Most are based overseas so theres not a lot you can do i'm afraid

originally posted by: earthblaze
Hey thanks for all the answers. RomaSempre's made me laugh. On a serious note there must be laws against this type of cold calling?

There is a register (TPS: Telephone Preference Service) of sorts you can be put on to avoid a great deal of the calls. Then if you get a cold call you can ask for their company name and info and ask why they are calling through the "no cold call" TPS register. They usually hang up.

If im having dinner and i get a cold call, i say im going to get the house owner and then just leave the phone off the hook n the side and continue having my dinner. Two birds with one stone, they get their time fairly wasted for a change and i can receive any further calls while they are on the line.

Scam. They tricked my elderly mother out of $600 from her bank account. No one who works for Microsoft or with Windows will ever call you out of the blue. Beware.

My 80 year old grandmother fell prey to the old Indian computer trick back in October of 2013.

One day she tells me that some guy with an Indian accent named "Bob" called and said he could fix her computer, which ironically had just stopped connecting to the internet a few days earlier. She was so gullible she even gave him her bank # to pay for his service and security software. It was only supposed to be $50, but a paypal charge for $300 hit her account. Grandma didn't even realize she was swindled out of $300 and she lives as they say, check to check. She didn't even realize that her 10 year old computer was worth about $2 and she could have bought a brand new computer with the $300.

I immediately started investigating.

Amazingly, she had his phone number so I called him. It took me about a week and about a dozen phone calls, but Bob actually refunded the money after I threatened to call the cops. I told the guy, "I'm calling the cops on you". And he told me and grandma, after he called her, to "stop threatening me".

My grandma was actually taking up for this guy and stopped me from calling the police to report he scam. smh

This scam even had a website for its 'software' that was only for the USA, UK, and I think Australia. Oh how I wish I could remember the name of the site. The phone numbers were from Texas and New Jersey and they even had offices. I could hear an office environment over the phone.

Anyways, I bet this site makes millions of scamming elderly people. And I bet elderly people are who they target with their "cold calls".

Now I'm going to scratch my head all day trying to remember the website....

a reply to: LrdRedhawk

I got my grandma's $$$ refunded?

Do you remember any details about the scam? Did they leave a phone number with your grandmother?

It's actually pretty easy to get a refund from this scam...

Anyone with a computer with internet access is a target for these scam artists. But, elderly people are the most likely targeted group. People who get easily confused. I had these scammers call me. One called me an A-Hole because I kept hanging up on him before he had a chance to say anything. He must have forgotten he called the day before and I recognized his voice.

a reply to: TerrorAlertRed

The website they used to scam my mom was called support.me

a reply to: TerrorAlertRed

Yes, they messed up because the phone number was actually in the name of the transaction on her bank account. The bank refunded her money and went after the scammers. Good thing for them, too, because I assure you that they don't want me on their case! The name of the website they used was called support.me