Scam artists masquerading as Microsoft

Freddie59

Just one to watch. My brother-in-law (who's not very computer literate) received a call from 'Microsoft 35' the other day, informing him that he 'had some viruses on his wireless connection'. They attempt, apparently, to gain remote access to your PC, drop a trojan on it, and extract your credit card details when you use it. Luckily he didn't. Stay safe.

This is something in the same vein:

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

AhSureTisGrand

Moral of the story: don't be an eejit

Freddie59

AhSureTisGrand wrote: »

Moral of the story: don't be an eejit

Sure is - but unfortunately there will always be some poor soul who will be conned.

OutlawPete

Tell me about it, guy at the door just there trying to get me involved in a pyramid scam, said he was Bill Gates.

Karona

They rang my mam a while back and she told them that she didnt know how to turn on the computer and could they ring back when i was around. The guy on the phone got really angry with her and was telling her how to turn it on but she just told him to ring back and hung up, he never rang I would have had some fun with him

fionny

There's a massive thread on those calls in the Tech forums:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055837564

Sofaspud

Scam Artists

They are faaaaaaaaaaaaar from artists.

Mike 1972

Scam artists masquerading as Microsoft

Does not compute

Freddie59

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Does not compute

See post #1 Mike. They ring you claiming to be be 'Microsoft 35' (Microsoft 35 years this year).

aidan_walsh

Freddie59 wrote: »

See post #1 Mike. They ring you claiming to be be 'Microsoft 35' (Microsoft 35 years this year).

I believe Mike was making an Oh So Funny alluding to his notion that Microsoft are, in fact, scam artists themselves.

LighterGuy

Heard about these guys. They are mostly Indian.

SillyMangoX

Happened to my mom too, she promptly informed them that we had a mac. They hung up straight away!

suicide_circus

A similar call came in to my parents place, my dad (whose English isnt perfect) answered, patiently listened to their spiel and replied

"fuk off you prick"

My mam only heard dads side of the discussion and was unimpressed with his phone manner :pac:

LighterGuy

This is just another great example of why you should list your number as unlisted. Dont tell me these indian scammers arent using telephone books to cold call people.

But within saying that, I imagine alot are to mobile numbers too. Which in that case asks how are they getting your average persons mobile number?

Scuid Mhór

AhSureTisGrand wrote: »

Moral of the story: don't be an eejit

And GOD BLESS AMERICA

Badgermonkey

Usually say they're calling from 'Windows' in a pronounced Indian accent, just hang up or creatively annoy them.

darragh o meara

I get about 3-4 of these a week. I usually keep them stringing along for a while before telling them I have no computer and I don't intend getting one cause they are all trying to read peoples minds and someday take over the world.

Pushy little gits though. Reminds me of the time I tried to buy a laptop over the phone from dell. Spent 1.5 hrs in the phone to an Indian callcentre and despite spelling everything twice he still got it wrong. In the end when it came to pay I gave him a madeup credit card number, got 15 calls in the following days trying to close the deal. He even checked up my company email and rang me there too.

Dudess

They claim to be from other big companies too - and domestic ones.

My dad actually pondered whether one of those Nigerian king emails was genuine once (the first time he ever read one I presume) - thank god my mother was there to stop things going any further - so a phone-call to him could be jackpot time...

GalwayKiefer

I got one of those calls last year and said I'd a mac so they hung up. Friend of mine got a slightly different one a few months ago that didn't initially specify OS so when he said mac they had instructions ready - I now tell them I'm using Ubuntu and they hang up immediately. Or I slam down the phone, depending on my mood.

LighterGuy

Just out of curiousty....

to the people who got the phone calls. Were they to landline or mobile?

Dudess

LighterGuy wrote: »

This is just another great example of why you should list your number as unlisted. Dont tell me these indian scammers arent using telephone books to cold call people.

But within saying that, I imagine alot are to mobile numbers too. Which in that case asks how are they getting your average persons mobile number?

Well there is software (is that the right term?) that generates random numbers, which can be listed, unlisted or non existent.

ejmaztec

OutlawPete wrote: »

Tell me about it, guy at the door just there trying to get me involved in a pyramid scam, said he was Bill Gates.

I had a Pat Tutankhamun trying the same thing, so I kicked him up the sphinxter and he ran off.

GalwayKiefer

Dudess wrote: »

Well there is software (is that the right term?) that generates random numbers, which can be listed, unlisted or non existent.

Ya auto-dialers, if you answer your phone and there's a second's silence before noise on the line it's usually a program that's dialled the number and once it receives a response it connects an operator/sales person/scammer.

trellheim

Correct, they are telephoning unlisted numbers as well.

Hang up straight away. They are predators and scum.

TheWaterboy

Got contacted 3 times last week. They distinctly asked for me by name which they obviously got from phone book..Told him where to go but he still rang back twice more!

G.K.

We've had this a couple of times. The scammer one time showed my dad some number on the computer, claiming it to be a unique one, and it turned out to be a standard number for all computers.

fionny

G.K. wrote: »

We've had this a couple of times. The scammer one time showed my dad some number on the computer, claiming it to be a unique one, and it turned out to be a standard number for all computers.

127.0.0.1 ? :P