Got a call from a "Windows Support" Officer...scam

[KimmyLou]

Unfortunately my father in law had a call like this. He believed it was Microsoft and they hacked into his computer. He had everything on his computer hacked. Bank accounts, emails etc. My DH and I had to change passwords on our pc coz he had our email address and therefore access to some of our stuff. X

 

[purplerose]

An old thread but I thought I add some more to these scams.

*Last week my 72 year old grandfather was contacted and told by an Indian caller

"Due to clerical error, the Government owes you $5000. If you want to collect the money then you can go to the post office and wire $150 through western union."

He asked how does that work. The caller said my gfer can either get it in cash or get it send via cheque. Gfer said cheque but Grandmother walked in and caught the conversation in time so his details were not given out!

Dear old grandfather got all excited and begged my grandmother to withdraw the $150 out of their account. She isn't a silly woman and told him No .

Thank goodness I came to visit them that afternoon and the fact I read this scam only three weeks before hand. I told them it was a scam. No government would want a money transfer.

*On other news I got a random message on my message bank from a lady called "Sue" from the Australian government and she needed me to call her back urgently.

I thought it was odd as she was speaking softly and the phone connection sounded a bit fuzzy nothing like a government call centre.

She gave me number and it was for Western Australia and the number was not a full contact number as she mumbled. I even tried to call it back but it was a private number.

*Just a few days ago I got another computer scam call. This time it was an Indian guy saying "Hello, I am from the National Computer..."

I cut him off and said "Wow another scammer, why don't you get a real job. How can you live with yourself doing what you do."

Then I hung up.

 

[lhancock90]

Yeah we had a few !Your MAC has a virus" I don't have a MAC!
OH works in I.T so neither of us would fall for it but i worry for those that do

 

[dani_tinks]

Yeah I had one of these the other day, I ended up asking him if his Mother was proud of him, he hung up.

 

[Yo_Yo]

I had one of these. He was really rude when I challenged him saying it was bogus.

My father in law pretends someone's at the door and he'll be back in a second and leaves them until they hang up.

 

[Lauraxamy]

I had a lot of similar calls the other week and the man was incredibly insulting when I told him my Dad works with computers and I'd know if something was wrong, so I reported the number to the police who gave me a number to report them to a fraud team. It worries me because my Grandparents would be the kind of people to panic, fall for it and give details if they got a call like this

 

[hayz_baby]

I remember when we were getting these around the time the thread started. My oh is pretty computer savvy and I tend to be really untrustworthy time these phonecalls. We were getting them nearly everyday and I would just use a random excuse and hang up like we have a Mac (which we don't) we don't have a computer or an internet connection. I called them out as a scam and they still carried on ringing. So I was really annoyed one morning (can't remember why probably hormones..) and they rang..again.
I really shouted at this guy.. how do you sleep at night scamming these people? If what you say is true then how come I have lied to you in the past? So what are you trying to scam out of me? This guy on the phone got pretty defensive.. but was still kept going. In the end he hung up. He must of put me on a black list as we never got a phonecalls afterwards...
Im never like that but I don't feel bad at all!

 

[Ceejay123]

Pfft.. I work in IT (I'm on support this week myself!) I use event viewer daily.... I have about 15 errors on the PC I'm on... And no Virus!

Hope nobody gets caught out by them x

 

[Sinead]

I have had these calls too. I lrt him go on with himself answering his questions with very vague info and in the end told him I had a blank screen and then asked if I needed to turn it on? I have also sang God Save the Queen and told them it was time to let the kids out of the cage and also they have interrupted my special time!!!!

 

[katherinegrey]

The 'Windows Team' ring my mother on a daily basis. Thankfully, she doesn't fall for it, but it really frightens me when I think of elderly or vulnerable people they must be calling too. My poor brother signed up to a credit check website, and they obviously passed his details on, as after that he started getting calls about his loan application, an application which didn't exist. He got quite annoyed after they rang every ten minutes for an hour, and he ended up swearing at them, the man on the other end of the phone told him he was going to put his phone number online to get even more people to ring him. He rang his provider to change his number in the end and had to pay a fee to do so.

I normally ask them what they're wearing, they normally hang up really quickly, but the one told me how nice the suit was he was wearing, so I asked if he'd remove it for me and send me a picture, at which point he too hung up. I don't tend to get any more calls after I do this

 

[Caite]

Ha ha. Some funny ways to get rid of them.

Someone phoned up my nan (who is in her 80s) about her computer problems. I answered and told them to get lost (in slightly more unpleasant terms!) and I don't think they have ever phoned her back. My nan is under strict instructions not to give out any details over the phone or to click on any ads on websites.

I had a lady phone up from one of my credit cards. I'd forgotten to pay and she said she'd just have to take me through security. I think it was genuine but I refused and said I'd call her back. I refuse to answer all the security questions when someone phones me up.

I was in a it of a car accident about 2 months ago. Although my car was written off, I had no injuries other than a couple of bruises. Some accident claim company phoned me up about it - don't know if it was a genuine call or just that they got lucky when dialling random numbers. I had a right go at the man down the line about how much I hate accident claim companies, no win no fee lawyers, and how it is wrong when I wasn't actually injured. I was really ranting at him and shouting a bit, I think. He said they would remove my number and not call me again, and they haven't.

 

[purplerose]

It is amazing what happens via the phone with these scammers.

A few years ago, I had this very happy sounding older teen girl called "Sarah" and she said she was from a well known energy company. Who wanted to speak to me.

I said okay and let her do her thing. She said she was calling in regards to my account. I asked her to repeat her request. Again she repeated about my account.

Feeling a giggle raise up in my throat, I take a few deep breathes and said "Are you sure you got the right person."

She said "Is this "Purple Rose, 123 awesome street, Sydney?"

I said yes it is and then she went on to discuss my account.

Looking at Caller ID I saw it was from a mobile number. I stopped her and said "You are calling from "Energy Company" call centre?" She paused and thought about it, "Yes, I am."

My reply: "Thanks for calling but I do not have my name on any utilities what so ever. If you really must know, I know you are calling from a mobile not a call centre. Why don't you go do something productive with your time."

Sarah muttered a surprised and caught "Oh" and hung up. Never called back again.

 

[Gaige]

I've had the "your PC has a virus!" phone call a few times.
The first couple of times my OH answered the phone and just hung up on them as soon as they started mentioning needing "remote access" to the PC.

When he was at work one afternoon the phone rang and I picked up to hear a really frantic man telling me my PC had so many viruses the systems they use were "going mental" over it.
I giggled to myself and figured I'd have some fun as this was (by this point) the fourth or fifth time we'd had similar phone calls.

Me: "Oh my goodness, what should I do?"
Him: "It's fine, I can help you. First you need to log into your PC and then disable all of your anti-virus software and any firewalls."
Me: "Right, just doing that now.... Okay, now what should I?"
Him: "Now you need to visit this website (he gave me some very dodgy sounding website to go to) and register and make sure that you put in all of the details and specs for your PC correctly."
Me: (making noises as though I'm following every word)
Me: "I've done that, I'm really worried about my computer now, are you sure you can fix it?"
Him: "Yes absolutely, what I'm going to do is get you to allow me to log into your PC remotely and I can make sure that it is completely free of all traces of viruses."
Me: "That's brilliant, thank you so much. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't called!"
Him: "It's no trouble, just doing my job. Right so if I can take your networking details I can access your PC remotely for you."
Me: (I give him some made up information)
Him: "Hm, I don't seem to be able to find your PC. Let me keep trying."
(He then puts me on hold and I try very hard to not laugh. So far this has taken a good 20 minutes)
Him: "Sorry for the wait, would you mind if I have a word with my supervisor? I can't find your PC at all and I'm worried that the viruses are worse than I thought."
Me: "Oh wow, of course you can, that's fine."
(He goes away again and comes back 5 minutes later)
Him: "My supervisor has found the problem, but in order to fix this so I can then fix your PC I will need to take a nominal fee of £49.99."
Me: "That makes sense, let me get my card for you."
(I leave him hanging for another 5 minutes while I "search" for my card)
Me: "Right, I've got my card here; what do you need?"
(I can practically hear him rubbing his hands together now)
Him: "The long number on the front to start with, please."
Me: "Sure thing! Oh, just before I do can I ask a question?"
Him: ".......yeah.....?"
Me: "Can you still fix these problems with an iMac because that's actually what I've got?"
(He hangs up and I proceed to cry with laughter)

 

[Nats21]

The 'Windows Team' ring my mother on a daily basis. Thankfully, she doesn't fall for it, but it really frightens me when I think of elderly or vulnerable people they must be calling too. My poor brother signed up to a credit check website, and they obviously passed his details on, as after that he started getting calls about his loan application, an application which didn't exist. He got quite annoyed after they rang every ten minutes for an hour, and he ended up swearing at them, the man on the other end of the phone told him he was going to put his phone number online to get even more people to ring him. He rang his provider to change his number in the end and had to pay a fee to do so.

I normally ask them what they're wearing, they normally hang up really quickly, but the one told me how nice the suit was he was wearing, so I asked if he'd remove it for me and send me a picture, at which point he too hung up. I don't tend to get any more calls after I do this

They actually tried ringing my grandad, they kept saying his computer had a virus, the thing is he actually doesnt own a computer! They wouldnt believe him when he said it though and kept saying it had a virus, eventually he hung up on them, they havent been in touch since so im guessing it worked! Xx