Anyone getting random calls from Windows team?

[billy2981]

I have been getting calls from some indian fella this last few days

 

he says Ive got a virus on my computer and its corrupted the hardware?

 

he calls and wants me to switch on my pc and let him know so he can show me the problems?

 

sounds funny to me like he is using the open voice line to somehow get access to my pc?

 

whats the thoughts?

[dave_l]

Don't fall for it. This has been going on years. If you want a laugh you can play along and keep doing the steps wrong and upset them.

Other than that tell them you own a mac.

[philbes]

I had a call (Indian accent)  from "Windows Support".  I said I was rather busy at the moment but if he gave me his phone number I would call him back.  Strangely he cut me off!

 

The father of a friend was taken in by this and ended up paying over £200 via his credit card.

[Sippo]

Biggest Scam of all time.

 

[Brijo]

....Other than that tell them you own a mac.

Agreed.  I have met these gentlemen, I think, or their cousins more than once.  They 'can tell' that there is a virus in my Windows 7 and they can show me where the fault is.  I ask how they can 'tell' when I run Mac?  :S

[BJB540]

Agreed.  I have met these gentlemen, I think, or their cousins more than once.  They 'can tell' that there is a virus in my Windows 7 and they can show me where the fault is.  I ask how they can 'tell' when I run Mac?  :S

 

Do they promptly hang up or shout swear words at you, that's what seems to happen to me when I say I've got a Mac. Quite funny really.

[David 8]

Give them the answer that begins with F and ends with F 

[DGW]

I got similar calls over a number of years until I changed my landline number. The link below is one of many which explain the scam.

http://money.aol.co.uk/2013/02/11/this-computer-virus-scam-will-cost-you-big/

[Eddie-NL]

I love these calls

 

I string them along

[Blackline Stu]

I find it funny when they are from windows to string them along by asking when they are installing my new double glazing and pretending to be really thick and not understanding that they are on about a computer

[Dr Zoidberg]

I've never had one phone me.
Shame, as I'd like to have a bit of fun at their expense.

[Robjon]

I tell them the call is being recorded for security reasons, then ask them to provide name and 'phone number.

 

Strangely, they usually hang up and I never hear from them again.

[mbames]

I put one of the guys on hold while I finished off some plumbing at home.  After that waste of 10 minutes we then started the download of a goto my PC client, but I pretended it was only downloading at a few bytes/second..... then my machine BSoD, and we had to wait for it to boot up again...

 

haha, I think I wasted a good 45-60 minutes of his time.

[whitep]

ha ha, does he sound er... foreign? I had them call up, i couldnt hold back. they hung up

[Chappers.]

I've had a few of these calls and the wife usually rolls her eyes when she realised that I'm on the phone to them again.

 

I love winding them up and can spend quite some time at it. The best reaction I had after 10 minutes of keeping them on the phone acting stupid (not difficult for me if I'm honest) and telling them that I was scared that my faulty computer would catch fire and kill all of my family in a horrific inferno was the chap telling me to switch off the computer, open a window and throw it out! He then called me an unrepeatable name that I wasn't christened before hanging up.  

[James I]

^^ me too, I usually go through the questions and then say "I don't have a start button, I have a Mac" or when he starts about connecting through the remote access that they do, I say, "this is a bit long winded, there are better ways to hack a PC, by the way, I am a microsoft engineer"

 

 Both of the above usually end up with them hanging up.

 

 People who are sucked in by them deserve what they get IMO.

[billy2981]

Lol he has called 3 times today lol

Asked me if my pc was running so I played car noises down the phone.

They are persistant tho he didnt hang up lol.

Need some gun shots for next time I think

[gadgetman]

Lol he has called 3 times today lol

Asked me if my pc was running so I played car noises down the phone.

They are persistant tho he didnt hang up lol.

Need some gun shots for next time I think

Bit like that guy who got the scammer by making him think he'd phone a murder scene?

[Welsh_kai_boy]

I told the guy "how can I have a problem if I am so poor I can't afford a computer?" He hung up.

 

I have also had good arguments with agents after pressing 9 to talk to an agent, one had the audacity to ask why I pressed 9 and wasted his time.

[Lady Elanore]

I kept the chap on the line nearly half an hour the last time every time he told me to do something I screamed he had crashed the computer and I had the blue screen of death. Eventually I over did it by asking if he could tell what operating system I was using. He twigged and told me to F*** off

[dave_l]

Or answer with 'swimming pool deep end' or 999 what servoce do you require and politely explain that they shouldn't be callin the emergency services with out needing them

[VWD]

My son ,just keeps egging this lot on , then asks if they can tell him how to do it on a Mac. But ,he's sadistic- he's going for a record of keeping them occupied.

[BJB540]

 People who are sucked in by them deserve what they get IMO.

 

Not sure that's fair, there's a lot of non tech savvy people and they don't know the difference between Windows versions let alone whether their PC is chucking bugs out into the interwebs.

 

It's the vulnerable people that unfortunately do get caught out. I mean my generation has grown up with PC's and I work in IT. So to me it's a load of tosh, but my Gran who was brought up well before fire was even discovered, struggles with the simple tasks of just getting into her emails occasionally.

 

So to say people who are sucked into them deserve it I don't think is always fair. It all comes to trust I guess. But to be fair when we go into a bar and order a round of drinks or whatever, we hand over our bank cards, we trust no one is doing anything dodgy then. Same principal in effect in my opinion. People don't understand the harm these people can do with 10 minutes of access to their machines.

 

But I do also understand the counter argument, if you don't understand seek help. Don't hand over your bank details, call back for confirmation etc.

[GentleGiant]

My bank card never leaves my sight; if they cant bring the card machine to me - or take me to the card machine, they dont get paid.

[TeflonTom]

I don't get it... I'm quite old school. I just won't talk to Indians or any foreigners on the phone, I don't care who they are or where they are from, Lloyd's bank, car insurance, or whatever... If I get some Indian call me up I just tell them to F off and hang up on them... And to be fair I think most folks of a certain generation are like that too, it can't be bothered wasting my time talking to somebody who I can't understand a word of and having to keep saying "eh what?" All the time...