Microsoft Telephone Scam

I had a similar call the other day. In this case, the caller ID showed the incoming number as 02031040051. The guy wanted me to go to www . albionrims . com I just kept saying the my browser said that it couldn't find the web address. The caller re-spelled the name phonetically, for my benefit, (so I could write it down and tell everyone on this forum what a big scam it is). He eventually got fed up with me and hung up. Next time they call, I'll have linux :)
 
I got one of these calls, lucky for me I have the only desktop PC in the house and everyone else has laptops, but when it comes to a technical issue I get put on the phone. Well that morning I was feeling kind of lonely so had a good 60/70 minute chat about how my PC was on it's last legs.

Seems to me if you know about computers and don't mind it, talk to them for as long as you can, saves them phoning an older person and stealing their money. Anyway I'd say do a full format to be safe, it's been known for them to hide all sorts of **** on the PC.
 
bledd. said:
I've never heard of them actually doing any harm.. Most of them use a Teamviewer type program and some do actually clean up your PC for you

I'd just remove any remote access software and run scans with the usual suspects..

MBAM
Spybot S&D
Nod32 online scanner
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This. I've looked at a few systems which have been used by them and its been okay.
 
my dad fell for this aswel :eek:

I told him what it was about and he says he will be careful from now on,I was round my parents house when another call come in so I just hung up.
 
They rang me on Friday twice. Fortunately I know about the scam but someone who is not in the loop could easily fall for this type of low life criminality.

I think its disgraceful and needs stopping, but I don't know how you could stop it them being based abroad.

They need stopping though and quick.
 
I tend to go along with it and just say "Can you hang on a minute?" and leave the phone sat there for 15-20 minutes - you'd be amazed how many actually wait!!!

.... and if they are still there I launch into full pizza-ordering mode from them! :D
 
P3N9U1N said:
My grandad gets calls from these jokers all the time, and he doesn't even have a pc :D
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Same with my nan. I got my first call a couple of days ago so I had some fun with them as I knew it was a scam and to be honest I hate 'spam phone calls' at the best of times :)

Phone call went something like this:

Usual junk about server, errors etc in major Indian accent

So I ask what errors and get NO answer the woman just asked me to click the start button that's bottom left

I replied it wasn't there

Woman was 'are you sure' which then went on to are you using windows, yes was my answer. In hindsight, I should have said, don't you know that I am, it's connecting to your server after all :o

I then said that I'd moved my start button to the top to which she called me a liar and hung up....

If you're going to try and sell stuff to someone using windows AT LEAST know the menu can be moved :rolleyes:

Luckily I've taught my parents to totally ignore anything pc/internet related and just contact me if they're unsure :)
 
I have never had this happen to me though if it does then I will certainly be having some fun with them hehe! Might because we have that privacy thing from BT which stops a lot of PITA phone calls mostly those automated messages but one never knows.

Stoner81.
 
Stoner81 said:
I have never had this happen to me though if it does then I will certainly be having some fun with them hehe! Might because we have that privacy thing from BT which stops a lot of PITA phone calls mostly those automated messages but one never knows.

Stoner81.
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we've got that filter and it still gets through, it just shows as 'unknown' number or similar... yeah BT are really good, doesn't help when our local doctors has the same identification on the phone due to them using voip/sip (or whatever it's technically called) too :rolleyes:
 
I have also been the victim of this, obviously didn't fall for it but very very easy for an elderly person to be caught out with it. I said on the phone that i was recording the phone call and would hand it into the Police, they then hung the phone up.
 
Got another one of these calls today. This time I tried to waste as much of their time as possible. After the general pre amble I was directed to computer management > event viewer > admin events. I was told that this was the computer brain and these were malware errors, lol! I was then directed to www.teamviewer.com and asked to download the remote access software.
During this we chatted about the weather in India, the best tourist sites near New Dehli, learning new languages, London, etc. My computer also BSOD, my internet was very slow and I kept forgetting what we were doing; all in the aid of slowing the process.
Obviously, I wasn't going to download the software, so I pretended my mobile was ringing, and said I would be back in a minute.

When I came back after lunch, they had gone.


However, next time I might use translate.google.com to explain to them why I am wasting their time, in Hindi. (google translate has a spoken version. not sure how good it is though.)
 
Lol definitely got your monies worth! Capture the audio next time, and see if you can upgrade their downgrade mobile providings fonejacker style. Maybe throw in some new ringdings for their mobiles foc, of course. Don't forget to record the convo! ;)
 
nickeverett said:
I got one of these cold calls the other day.

"Hello, I am from Windows security. We have detected a large amount of viruses' being sent from you computer to our servers.... etc" or similar nonsensical gibberish.

I just asked the woman on the end of the phone if she felt guilty lying to people in order to sell them software they don't need.

She hung up on me.


In hindsight, it would have been interesting to go along with the conversation to see what they were trying to do. If only I had a way of recording my land line calls, so that I could expose them.
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This is exactly what I plan to do next time. Recently it's been my dad who receives the call, and thankfully they know better, even if he almost computer illiterate lol. Last time I had one I just lied and said "we don't have a PC" and the phone went dead instantly. Next time, I'm going to play along like a person who's never used a PC before. "Start menu? What's that? Right click? Is that like, with my right hand?" See how long I can keep them going :D

I really hate these scumbags.
 
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They don't actually do anything, they just change a new non-important settings or open up some files and then exit them without saving.

Then they charge you for the work. No viruses involved. Stupid people will pay it.
 
I get these around once a week now.

Most of the time it's "our networks have detected a large number of viruses"

Despite my PC being off and or having no PSU in it lol

My girlfriend goes along with it to a point, then goes "I cant see Start, Run on the Finder" or "I'm running Linux"

I had a PPI call the other, basically said that I didn't need to do anything, then asked for my credit card number, called it a verification number, I just hung up, sometimes it's fun to play along, othertimes, they just **** me off
 
Only call I've had which seems to be a variation of this was to fix slow internet. No mention about Windows, but still wanted me to download Teamviewer.
 
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