"I am calling you from the Windows Department of Technical Support"

Johnny_Fontane · 27-06-2014 12:54PM

They got my relation on this last week.

It was too late by the time I found out.

They took 153, 253 and 353 via western union on his card. Kept on coming back saying that card doesnt work. He gave them a german card aswell.

I found out by pure chance from my mum as it was happening. I was asking her, how he was getting on (in general) and she said, ah he's on the phone to microsoft trying to get his computer fixed and they only charge €8! Tried to stop it and got him to cancel asap but it was too late. In the space of 20 minutes nearly €700 was gone.

He's a guy in his late 60's and it nearly killed him, he was seriously depressed for at least a week.

My question in all of this is simple.
How did BOI allow this transaction in his credit card? I hold them responsible. guy has never used western union in his life, suddenly three transactions in 4 minutes to WEstern union in India. At amounts of 153, 253 and 353. How in the world did he not get a call from them to verify the transactions.

I have gotten a number of calls to verify purchases when I'm abroad and at home with MBNA. I just cannot understand how these transactions didnt set off some sort of alarm bells in BOI.

And BOI are washing their hands of it. Its his fault. He gave the numbers, even though he agreed that only €8 would be taken off card.

Funnily enough, he got a call from his german bank about the transactions and they stopped them from going through.

flutered · 27-06-2014 02:22PM

a revieved a call from them yesterday, i usedthe shrill whistle so loudly that my grandkids for a fright, dunno about the guy on the other end, if he had headfones on i guess he may have a thouch of tintinitus, ah well its a riskey buisness.

Gongoozler · 27-06-2014 02:28PM

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

I hold them responsible.

Ah come on, really??

nelly17 · 27-06-2014 03:04PM

The word ubuntu normally just makes them hang up

lynski · 27-06-2014 03:17PM

nelly17 wrote: »

The word ubuntu normally just makes them hang up

not so after I played with caller no 1 and eventually said oh maybe i cant find that button because i am using that thing mmm what did you call it, oh yeah ubuntu. i got a 'senior technical adviser' call me back I held him on the line while my child got some random crap they wanted, then while i booted, logged in and 'answered' the door and when they gave me the url they wanted me to go to i hung up. they called me back again, oh we got disconnected, did we?, yes yes, ah no you scumbag i hung up, what what?, you are a scumbag I hung up.

On a serious note I am pretty convinced that the calls are being facilitated by the use of third world countries for 'customer service' as they knew some details that point in that direction.

Bog Standard User · 27-06-2014 04:05PM

people who get scammed deserve to be duped... when has the real microsoft or eircom ever called you up out of the blue to tell you that you have a virus or slow connection?... people need to stop being so naive

Day Lewin · 27-06-2014 04:10PM

I get these so regularly that I have a well-tried method which I have used often.
I have bookmarked a couple of YouTube videos, about computer repairs or software, in some Indian language such as Urdu or Bengali etc
Whenever I get the scam calls, I just call up the Youtube and lay the phone receiver down beside the speakers.
(Physician, heal thyself!)
Pick up the phone after a few minutes and they're always gone.

Adamantium · 27-06-2014 06:45PM

Bog Standard User wrote: »

people who get scammed deserve to be duped... when has the real microsoft or eircom ever called you up out of the blue to tell you that you have a virus or slow connection?... people need to stop being so naive

Your cover has been blown, Bog Standard User. If that is your real name..? :pac:

Johnny_Fontane · 30-06-2014 01:55PM

Gongoozler wrote: »

Ah come on, really??

I'm sorry but yes. I dont understand how transactions like this dont set alarm bells ringing all over the shop within the banks.

guy is in his late 60's.
Never used western union before
amounts of €153, €253 and €353 in a matter of minutes.

Funnily enough the german bank didnt let it go through.

In this overzealous time of incredible tight AML, yes, I'm very surprised, that BOI did not call the cardholder.

Tea 1000 · 30-06-2014 02:07PM

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

I'm sorry but yes. I dont understand how transactions like this dont set alarm bells ringing all over the shop within the banks.

guy is in his late 60's.
Never used western union before
amounts of €153, €253 and €353 in a matter of minutes.

Funnily enough the german bank didnt let it go through.

In this overzealous time of incredible tight AML, yes, I'm very surprised, that BOI did not call the cardholder.

I agree, the bank should be pro-active. AIB aren't too bad, and MBNA are very good for this. He should have pretended he didn't give out any details to anyone and who accessed his card? They'd just have reimbursed him!

RoboRat · 30-06-2014 02:08PM

I'm sorry but yes. I dont understand how transactions like this dont set alarm bells ringing all over the shop within the banks.

I agree, I have used BOI for transferring money via WU (genuine transactions) and both times BOI have restricted until they got a hold of me to verify that they were real.

My brother got done by scammers. they rang him and told him that they were from Microsoft and he had to update his windows, gave him some info that they obviously got from his IP and he was hooked. Thankfully he rang me... I just told him that Microsoft has hundreds of millions of customers globally and how could they possibly call them all? That made some sense to him and he managed to cancel his cards.

Johnny_Fontane · 30-06-2014 02:25PM

Tea 1000 wrote: »

I agree, the bank should be pro-active. AIB aren't too bad, and MBNA are very good for this. He should have pretended he didn't give out any details to anyone and who accessed his card? They'd just have reimbursed him!

thats the thing. The guy is 100% honest, hes german. BOI have wiped their hands of it.

I'm with MBNA and to be honest, have had a number of calls in the past.

Not sure where he can go though.
Anyone have any ideas of what he can do in relation to it? BOI have been a disgrace so far, putting him on hold for 40 minutes (more than once) and shopping him around from person to person.

SoapMcTavish · 30-06-2014 03:03PM

These guys call me regularly - from "windows Support", and I ask if they can hold while I just finish something, then I put on some pron ( pref some desi stuff especially for them )and put the phone next to speaker ...... they tend to listen for 10-20 mins before hanging up .....

miss no stars · 30-06-2014 03:24PM

Bog Standard User wrote: »

people who get scammed deserve to be duped... when has the real microsoft or eircom ever called you up out of the blue to tell you that you have a virus or slow connection?... people need to stop being so naive

Not everyone's tech savvy. My grandmother has an internet connection so that anyone who stays with her can get online. If they rang her she'd fall for it hook line and sinker. She doesn't even have a computer but she'd volunteer "oh is that for the internet?" or something like that to them. She's from a different era, internet and laptops and ipads are a dark art to her. I was sent up to figure out why her internet wasn't working. She had the router unplugged. :rolleyes: If they told her a virus could get in she'd probably be thinking "I can't afford to be unwell, sure I'm unwell enough as it is! And with my osteo problems I can't afford to be off my food" and whip out the credit card.

I must leave her a set of instructions actually about what to do if someone phones about microsoft windows.

The other risk is she'd think it'd be for her actual windows and would pay over the phone for a new set of double glazed windows and they'd just take the money.

My nanny doesn't deserve to be scammed, she's just old and doesn't understand technology.

I actually had a call from one a couple of weeks ago. Their accents are getting better. This guy's accent was almost American. It was so good you'd hardly believe it.

mjbo · 15-11-2014 03:32PM

desertcircus wrote: »

Has nobody been tempted to try some more adventurous methods of keeping them on the line? Claiming you've got a dead body in a third-floor apartment in the middle of the city, you broke your computer in half producing the dead body, and you'll absolutely, definitely do exactly what they say and buy whatever they want if they can just talk you through the best method of disposing of the corpse?

Cannot say I was as adventurous as this but I had one of these calls yesterday from "Peter" and knew immediately that it was a scam. I decided to play along and first started saying (all seriously) that I couldn't find the start button on the computer and could he help me. I eventually said that I think I found the button but it was a big red button and it had a sign over it saying do not push (a bit reminiscent of Dougal in Fr Ted on the airplane). Decided to move on then and told Peter that the police were watching me and if anyone called about my computer that they would also like to speak to that person. I asked Peter if I gave him the telephone number and name of the policeman would he mind giving him a call. Peter kept saying yes to this and unfortunately I giggled so he tweaked what was going on. That was when the swearing started on his part so I decided to join in and give as good as I was getting. He was very frustrated at the end of the call for wasting his time so after one last f**k o*f from me I just hung up. Believe me I really enjoyed it and am thinking up what I will say the next time I get a call. The dead body sounds a good one so will keep that in reserve. My wife had one of these calls a few weeks back but she was too nice and just said we had no computer.

gidget · 15-11-2014 04:20PM

We've actually had 3 of these in as many weeks, we've had Victor, Mark & a lady called Geeta so far. Apparently there's a Microsoft Headquarters in Dublin 8 nowadays. Geeta got my father & the call went " Hi this is Geeta from ????", my dad's response "Ah hello Geeta, this is Detective Sargent William McGonagle from Bridewell Garda Station", call was hastily terminated.

solomafioso · 15-11-2014 04:23PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UE_Q1pprEg

spurious · 15-11-2014 04:27PM

I get these every so often.

Latest one I pretended to be very worried about the 'problem with my computer' and asked was it the one upstairs or the downstairs one.

'The downstairs one' he said.

'Oh' I said 'the one that has Linux on it?' 'Oh no, the upstairs one' he said.

Gave me a bit of a laugh for a few minutes and then I hung up.

Riamfada · 15-11-2014 04:31PM

I had them on the phone for 30 minutes. It was great crack. I love these calls

I usually just click random stuff so when they ask me to press start I usually open firefox and tell them im ive googled "start" but not sure what they mean. When I eventually get to the registry I respond with "ive a masters in computer science so **** off"

solomafioso · 15-11-2014 04:38PM

Riamfada wrote: »

I had them on the phone for 30 minutes. It was great crack. I love these calls

Fixed. :pac:

Witchie · 15-11-2014 05:19PM

A few weeks ago I got one such call. Told them in no uncertain terms to never call this number again.

Later that day, very very stressed out doing college work, dealing with family problems and getting ready for rehearsals for a play I'm in, they made the mistake of ringing back.

I recognised the number answered and screamed "f**k off" at topvof my voice.

Felt so much better and less stressed after so would like to thank them! They haven't rang back either so win win.

Little CuChulainn · 15-11-2014 05:36PM

Can you ring me back on my main line? It's 014748900. Ask for Annie Lyons.

sheesh · 15-11-2014 10:16PM

Friends grandmother kept them on for 15 minutes and finally told them she had no computer and hung up

Lingua Franca · 16-11-2014 01:31AM

Hasn't anyone tried speaking the old mother tongue to them? It's how I brush off chuggers and scam artists in other countries."Tá mé buartha, ach ní féidir liom labhairt i mBearla. No, no eengleesh."

petronius · 16-11-2014 08:45PM

I have tried the irish and they have quickly hung up
i try this with scam artists on holidays away who try english, german, french, spanish....

"I am calling you from the Windows Department of Technical Support"

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