Phone scams Options

[Qrbrrbl]

Just a quick heads-up. I doubt any of you tech-savvy people would actually fall for it, but always best to be aware

Just had a cold-caller on my landline (autodialler, takes a few seconds for them to pick up on the other end) from a woman claiming to be tech support for a company I couldnt quite understand. Possibly an Indian accent.

Basically, she tried to convince me I had viruses on my PC (which I know is bull, but I played along for a while).
She then had me run EventViewer and insisted that the "3,000 events" actually meant I had "3,000 viruses" on my PC. I ended up laughing her off at this point, but considering the various Warning/Error messages you get on Eventviewer I can see how this could easily fool anyone who isnt particularly PC-competent. I dont know what the next stages are (I had already wasted ten minutes arguing at this point) but I suspect it would be either a scam to gain information or some way of sending a "technician" to fix things at a premium.

Just be on guard anyway.

[Lawpf2001]

It's incredible the amount of people I get at work who ring in and say. 'I've spoken to someone claiming to be from my bank. So i gave him all bank and card details was this a genuine call?'

[Pandora92]

Wow that's the first I've ever heard of a phone scam about computer viruses, kind of ironic really.

[K.]

why does law have the same sig as pandora?????

[MonkeyFiend]

it's a last FM 'music wot I like type sig'... lol, I've never heard of scammers trying to ring up pretending to be tech support before. I had a call today for 'market research' who I promptly hung up on (it became a problem in my old rented house when I obtained quotes from every solicitor in the area to find the cheapest - the cold calls started shortly after)

That sort of thing particularily peeves me, since I often work nightshift.

Aside from getting yourself of the telephone preference service (and the royal mail equiv that I can't remember the name of) you can also get BT to block these types of call - if at first they're reluctant with the cold calling/extorsion end of things you can always mention the threats that they make

With something as choice as these cold callers, it'd be handy to get their email/phone number and report it :-)

['aL]

indeed

a friend had the same thing happen a week back , rang up claiming that they could see his PC was behind a firewall but was infected with malware despite this , and if he could just turn it on they would be able to show him , hung up at that point as he had twigged it was either a scam/hack or a sales call.

lol


The company is no doubt sending out hugely expensive "tech support" out to old and vulnerable/gullible people to "fix" their massive "virus" infections , lol

[Chisel]

Calls like this are why I never answer my landline ever, it's got an instant redirect to voicemail If someone wants me they know my mobile number.

[K.]

ditto what chis ses


if it's important they will leave a message and a tel no. , most nonsense callers give up at my answer message

[McJaffa]

TPS for the win, I hardly ever get nuisance calls just the odd automatic machine recording thing but they are rare.
Oh, and the junk mail post equivalent mentioned earlier is MPS (Mailing Preference Service) google it and register to reduce the amount of wasted paper shoved through your letterbox.

[Lawpf2001]

Actually this reminds me of an embarrasing story:

After a spate of nuisance calls from India whom my brother and myself always toyed with. We had a call one day from an Indian lady asking for my mum. To my amusement I decided to say that my mum was actually dead. When my mum got home from work i told her an Indian women was asking after her. It then twigged that the person was actually was one of my mum's good friends. Called back to apologise which she found amusing but it made for one of the most akward phone calls ever.

As for the sig it's Lastfm. Apparently me and Pandora have a Super musical compatibility.

[fido77]

lol, i get these calls all the time. never stick around to see what they are going to say tho

[Aki]

I stick to a simple rule... if you phone me and I can't understand your accent or you sound far away I just shout WHAT!?? over and over until they hang up. It took one guy 3 minutes once!

Basically if you can't talk to me in clear English you have no reason to be in my life, this includes my phone... unless I'm on holiday in your country and if that is the case I will have at least tried to master the basics of your language enough to string comprehensible sentences together before visiting, much like any sensible holiday maker would do upon visiting this country.

but yeah ... some folkz is chumps.

[Quanta]

I stick to a simple rule... if you phone me and I can't understand your accent or you sound far away I just shout WHAT!?? over and over until they hang up.

You'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel!

I don't have a problem with scam attempts lately, but they usually don't get past my phone firewall aka answering machine anyway.