Bizarre calls from 'my computer maintenance department' 6 April 2009 at 2:22PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Phones & TV 67 replies 36.5K views

Payless_2

I've just had 2 calls from these people in the past 20 minutes. When he told me where he was calling from in the 1st one I said "Don't tell me, my computer has a virus which only you can get rid off." Then I said Bye and hung up. The 2nd call involved him mimicking everything I said and so I hung up on him again.

Now I'm worried that they are going to start calling at all hours. I'm thinking of reporting them for malicious calls but I doubt it would do any good.

brewerdave

I had a woman on a few weeks ago from "PC Helpline" (or some similar sounding tosh!!),who realised I was having fun with her.She threatened to phone me every day and wake me at at nights.....but I haven't had another call because I suspect that they realise I ain't going to give them any dosh!!

Sillyfool

I dont typically troll forums but I was looking around to see what this "Windows computer maintenance department" was and came across yours.

I was a really silly !!!!!! and followed through all the way until the end.

I will skip real fast through the first stuff since others have posted this crap and just give you the rest of it.

So:
-typical who are you really etc, no useful reply.
-Which computer has been sending you error messages so I know which one you want to help with? We tried my new one...error log was 10 entries long. They said to go try the other one.
-error log on my laptop which has been running for years had about 500 errors on it.
-blah blah blah, log into remote access.
-yeah yeah i know...but I cloned my hard drive and put the copy in a drawer last weekend so they could only do so much damage.
-they said they needed to see if windows security defender was running or not. So they flipped to a cmd promt, cd\, tree.
-I got annoyed about the tree command as it looked to me like they were just fishing for info. However, for some reason when it got to the bottom it said "expired'.
-their pitch was that my computer was full of viruses and malware because without windows security defender running properly norton etc couldnt do their job. - i just ran tree now and it didnt say 'expired'...nice stunt, probably stuffed the word into the keyboard buffer.
-so, now that we're aware that i dont have windows security defender running and we know that I have hundreds of problems that are going to become thousands of problems in the next couple days and that if I dont do something about it soon it will destroy my physical computer as well.....would I like to renew my subscription for 1 year or 3 years?

At this point I disconnected the technician from my pc and told the lady on the phone that I wasnt buying what they're selling.

She came back to say that if I didnt do something soon my computer would be destroyed!

I told her I have been working with computers for years and she's just selling a malware software.

She transferred me to the technician that had been driving my computer.

He tried to lay it on thick about how bad things would get if I didnt do something about it.

At this point I lost interrest in their stunt and just told them to ram it somewhere uncomfortable.

Surprise surprise I got another call from them today and I just cut the guy off, told him to put me on his do not call list and to never bother me again.

Yeah, I know I was an idiot to let it play through, but what the hell. Due to doing it I noticed that I had a piece of software that was crapping out daily for the last several months and uninstalled it. So I got something for my stupidity.

Anyway, that's the rest of the story for what they're doing. They're selling anti-malware software OR just fishing for creditcard info.

CWLondon

I have received two or three calls from Alex Foster at Windows Maintenance Department same as the others reported, when I asked for confirmation about the company before I started to make any of the changes this chap wanted me to he gave me a phone number 0207 099 9847/848 to clarify who he was!!!!! I phoned it and could hear it ringing in the background.... as soon as I asked for the company website the line went dead! He had asked me to press control and the windows button and then type something in, I did not..... the next thing I did do was look this up on google and found that this was the scam I suspected it to be! I feel sorry for those less suspicious than I!

hairydougal

Similar phone calls have been recieved by my Dad and a friend of his both of whom are savvy enough to not give them the time of day, BUT the curious thing is both of them state that after the phonecall their internet has disconnected?!

I'm in IT too as is my husband, but neither of us can figure this one. Just wondered if anyone had any ideas or knew what it might be. I'd say it was a coincidence but my Dad's friend has had this happen four times, the first two he figured coincidence but by the fourth his suspicion was aroused... ??!!

RatAtAt

I have a quicker tactic than that:

As soon as they announce themselves I say very clearly that I am not interested and ask them to ring off. Meanwhile I get my high pitched dog whistle out of my pocket. If they have not gone yet I give a long hard blast on that and they always seem to be gone after that :j

drdoom328

i just received one of these calls as well. They identify themselves as the Computer Maintenance Department of Windows. I also work in the computer industry so I strung them along for a while burning up their time. I finally got bored, and told them I was on the do-not-call list, etc.. etc... They hung up on me (surprise surpirse surprise...)

I did get the phone number as 908-368-4937 which is a number in NJ. I called the number back after the call and they identify themselves using the same company name.

I wonder if this is a relay point sending the calls off-shore. Likely is. However, people can call this number and run up their time and cost. If you have an hour to waste and want some fun, call them and waste their time. Gee, my computer is running slow, what can I do???

Cheeky16

I have had so many calls from these people. They go through their opening dialogue and tell me they are phoning about my computer. When I tell them I don't have one they hang up. Remarkably they then call again! Stupid or what!!

grizzly1911

Cheeky16 wrote: »

I have had so many calls from these people. They go through their opening dialogue and tell me they are phoning about my computer. When I tell them I don't have one they hang up. Remarkably they then call again! Stupid or what!!

I have had these calls several times usually "asian" accented stereotypical call centre patter.

I have had three sets of calls from "Andy the Windows man" too, who is plainly UK located - don't let him get any further as he is annoying.

He (pretty sure same chap) has rung back immediately on all three occasions with a "smirk" verging on intimidating in his tone. On two occasions he has a called a third time. Claims TPS is pointless/toothless and will not give his call details or business address but clearly knows mine.

I am registered with TPS, who can't/won't help and I have complained to Talk Talk who aren't interested.

TT do have a call logging process for nuisance calls:-

1. Dial 1477 during or immediately after the unwanted call. You need to do this on five separate calls. When you do this, we trace the call.
2. Contact the Police let them know about the malicious call and that you have traced the call with TalkTalk.
3. The Police will contact TalkTalk's Police Liaison team.

I am now using this if I get calls of this nature and will follow through once 5 instances are logged.

IMO the phone companies could identify and close down these calls if they wanted to. In the case of TT they do also offer a "withheld" number blocker for a monthly fee:mad:

ComputerEngineer

I have been called so many times by "these people" (Whom I believe are actually a number of different companies... ... ... ...
I spotted them as scam artists, from the off!!

I have, on a number of occasions, run through what they wanted me to do, up a certain point.... ... ... ...

They get you to open the Event Viewer, which will potentially show you hundreds of "Warnings!" and "Errors!"... ... ... ...These "Warnings!" and "Errors!", are on EVERY COMPUTER, they are a normal consequence of the computer running certain processes and are of no concern. They then direct you to their website, where they ask you to type in a code, or to click a button which gives them full control of your system. They can then do ANYTHING they want to.

They've called me THREE times today!!! :eek: Each time, the same, or almost the same spiel, alleging that my computer is running slow on start up, not reacting quickly to internet searches and so forth... ... ...ALL COMPLETE RUBBISH!!! :rotfl:

I am a computer engineering student and have a number of specialist softwares to protect me from any serious problems, to optimise my computer and defend against any type of malicious software, spyware, malware or trojans etc...

Today, the first caller had a VERY thick south east asian accent, however he claimed his name was Peter DeSilva... :eek: I've NEVER known ANYONE who has that accent to have such a west-european sounding name!!:EasterBun I asked him, what version of windows I am running, and he guessed XP... ... ...W-R-O-N-G-G-G-!-!-!-!... ...:rotfl: ... ...I asked where he was calling from, he said "Why do you want to know my company name?" I said that I wanted to check him and his company out... ... ...he hung-up.

The second caller had such a bad accent and command of the English language that I couldn't understand him at all... ...he passed me on to someone else who then proceeded to take me through the same twaddle that I'd been taken through so many times before... When I asked where he was calling from he said London, when I asked for the address he said Canada. Then proceeded to give me some obviously ridiculous address (222, Arc Gelly Pelly!!) to the sound of someone laughing in the background... ... ...When I told him the game was up and I knew he was a scam artist, he went into a string of expletives saying that he was coming over to rape my daughter and a whole description of how he would do this!! :mad: :wall: :mad: I kept him on the phone for as long as I could stand the abuse then hung up.

This is not the first time I have received such abuse from these people... ...one time, I told the caller that I had seventeen computers and asked which one had the problem, to which he replied I'm not sure, let me ask my manager!!! :doh: :doh: :doh: :rotfl:

I always, if I have the time and inclination, try to keep them on the phone as long as possible... ... ...it costs them time and money and calling costs, to boot!! :T

I H-A-T-E idiots like these and hope that not too many people are dumb enough to fall into their traps!!

BTW I have broached this subject with Windows (Many of the calls will claim to be an affiliate company of Windows) and they have no such associations with ANY companies, anywhere in the world!!!

Be careful out there people and don't let those Trolls get ya!!! :EasterBun :grouphug: