Phone call Alert - could be Scam

[highroyds]

Hi,

I wasnt sure where to post this, but my fathers just had a phone call (strange I know lol). It was from a call center over sea's as number was not known. The guy said to my father - Your computer that you have has software on thats interferring with our computers, so my father passed the phone over to me as I'm the one who sorts out the pc's lol. The guy from the call center said to me:

I'm calling about your computer - do you understand?

I'm from the (couldnt understand what the name of the of company) and we're calling about the software that you have installed on your computer - do you understand?

Well the software that you have installed is giving out a signal and its interferring with our computers in malaysia (pretty sure he said malaysia).

But I asked him what he was talking about as no computer was turned on and he just repeated it again, so I told him that I knew about computers and that I build them myself, this is when he said "you know about computers?", after I confirmed this he asked "Are you a computer professional?" when I said Yes this is when he said I'm sorry to disturb you said goodbye and put the phone down.

At this point I'm wishing that I had kept the phone call going to find out what they were after, or had asked what the company was called again.

[peanut]

Originally Posted by highroyds

Hi,

I wasnt sure where to post this, but my fathers just had a phone call (strange I know lol). It was from a call center over sea's as number was not known. The guy said to my father - Your computer that you have has software on thats interferring with our computers, so my father passed the phone over to me as I'm the one who sorts out the pc's lol. The guy from the call center said to me:

I'm calling about your computer - do you understand?

I'm from the (couldnt understand what the name of the of company) and we're calling about the software that you have installed on your computer - do you understand?

Well the software that you have installed is giving out a signal and its interferring with our computers in malaysia (pretty sure he said malaysia).

But I asked him what he was talking about as no computer was turned on and he just repeated it again, so I told him that I knew about computers and that I build them myself, this is when he said "you know about computers?", after I confirmed this he asked "Are you a computer professional?" when I said Yes this is when he said I'm sorry to disturb you said goodbye and put the phone down.

At this point I'm wishing that I had kept the phone call going to find out what they were after, or had asked what the company was called again.

If you would like to send me your name, address, Bank details, IP address, DOB etc etc I'll check into it to make sure you're safe.

What scam. I hope I get one of those calls. I'll keep them talking for hours hopefully.

Use an answer phone.These people give up as soon as they get a recorded message.

[Pauls9]

I think it goes something like... "you need to go to this website and download our program which will stop the interference."

Or is it "if you pay us, we won't take you to court" ?

[Stuart]

It's an old scam.. Generally, they are trying to sell some "magic package" that will fix the "problem" they are telling you about.

In all likelyhood, it won't. It'll cost you money and send your personal details (things like Credit Card details) to them.

I had something similar a few weeks back. One of these guys phoned and told me a virus on a PC in my house was sending out data.

Now, I have three PCs. The two working ones use Avast Antivrus, and other forms of protection. So, I consider them to be fairly well protected. I have also enabled the firewall on my router. None of them were even plugged in at the point he called.

Having a degree (so I should know what I am talking about), and feeling a little playful, I decided to have fun with the caller. At one point he even said he was an MCSE, so I reeled out my CCNA (having already mentioned I had a degree).

He swore blind my PC had a virus that was sending data as he called. As I said earlier, none of my PCs were plugged in to the mains at the time of the call, and both are desktops with no UPS. I pointed this out, and that there isn't a virus on earth that can operate while it's host PC has no power.

Then I asked him for my IP (which is static) and which ISP I was on. Both would have been easy to find for him, had he been telling the truth. He was unable to give either, so I hung up.

[idi banashapan]

yeah, my dad had a call of the same nature a couple of months back, but he didn't even own a computer and never had done in his entire life!

[MikeyB]

I had a similar one a few months back, just happened to be at home on a day off from work.
Definitely over seas, on a very poor line.

Said he was from a very generic company name, something like Computer Support Ltd, and phoning on behalf of Microsoft.
He said that Windows on my computer had been sending error messages to MS and that they could fix it for me.
Asked me to go to "The Google" and search for there website, and download some software.

Of course, I was having none of this, but to waste his time, kept him on the phone for about 5 minutes, saying I have all up to date firewalls & virus software, and there were errors, I'd know about it!

I was asking if they know the errors, what version of Windows was I running, and they got it wrong, twice, 1st saying Windows 7 then Vista, but I'm still on XP!

During all this he was quite adamant that I had errors, and they could see them.

The call ended when he asked if my phone number was (random numbers), when I said no he said sorry, must have the wrong phone number and hung up.

[idi banashapan]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Use an answer phone.These people give up as soon as they get a recorded message.

oh - don't start that... I said the same thing on a thread here about unwanted calls some time ago - the grief I got for mentioning such a thing (along with other ways around unwanted calls which all got the same reception) was quite amazing!

EDIT
found it - it started here. FYI, I was named 'Bender' at the time, so quotes refering to that name are aimed at me.

[Wayfair]

I did wonder were Bender went... no help at all to the topic, but hey..

[Sirius]

There was a news item about this but cannot find it now. Pretty sure they ask you to download teamviewer install it and then tell them the unique number so they gain control of your pc . Bet loads would do it as well

[idi banashapan]

Originally Posted by Wayfair

I did wonder were Bender went... no help at all to the topic, but hey..

there's no help left to offer is there? the question has been answered - it's a scam. job done.