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Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam!



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Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam!

So I received a phone call on my home landline phone just earlier that was from someone called "Computer Hardware Technical Department" or something telling me that they had detected some problems with my PC and that I may possibly be infected with some malware or viruses and they was going to walk me through what to do to remove the infection.

I played dumb at first but I already knew this was a scam. He asked me what keys on my keyboard are next to the key with the Windows logo on it. I told him I don't have that key. He said okay on the right side what key is the one next to control key. I told him that it was the ALT key. Anyway, basically he said I want you to press the Windows key and the R key together. I said well why didn't you just say that in the first place and he didn't seem to understand what I was saying.

Anyway, it was then that I asked him "Am I subscribed to you then"? And he said "yes" which was a complete lie of course. I said "Okay so who are you then?" And he said "I've told you". I said "yeah but what is the name or your company, are you calling from Microsoft?" and he said "Yes sir". Another complete lie. I then asked him for his name and he told me his name was "Steve". An Indian guy called Steve!? That was a first for me seeing as that's a predominately English name. Anyway, I then asked him to tell me his website. He said "why?" I said, "well so I can confirm who you are". And he said "Yaghistan" or something? I was like you what? He said again "Yaghistan" I said, "no "Steve", that's not a website address is it, that's the name of a country and his reply was "Yes". So at this point I just called his bluff and said look "Steve", I know this is a scam, for starters there's no Indian guy called Steve, you're not Microsoft and there is nothing wrong with my computer. You are just trying it on and I think what you do is absolutely disgusting and you should be deeply ashamed at yourself. Have you no morals? Why are you trying to trick people and lying about who you are for? I then told him that I will be forwarding his number to the police and he said "Okay" and hung up!

People take note! This is a massive scam! They call you up pretending to be from Microsoft and tell you there is a problem with your computer and they they need to "dial in" to it using remote desktop connection tool. But all they actually do is install some malware on your computer that tries to steal your login details for sites and even gain access to your bank account so they can syphon the money to their account.

Whenever someone calls you telling you they have found problems with your PC. NEVER EVER believe them! It is a SCAM!

I actually have his phone number (it wasn't withheld) and am thinking about contacting BT and the police about this. But I'm having second thoughts because let's be honest, no crime was actually committed here so they will probably tell me to fob off until it has or something typical of the police which is fair enough I guess though.

But what do you think I should do? Should I report this? To Microsoft? To BT? To the police?

Has this ever happened to you before? Have you had a call like this?

Comments

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Cristian
Thanks for the info mate. Impressive how desperate scammers had become. Anyways I would never give info to people claiming to be some authority over the phone. Cheers.



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CryptoGuru
smart guy and i think we all need to have that mindset , i am not really in to the thought of giving my info over the phone either it is just common sense you know you can always tell when something is fishy that is for sure, i am already a big enough skeptic as it is so if i were to get a call like this i would probably just hand up right away but you know it all depends on the person you can not really tell were things will go you just have to make sure you are aware of what is going on.



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Everett
You should never give any details over the phone, other than the verification details that are on your accounts (eg: internet/phone company). Those "technical support" scams are all too common. They call EVERYWHERE, and I mean everywhere. This is such a problem that there are Youtube channels dedicated to exposing the technical support fraud.

If you ever get a call from "Microsoft", "Apple", or any other major corporation you should just hang out and then contact the corporation and get in touch with their real representatives, or support agents. I don't think they would even call you, they don't have the man power to call millions of people, or even thousands daily.

Great job on catching the scam!



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CryptoGuru
wow thank you for this man really it is a big help i am usually good at seeing a scam form a mile a way,the fact that you called this out saves me all the trouble lol the last thing i plan on doing is allowing some one too fool me in to installing malware in to my pc i can not afford it that would really set me back and have me in my feelings to be honest i would not be able to let my self off if i were too allow my self too fall for something like that



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TommyCarey
My girlfriends father got a call almost identical to this when I was over there a few weeks ago. He got a call on his home phone from a restricted number but he answered anyway since it's a landline and nothing can really get infected. The guy on the other line was telling my girlfriends father that he had an infection and he MUST fix it right away. Now my girlfriends dad is old, but he's not a dumb guy and knew the dude on the other line was just trying to scam him out of his money. After he asked a couple questions, my girlfriends dad hung up the phone.

The guy called back!!!!! LOL Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam!

So now I answered ;)

I say "hello" and they guy on the other line, who's obviously from India, says "Hello sir we were disconnected" lol Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam! He didn't realize it was me, he though it was still my girlfriends dad on the phone. So obviously I had to start screwing with this guy Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam! I asked the guy what was going on with my computer and he reiterated that I had a virus. So I asked him what kind of virus I had and he said "A really bad virus". So now I ask "Ok, what part of my computer is infected" he replied "It's your operating system". I knew he was full of shit and was just trying to get something installed on the laptop lol. I ask the guy "Well, what operating system am I using? If you know I have a virus on my laptop and it's in my OS, then you should know what OS I have, right?" he was ballsy and took a guess lol. He said "Sir, you have windows 10!" and I said "Nope, I have windows 7 Vista"..... THEN HE HUNG UP ON ME LOL Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam!



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Lynne
Haha nice one. These scammers are bold aren't they. He had to take a guess when you put him in that position. It is just a pity that so many people don't ask questions.

I keep being told I have won competitions but I haven't entered any.



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TommyCarey
yeah, it's pretty pathetic that they target people via the phone book lol. I couldn't tell if it was someone from India who was in the US and running the scam or if it was a call center in India doing it. I couldn't tell because the number was blocked. If I had the number I would have tried to reverse track it and figure out where they were lol Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam!

My girlfriends father has gotten this call before and he actually took his computer into a repair store to get it fixed because of what the people on the phone were saying. The tech guy said his computer was perfectly fine and that the number that called him (it wasn't blocked before) wasn't actually a phone number from windows support, who they claimed to be back then. It seems that they refine their script every time they get caught up lol Beware of the PC Technical Phone Call Scam! Luckily the tech guy didn't charge him anything and was pretty cool about it.



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Lynne
I get so many emails, texts, phone calls and private messages on social media that are scams. I just let rip when this happens.

The fact is that I haven't won any money in a competition because I don't enter competitions. I have no money due back to me by SARS or anyone else that needs my banking details.... there is no reason for anyone to contact me regarding anything. If I have a problem with my pc I will take it to my IT guys....



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Lynne
Oh and this is my favorite one.

When I was married for just 2 weeks, barely back from my honeymoon I got a private message on LinkedIn from a "lawyer" saying that they have been searching for me because some rich relative has just died leaving me millions in inheritance.

This relative had my new marital surname hahahaa. I told him, yes this relative I have never met must have just been waiting for me to marry into the family so he can leave me all his money. Idiots.



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Topseoservice
This is very sad. Recently there were Police raids in India and some of the guys who were running such companies sent behind the bar. However there are many more companies in Indian subcontinent whose only job is to call people in US, UK and European countries. What is more shocking, most people falls pray to these scams. Only solution as I see is to make people aware about these scams.



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Corzhens
I have read your post twice but I seem not to understand how that guy Steve could enter your computer. He is on the phone, all right, and the question again is how could he infect your computer with a virus or something? Granted that I give the guy all the information about my computer connection that he is asking for, still, he cannot connect to my computer simply because it is not that simple. There are protocols that he must bypass not to mention the firewall and anti-virus that also blocks illegal invasion. Pardon me if I am wrong on my assumption.



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