Windows phone scam back again.

[akiramoto]

I remember getting a call from here and I played along with the scam to see what they do exactly. These guys make you open up the event viewer and look for errors (which of course you will find), then gasp and moan when you tell them you found one and inform you that it's a deadly virus which is about to zap your PC. Then he made my go to a site called ammyy and wanted to take remote control and this is when I told him I knew it was a hoax.

He just scuffed and hung up

[speckytecky]

Why is it that our law enforcement employees don't seem to be able to track down and prosecute these evil people? Surely this is something our politicians could back that they could get right - for a change!!!

[Iain.Faulkner]

I've just had these people ring up :-)

I had them so confused when I told them I didn't have a PC/laptop :-) apparently everyone has to have one, you can't exist without one :-)

After arguing with him that I had no laptop, he told me I was clearly missing a brain and wouldn't be able to cope with a PC even if I did have one :-)

[Arthur]

These guys make you open up the event viewer and look for errors (which of course you will find)

What happens if you have a Mac or Linux PC?

Would they hang up when they find out you aren't using Windows?

[twin--turbo]

What happens if you have a Mac or Linux PC?

Would they hang up when they find out you aren't using Windows?

After a year or two they started to understand when somone said "I have Linux" and hung up.

So I just have a nice expendable VM of XP so that I can string them allong

Rob

[SYNACK]

I would love to get one of these calls. I would love to play the arcitypeal user for once.

But the screen is black
It's making a funny noise
The button won't work
I'm pointing the mouse at the screen but it is not doing anything
Where's the any key
I don't have any boots, can I just kick it with a shoe

[AMLightfoot]

I've been plagued by this. When we got our phone line fitted to the house I kept getting calls from 'Out of Area' (read: India). When they eventually got through to us he tried to scam me and when I told him I knew what he was doing and that he wouldn't scam me, the call became very threatening and abusive. He called me rude names and asked inappropriate questions and when I tried to hang up he'd keep the line open so I couldn't use the phone and would ring through and taunt me on the voicemail. He threatened to find me and rape me, he threated to call us at all hours of the night, it was horrible. I unplugged the phone and got onto Virgin immediately and ended up having our number changed. Mercifully they don't have our new number on their list.

[witch]

I had one too - let him witter on and point me to event logs and random files - showing me my PC was 'infected' - then I told him he was a scammer....and he argued with me!!!

[CAM]

I've been plagued by this. When we got our phone line fitted to the house I kept getting calls from 'Out of Area' (read: India). When they eventually got through to us he tried to scam me and when I told him I knew what he was doing and that he wouldn't scam me, the call became very threatening and abusive. He called me rude names and asked inappropriate questions and when I tried to hang up he'd keep the line open so I couldn't use the phone and would ring through and taunt me on the voicemail. He threatened to find me and rape me, he threated to call us at all hours of the night, it was horrible. I unplugged the phone and got onto Virgin immediately and ended up having our number changed. Mercifully they don't have our new number on their list.

This is why you just put the phone straight down. Had one guy threaten to put a brick through my window.

[twin--turbo]

This is why you just put the phone straight down. Had one guy threaten to put a brick through my window.

Tell him you don't use windows, you use linux LOL...

Rob

[Arthur]

"I am calling you from Windows": A tech support scammer dials Ars Technica

[AMLightfoot]

That was amazing. It was exactly what I experienced up the point where I called them on it. I did in fact tell them that I was running Linux, but they said my BT line (I'm with Virgin Media) had been 'reporting' viruses from a windows box... When I told them I knew they were scammers and wasn't going to fall for it the conversation became very nasty. I tried to hang up. Several times in fact, but he wouldn't terminate the call his end so my phone line was kept busy. I couldn't call out, couldn't end the call, anything. He'd ring back and shout at me through my answering machine. When I turned the answering machine function off, he'd just ring repeatedly. In the end I disconnected my phone at the wall. Which wasn't ideal as I was waiting for another call from my GP over something else.

I'd recommend not bothering to engage them. Inform them they have the wrong number and hang up. Virgin were very unhelpful when I asked them to ban the 'private caller' number - they said they can either ban ALL 'private' numbers - which would include my employer as their calls come through as 'Private number' or none at all... Well I can't have my employer banned from phoning me can I?

When I phoned them to report the call I used their lack of help to get me a free number change. So far *touches wood* I've not had any marketing calls at all. I pity the next person to be given that number. I told Virgin to blacklist it as unusable but they said they couldn't do that. So bascially the problem is going to be bounced around causing people distress and potentially scamming some IT illiterate and costing people money to change their number. Great service Virgin, really great.

[cpjitservices]

That was amazing. It was exactly what I experienced up the point where I called them on it. I did in fact tell them that I was running Linux, but they said my BT line (I'm with Virgin Media) had been 'reporting' viruses from a windows box... When I told them I knew they were scammers and wasn't going to fall for it the conversation became very nasty. I tried to hang up. Several times in fact, but he wouldn't terminate the call his end so my phone line was kept busy. I couldn't call out, couldn't end the call, anything. He'd ring back and shout at me through my answering machine. When I turned the answering machine function off, he'd just ring repeatedly. In the end I disconnected my phone at the wall. Which wasn't ideal as I was waiting for another call from my GP over something else.

I'd recommend not bothering to engage them. Inform them they have the wrong number and hang up. Virgin were very unhelpful when I asked them to ban the 'private caller' number - they said they can either ban ALL 'private' numbers - which would include my employer as their calls come through as 'Private number' or none at all... Well I can't have my employer banned from phoning me can I?

When I phoned them to report the call I used their lack of help to get me a free number change. So far *touches wood* I've not had any marketing calls at all. I pity the next person to be given that number. I told Virgin to blacklist it as unusable but they said they couldn't do that. So bascially the problem is going to be bounced around causing people distress and potentially scamming some IT illiterate and costing people money to change their number. Great service Virgin, really great.

Exactly the same with me I told them I run Linux in my house and nothing was running Windows and that I was indeed also a Microsoft Systems Manager for an ISP - it didn't go down too well. All I get was a load of abuse on the phone and like you say wouldn't hang up the call.

Wasn't a nice person to deal with, next time I'm going to let them into a VM let them remote in and trace there every move and even trace their IP.

Hopefully we will catch them one day.