Just had a guy on the phone who's english was almost non existent. He claimed that a recent windows update has caused a virus and my computer will run slow and eventually stop. He said they had been monitoring my computer for two days and it is running slow, they are trying to help me. He asked me to switch my computer on, it was already on, I refused and said goodby.
beware
- Thread starter newt
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
Shane
Established Member
I had that call a while back as well, told him to FO :lol:
Pvt_Ryan
Established Member
You should have played him. Keep him on the call as long as possible, even try and get him to "help" with some computer problems you are having.. Just act a complete silly person.
After all it costs them to call you in both phone charges & time. If everyone they called kept them on the call for 15-30min "doing what they want" they would be bankrupt in a few weeks.
After all it costs them to call you in both phone charges & time. If everyone they called kept them on the call for 15-30min "doing what they want" they would be bankrupt in a few weeks.
Shane
Established Member
Off The net................
I got a call on the 16th of January with an "out of area" (ie: overseas, not "uk withheld") caller ID.
He had a thick strong accent and started off by saying:
"Hello Mr Marshall, this is the Windows XP service provider - we have had a report from your computer that it is infected". Well, that's not my name, but one I use on forms where I think spam might result.
At this point, I started recording the call - the only problem is that the recording is illegible! I'm trying to clean it up so will post as soon as I do - I've got a blog post about this scam at http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/fake-t...-logmein123com
I was also noting it down, and here's what he told me to do:
Go to the start>run menu and type in
"p as in peter, r as in romeo, e as in echo, f as in foxtrot" - etc etc, to cut a long story short, he wanted me to type in
"prefetch virus" in the run prompt. As it happens, I know exactly what that would do - it simply opens the windows prefetch folder. The word "virus" is ignored
(For a bit more info on what this normal windows folder is, click here. As a rule, however, unless you know exactly what the result is going to be do not start following instructions random strangers tell you to do!)
"OK sir, can you please tell me how many files there are?"
I told him 30.
"Oh my gosh, this is a sign of very heavy infection. You must not touch these files. [about the only truthful part of the call]. Please now clear this box and type 'temp' and press enter".
Again, "your computer has very heavy infection with so many files". He then babbled some rubbish about how these file were your f-a-t32 system files and that "at any time these files could scratch your hard drive". Riiiighhhht.....
Then came the money shot. "We will connect you now with an agent, please go to http://www.log....
As I had full armoury on (google toolbar, avg, running Chrome etc), so I decided to check it out. It redirected to https://secure.log.....
After some chitchat in which he confirmed my (incorrect, spamtrap) home address, he then said "I will now connect you to an agent - for this there is just a small one-time charge of £12".
Before I let him take my details, I said I wanted to check what company it was. Again, he said it was "your Windows XP service provider" (whatever the hell that means).
To the answer "where are you based and what is your name", bear in mind this man had a VERY thick/strong Indian accent and was calling from a scratchy overseas number.
"My name is Kevin Watts and we are based in Bradford". Gold-dust! You couldn't make it up! (Well, he obviously had).
I asked him to hold while I got my card. I put it on speakerphone and went down to make a cup of tea. I brewed up a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea, found a biscuit, did a bit of washing up, and went back upstairs. FIVE MINUTES later he was still going "Mr Marshall? Can you hear me?". Nothing if not persistant! I then just decided to have a bit of fun and pretended he'd been put through to the UK police! Immediately, a supervisor (another strong Indian accent) came on the line sounding very surprised, and claimed that "Mr Marshall contacted us"!
I got a call on the 16th of January with an "out of area" (ie: overseas, not "uk withheld") caller ID.
He had a thick strong accent and started off by saying:
"Hello Mr Marshall, this is the Windows XP service provider - we have had a report from your computer that it is infected". Well, that's not my name, but one I use on forms where I think spam might result.
At this point, I started recording the call - the only problem is that the recording is illegible! I'm trying to clean it up so will post as soon as I do - I've got a blog post about this scam at http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/fake-t...-logmein123com
I was also noting it down, and here's what he told me to do:
Go to the start>run menu and type in
"p as in peter, r as in romeo, e as in echo, f as in foxtrot" - etc etc, to cut a long story short, he wanted me to type in
"prefetch virus" in the run prompt. As it happens, I know exactly what that would do - it simply opens the windows prefetch folder. The word "virus" is ignored
(For a bit more info on what this normal windows folder is, click here. As a rule, however, unless you know exactly what the result is going to be do not start following instructions random strangers tell you to do!)
"OK sir, can you please tell me how many files there are?"
I told him 30.
"Oh my gosh, this is a sign of very heavy infection. You must not touch these files. [about the only truthful part of the call]. Please now clear this box and type 'temp' and press enter".
Again, "your computer has very heavy infection with so many files". He then babbled some rubbish about how these file were your f-a-t32 system files and that "at any time these files could scratch your hard drive". Riiiighhhht.....
Then came the money shot. "We will connect you now with an agent, please go to http://www.log....
As I had full armoury on (google toolbar, avg, running Chrome etc), so I decided to check it out. It redirected to https://secure.log.....
After some chitchat in which he confirmed my (incorrect, spamtrap) home address, he then said "I will now connect you to an agent - for this there is just a small one-time charge of £12".
Before I let him take my details, I said I wanted to check what company it was. Again, he said it was "your Windows XP service provider" (whatever the hell that means).
To the answer "where are you based and what is your name", bear in mind this man had a VERY thick/strong Indian accent and was calling from a scratchy overseas number.
"My name is Kevin Watts and we are based in Bradford". Gold-dust! You couldn't make it up! (Well, he obviously had).
I asked him to hold while I got my card. I put it on speakerphone and went down to make a cup of tea. I brewed up a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea, found a biscuit, did a bit of washing up, and went back upstairs. FIVE MINUTES later he was still going "Mr Marshall? Can you hear me?". Nothing if not persistant! I then just decided to have a bit of fun and pretended he'd been put through to the UK police! Immediately, a supervisor (another strong Indian accent) came on the line sounding very surprised, and claimed that "Mr Marshall contacted us"!
Pvt_Ryan
Established Member
Priceless.
I told a sales guy that "I" was in the toilet and would be out in a few min if he would hold. Left him in the bedroom closed the door and came back 15min later and he was still there. I think He actually held for ~25min in the end.
I told a sales guy that "I" was in the toilet and would be out in a few min if he would hold. Left him in the bedroom closed the door and came back 15min later and he was still there. I think He actually held for ~25min in the end.
studders
Established Member
I doubt they are paying for the calls, they probably use someone elses line illegally.
Pvt_Ryan
Established Member
A lot of them do pay, you have to spend money to make money even if you are a scammer.
Going to setup a VM at home just incase they call. I sooooo hope they do, tbh it would make my week to have a call (or 6) from them.
Going to setup a VM at home just incase they call. I sooooo hope they do, tbh it would make my week to have a call (or 6) from them.
George Foweraker
Established Member
You have more patiance than me Shane.
As soon as somebody comes on my phone speaking Bad English i tell them to water of and i put the phone down.
Regards George
As soon as somebody comes on my phone speaking Bad English i tell them to water of and i put the phone down.
Regards George
Pvt_Ryan
Established Member
Harbo":37u9vkiw said:
Virtual Machine.
Allows you to run a computer from within a computer. The advantage is you can let them connect to your VM and install whatever they want then after you have recorded it / get bored you can just delete it..
http://www.vmware.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/
http://www.virtualbox.org/
Shane
Established Member
George Foweraker":gz1rij9i said:
I'm much the same George, I just copied that spiel from another forum, but the unwanted links I trimmed down to stop anyone clicking on them by mistake
Dodge
Established Member
Sarah and I always use these calls to check our smoke alarms - when they phone we hold our mobile handset against it and hold the test button.
Works every time!
We get a kick out of piercing their ear drums and they do us a favour because we know our smoke alarms are working as they should!
:lol: :lol:
Works every time!
We get a kick out of piercing their ear drums and they do us a favour because we know our smoke alarms are working as they should!
:lol: :lol:
Shane
Established Member
Dodge":20r4lx88 said:
Brilliant idea, I'm gonna give that a go as well :lol: :lol: :lol:
Dodge
Established Member
What gets me more is spam texts - the other day my little lad told me if I ever lost my pen he could help find it - asking what he meant he told me that he had a text on his phone on his way to school that morning - he had deleted it but he told me that it said something about an easy way of finding where your larger pen-is or was.
Luckily he didn't realise exactly what they were trying to sell - but after he had gone to bed my wife and I wet ourselves laughing.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Rog
Luckily he didn't realise exactly what they were trying to sell - but after he had gone to bed my wife and I wet ourselves laughing.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Rog
DIY Stew
Established Member
I suffer from severe hearing loss and have hearing aids in both ears, whenever I get any crank call or double glazing, kitchen, or plastic facia's salemen etc., I explain I have hearing aids so can they speak slowly and clearly, as I always put the phone on speaker I sit there and p**s myself laughing when the person on the phone speaks like this so slowly it would take forever to sell me anything. Then I usually end the call by saying sorry, "I just cant understand you " that is unless they have ended the call early because of there frustration.
Stew :lol:
Stew :lol:
mike s
Established Member
keeping them on the phone might actually benefit them.
if they work for a company their boss will look at the amount of time spent on the phone and pay him by the hour
just a thought
if they work for a company their boss will look at the amount of time spent on the phone and pay him by the hour
just a thought
Pvt_Ryan
Established Member
mike s":g2tj9nbm said:
not for those calls. they'll get paid by the number of people they "sell" to successfully.
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Not a scam as these are and very funny with it too! But a mate of mine in Gloucester had a cold call from a company selling conservatories. He said that he was really interested and was talking to the woman for about 20 minutes or so. They had decided what colour glass, how many power points, type of flooring and all sorts of details. He was really enthusiastic about it all and eventually she got to making an appointment for the tekky bloke to come round to do all the measuring and what address? When he told her it was Flat B 14 Such and Such Road she asked him if it was a ground floor flat? He had a nice little first floor jobbie! She was NOT impressed and said that she thought that his mother was a sport! (She actually called him a berstuard or something like that :shock: :shock: )
No sense of adventure some people?
No sense of adventure some people?
