Weird phone call! "online pc doctor" - Only thread on these scam calls please

tonymahoney

briankearon666 wrote: »

I have no idea how to get them to stop, but when you do, let us all know. My house must have gotten 12-15 calls in the last month.

Will do Brian - the ole man is calling Comreg / Eircom tomorrow for assitance - if he gets to the bottom of it will post up a solution

tonymahoney

notnigella wrote: »

I am being tormented by this shower. I keep telling them I am not interested and have even taken to telling them that I have no PC but I still get about 3 calls a week. I found this info tonight about unsolicited calls so I am going to try this from Eircom to stop future cold calls:

http://support.eircom.net/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/&/?St=2&E=0000000000263229282&K=3042&Sxi=7&Case=obj(10950)

In the meantime I think it's time to keep an airhorn by the phone to respond to the next call......

Your link does not work .....

notnigella

OK. Go to Eircom.ie
Choose Support.
Choose Product Support.
Choose Phone.
In Top Queries choose Opt Out of Unsolicited Calls.

I have tried calling tonight but the lines only operate from 8:30am to 6:30pm.

tonymahoney

notnigella wrote: »

OK. Go to Eircom.ie
Choose Support.
Choose Product Support.
Choose Phone.
In Top Queries choose Opt Out of Unsolicited Calls.

I have tried calling tonight but the lines only operate from 8:30am to 6:30pm.

cheers thanks

Dermot Illogical

notnigella wrote: »

OK. Go to Eircom.ie
Choose Support.
Choose Product Support.
Choose Phone.
In Top Queries choose Opt Out of Unsolicited Calls.

They're in India. They're criminals. And they don't pay attention to any opt-out lists.

BostonB

Got the call, they are using an Irish phone number and claimed to have a Irish Office. Complete BS I know. Did the usual drivel about reporting them, but theres no point.

How about reporting to your phone provider, that unless they block the calls, you'll drop the phone line and switch a mobile with free land line package. In fact why not do that anyway, instead of supporting eircom. Who do nothing for you. I assume they won't ring a mobile because it costs them too much. Theres your solution right there.

RolandIRL

there was a report on midwest radio (a local radio station) about these scammers today. good to see that at least it's getting a bit more coverage.

Boom_Bap

I have not yet received any calls but know of a few people who have.

The best of which was they called my brother's mother in law and told her she had problems with her computer. She started paniking as she gets worried very quickly and is the ideal target for such a scam. The person on the other end of the phone asked her to turn on her computer so they could check some stuff out. It was at this point that she remembered that she doesnt have a computer :eek:

Anyhow, i'd like to find out the source of the information leak and how your name and number have been distributed to the 'Doctors'

- do the calls always come on your landline
- if so, is it a landline from a particular service provider or all sp's?
- are the calls to people that are with a particular ISP or all ISP's?

kearneybobs

Boom_Bap wrote: »

- do the calls always come on your landline
- if so, is it a landline from a particular service provider or all sp's?
- are the calls to people that are with a particular ISP or all ISP's?

Always on the Landline, around Midday +/- 2 hours and I'm on UPC. Must have gotten close to 15 calls from them in the last month.

BostonB

Eircom line for me. Midday. Soon to be cancelled.

demanufactured

I want them to call me so i can make ****e outa them.

jack presley

I'm Eircom for the phone as well and as well as getting the calls around midday like everyone else, I also get them around 7pm too.

I don't know are they just picking numbers at random out of the phone book and chancing their arm or whether they've managed to get their hands on the accounts of some provider or seller. My broadband is with UPC but my Dad is with Eircom so if they are getting our numbers from a list, I don't think it's from the internet supplier (unless of course they've hacked into both companies!). The only common link is that at some stage (in my case about 10 years ago) we both bought computers off Dell.

BostonB

Dell are everywhere though.

kearneybobs

Dell connection here too.

xXbusybeeXx

Iv no idea if this is being posted in the right place so im sorry in advance if it is not!

Basically i got the weirdest phone call yesterday morning from someone claiming to be from dell. She said that she was looking at my system and has seen that i have harmful infections on my laptop that is slowly destroying my hard drive and affecting all of my neighbours computers everytime i log onto a web page or send an email.

I explained to her that i run anti virus updates all the time and had ran one on tuesday and everything was clear. At this point she got really annoyed and said it wont show up on my anti virus updates because its coming through as an infection in my junk files??

I asked how I could fix this and she said to get my laptop and she would talk me through step by step how to get rid of them. I told her i was on my way to work and had no time, she got really annoyed again and told me to put my dad back on the phone (who had originally answered the phone because she rang my house) and he could do it. I told her he was also going to work she then got quite frustrated and said she would call back on Monday because i needed to do this.

Now i have no clue about what she was talking about but when i told friends they said it could have been a scam to hack my laptop or potentially make me upload a virus?

I am just wondering does anyone know if this would be something dell would do or was i been scammed? I have had the laptop for 2 years and have never heard a peep from them before, so i just thought it was all a bit suss.. I haven't had a minute to call dell themselves to ask them about this as i work all day.


Any feedback would be great!

Thanks!

copacetic

it wasn't dell.

bonzodog2

Don't go there. Educate your dad too. They just want you to visit some site that will install trojans/keyloggers/spyware on your PC. Social engineering at its worst.

l3m0n5

Think it could be related to this insert Dell for Micrsoft

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056042272

If they ring back on Monday tell them you run Linux

pieface_ie

Sounds similar to the "online pc doctor" stories, lots of in in computers thread

danjo-xx

Wouldn't it be great if Bill Gates gave this kind of a back up....we'd all feel sooooo valued and loved:D

xXbusybeeXx

Thanks everyone!

Im just completely clueless about technology so wasn't really sure what was going on. She spoke with an foreign accent and the fact that they had our surname and home number just kinda freaked me out a bit!

jack presley

xXbusybeeXx wrote: »

Thanks everyone!

Im just completely clueless about technology so wasn't really sure what was going on. She spoke with an foreign accent and the fact that they had our surname and home number just kinda freaked me out a bit!

Hang up immediately when you get these kind of calls or tell them you don't have a computer.

jack presley

copacetic wrote: »

it wasn't dell.

How do you know that for sure?

Max Power1

jack presley wrote: »

How do you know that for sure?

:rolleyes:

Seifer

Just to add to this:
I've been onto Dell tech support in the last few days. About 15 minutes after hanging up with them last Monday I got a call back from this bs.

So are the guys working in Dell India giving out phone numbers?

Thinking about it now, I had to correct the phone number on my second call as they had left the Dublin area code out from between the 353 and my house number so maybe fake numbers are the way to go with Dell.

picorette

Just received my PC doctor call from Indian Gary. Fortunately, I had read this post recently & he hung up when I hesitated to answer each question.

They are going through the Eircom phone directory as my home phone is listed in the name he asked for (not mine). Also the Caller ID came up with a Latvian mobile number 00371 6610 6528 if any body knows a way to track them down through that...

Namabillion

Indian guy called Sam called me, talked of virus, said he needed to fix it via remote access, just buy our ......
I did some research on it and found out that the same scam was in Australia a few years ago, got caught so it's being tried here now.
Funny thing is he called back the following day thinking I was someone else, so I told him I didn't have a computer. He hung up then.

http://www.microsoft.com/australia/presspass/post/Microsoft-issues-warning-on-phone-scam

Isobar

Just got a call on this scam. They claimed there is errors and malicious software on my computer and they were going to run me through how to remove them. The Indian girl on the phone said she was calling from Grey Bit Cybertech. She claimed they were based in Dame St, Dublin but couldn't give me a phone number for them, so she passed me on to her supervisor (another Indian). He couldn't give me a phone number either, but passed me back to the original girl who had found a phone number for them... it was 353 1 442 9562. I found it funny that when she gave me the number she had to include the 353 bit as we are both supposed to be in Ireland!!

BostonB

I was given the number 01-4880689 Virtual PC Doctor. They said their office was on North Earl Street.

_Whimsical_

I got a call from these before 8 am this morning,I was asleep so I'm not sure of the exact time. I sincerely hope they won't make it a regular occurrence.

The number was showing as "unavailable" on my phone.

jack presley

Sunday Business Post's journalists with a breaking news story!!

http://www.thepost.ie/news/ireland/microsoft-ireland-warns-customers-about-scam-52463.html

Seriously, this has been going on for months now and they only get wind of it now. Good investigative journalism lads, well done!

therecklessone

I'm averaging a call every two weeks from these jokers.

I'm going to buy a whistle and let rip down the line to the next one who calls.

CptSternn

therecklessone wrote: »

I'm averaging a call every two weeks from these jokers.

I'm going to buy a whistle and let rip down the line to the next one who calls.

Better yet - just tell them to stop calling or you will go out and kill a cow or two.

CptSternn

A few mates of mine get the calls every two weeks or so. They have a few things in common.

First, everyone I know who has gotten these calls are Eircom customers. Second, all are on the do not call list.

Companies have to get a copy of the do not call list so they can make sure they do not call those numbers. It looks like someone in India got the idea of getting the Eircom do not call list and using it as a cold call list for this scam.

demanufactured

CptSternn wrote: »

Better yet - just tell them to stop calling or you will go out and kill a cow or two.

Im hoping i get a call from the soon.....I have my line ready for them....


"CALL HERE AGAIN AND IM GONNA MAKE TIKKA FU.CKING MASALA OUT OF YOU!!"

Ally Dick

CptSternn wrote: »

A few mates of mine get the calls every two weeks or so. They have a few things in common.

First, everyone I know who has gotten these calls are Eircom customers. Second, all are on the do not call list.

Companies have to get a copy of the do not call list so they can make sure they do not call those numbers. It looks like someone in India got the idea of getting the Eircom do not call list and using it as a cold call list for this scam.

My dad left Eircom and went to NTL, and he got his first scam call last week as an NTL customer !

jak/mar

got 2 calls from these today.
On the second call I told I am running windows 95 and she was shocked.
Told me to event viewer and did I see any errors. I told her that there were loads and she asked did I know what these meant and I said no and she said neither do i.:D
She then passed me onto her supervisor and asked how many errors are there and i said 200 and he asked how old is the pc and i said 15 years. he then asked me what age i was and i replied with a fake age. the then told me to go to his website and fill out forms and stuff. i told him when it came to the credit card that i didn't have one. i then got a whistle and blew it as hard as i could but he didn't seem to notice. i then had to go "search" for my credit card. He kept on asking what part i was filling in and i told him that i am looking for my card. at this point ive had them on the line for 27 minutes.

How should I end this abruptly?

jak/mar

Sorry for the double post but at 35 minutes he told me to go to my wash room.
i told him a was there and he told me to look in the mirror. he told me to pull down my pants and asked if i could see my card up my backside. He was pretty mad and told me to have a nice day.
I then shouted an insulting comment down the line at him :L

demanufactured

jak/mar wrote: »

Sorry for the double post but at 35 minutes he told me to go to my wash room.
i told him a was there and he told me to look in the mirror. he told me to pull down my pants and asked if i could see my card up my backside. He was pretty mad and told me to have a nice day.
I then shouted an insulting comment down the line at him :L

LMFAO

BopNiblets

Where can you learn some colourful insults in Hindi or whatever?

patentseven

I got several of these calls. I'm UPC subscriber & he called me by my name (although mispronounced). The last time he rang I just said "Tell me something curry puff how do you know I have a computer? - he hung up.
If he rings again I'll ask him for a delivery of Lamb vindaloo, Dhal tarka, two corriander naan & poppadoms. Very nice & spicey.:P

Shtanto

Same story here. It's a bit unsettling to have a social engineering scam played on you. I'm an IT myself, so I knew this phish reeked from a mile off. I blasted him with some actual IT terminology, he couldn't talk the talk and I reckoned he knew he was dead from the first second. Good laugh for me. Still, a bit unnerving - the indian himself was of course reading a script. My folks know to consult me when anything computer related comes up, but these shysters are crafty.

The important point to get across is reporting. If you don't report these scammers to your ISP (UPC in my case), they don't have the stats to back up a response. The caller ID came up with 001111, so a fake number to be sure. Looking back, I should have run the spike on them, but I was pretty jetlagged at the time. There wouldn't have been time to set up a proper tracing honeypot.

So, Please remember to report each individual incident. ISPs need to be aware of the full scale of this problem, and it's up to us to give them figures.

ST

Have just received on of these calls. Phone rang with 3531234567 coming up on the Caller ID.
There was a second of silence and then a few seconds of music before an Indian sounding man came on the phone.

He said I have a problem with windows on my computer.

I told him I didn't have a problem with windows, my computer wasn't running windows.

This seemed to confuse him a little!

I said my computer was running linux!

He said to hold on a minute, then came back and said something like "ok then" and dissappeared.

I reckon this isn't the first time they have tried calling as the kids have answered the phone sometimes saying that there is music on the line. They have then hung up.

BTW I'm a not an Eircom customer.

Boom_Bap

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

shanebrk

Boom_Bap wrote: »

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

No, it wouldn't seem so. I built my pc myself from separate parts from a wide range of internet and bricks and motor shops ie. it's not a dell or any other brand, and i am on a vodafone phone-line and dsl broadband.

I got a call this morning and while i didn't wait around long enough to get the name of the company i'm very sure it was this same scam. I acted worried and asked if the "software malfunction" was with my win 98 pc or my win 7 pc, he said win 7 so i told him i didn't have either and hung up. They had called the last week too and i told them to get stuffed that time too. I wonder will they call again

carbsy

jak/mar wrote: »

Sorry for the double post but at 35 minutes he told me to go to my wash room.
i told him a was there and he told me to look in the mirror. he told me to pull down my pants and asked if i could see my card up my backside. He was pretty mad and told me to have a nice day.
I then shouted an insulting comment down the line at him :L

haha brilliant!

carbsy

BopNiblets wrote: »

Where can you learn some colourful insults in Hindi or whatever?

Read the book, "Shantaram".I have it upstairs, there should be some Hindi and Marathi insults in it lol

Cork24

I got one of them about a Month ago telling me i had a PC Crash that it was logged in their system, i told him how could that be he when i have a Mac?
he cut the call right after i said that

Cork24

Boom_Bap wrote: »

So a common theme seems to be Eirom and UPC are the service providers? I'm in no way pointing fingers here, just trying to narrow down on where our information has been disclosed from.

Another poster mentioned Dell. So we should look at the source of where we have purchased our hardware.

Is it only people who have purchased from Dell getting the calls?
Is it only people who have bought thier machines online?
Is it only people who have bough in a brix and mortar shop like Dixons/PC World/Harvey Normans?

i got my Mac in Harvey Normans did'nt have a phone so gave o2 number.

got in UPC phone so how did they get the numbers i dont hand my house phone out, i dont fill it in either with bank forms etc. just my o2 number i can always change that.

osnola ibax

My dad got a call from care4windows.com, has anyone come across this name or know if they are legit? The phone call seemed to go the way as the previous anecdotes. Lady had an Indian accent and he was passed on to two other blokes then.