Indian Windows Call Centre Scam - Finally get MY call

CCFC_80

I had one the other day for the 1st time in about 6 months.Used to get them regularly and either just put the phone down or say Don't have a computer. Indian women who called me never even asked for my name so guess they were just using an auto dialler with any random numbers.

Got the usual blah blah, problems with windows on your pc and you might be infected. Change of tactic this time and stated to her which PC is it as I have got 3. She said it was all of them:D

At this point I just lost it and shouted down the phone that" you lot are all liars and thieving scum and you are just trying to con people into buying useless or non existent security that people don't need".:eek:

Spiggle

Well we have been bombarded with these calls over the last few weeks. I got freaked initially then breathed and thought to check on this brilliant thread. Et voila!

I have to say me and OH have laughed our socks off at some of your reponses to these calls. The one recorded by a tech support team has even been shown to friends who also find it hilarious.

So far I have had unintelligible Indian lady from 'Windows', I did get here to say this a number of times because I genuinely couldn't understand her. Another three last week, one on Saturday, one yesterday and another today. The other 'companies' they have rung from are 'Global Tech' and today 'Gate Easy Tech'.

Today's guy was brill. It genuinely was a very bad line and so he had to ring about eight times (all costs them I hope). Got hime to go over how he was calling me so many times I had to stop myself laughing. Spent some of his time going through start up >event viewer etc (NOT). Threw him completely when I asked where he was calling from. He said he was in the UK and was completely perplexed when I asked him where he was in the UK. Put me on hold before coming back with Birmingham in the UK. Couldn't tell me what the weather was like because he was inside!

Anyway after about an hour I got fed up and he was just about to transfer me to his 'superior satisfaction operator' (who I have absolutely no doubt was about to take me through to granting him remote access) so I went back to asking how he had my number and very clearly told him to ensure that he and his colleagues do not ring my number again.

These firms really are scum. I know an awful lot of people who would be completely vulnerable to calls such as this. I will be making sure they are all aware.

Thanks for the thread, the laughs and the warnings.

All the best,
Spigs

lock07

I can't believe these people are still trying it on. I had my first call from them well over a year ago and had another one last night. An Indian sounding man called 'Damien Wilson' phoned at just after 9 o'clock saying he was from Microsoft. I would have put the phone down but my husband insisted on speaking to him and managed to keep him on the phone for over half an hour. Apparently our computer had been sending error messages and they urgently needed to fix it. My husband told him that we have someone who looks after our computer and he would like to get his advice first before allowing a stranger remote access to the computer, which Damien wasn't very happy about! We also asked him how much it would cost if we did give them access, to which he replied that it would be free. He then went on and on about the urgency of them accessing the computer to fix the very serious problem and the call ended with us saying we would ring him back when we'd spoken to our computer guy. He gave us the address of a website - www.mywindowsupport.com and said that the company was based in Brisbane but that they had an office in Manchester. After asking him numerous times for the Manchester number he said it was 0159 226 6454. What a joke!

cottager

I'd never had one of these calls till last week. Completely failed on the time-wasting front I'm afraid! -- no time as I was about to go out.
Just thought I'd pass on how the conversation went...

Him: Is that [name]?
Me: Yes...
Him: [Usual blurb about MS and how they'd detected a lot of viruses.]
Me: That's odd because I don't have a computer...
Him: You don't have a computer?
Me: No.
Him: Do you have a television?
Me: No
Him: Do you have a ???? [couldn't catch it]?
Me: A what?
Him: Do you have a [still could't catch it, sounded like 'torch-lamp']
Me: I don't know.
Him: Do you have a bathroom?
Me: Yes
Him: Well go up to your bathroom and cut your throat. [Hangs up]

Charming...

paddyrg

Our home phone was unusually quiet today, usually get 5 Indian call centres calling up with variants on this scam every day, the nationwide powercut (50% of the country) must have knocked out some call centres thank goodness!

Fred_Bear_2

I had a call today from George who said he works for "The World Wide Web". He told me that my computer had sent The W.W.W. messages that it was infected with a virus (or something like that) and he could fix it for me. Now usually I act a bit dim and string these scammers along to waste their time and hopefully stop a few other people receiving calls and getting scammed. After 50 minutes he twigged and became threatening. He said he would send some of his friends to my house and harm my family. He sounded very nasty. What is worrying is that he has my address (I assume from an old directory - I'm ex now).

note_2

a few days ago my sister took a call from a indian sounding man saying that they were getting reports that a microsoft computer was sending them reports about viruses / trojans etc. wasnt around at the time so they said they'd call back later.

in the mean time i just did a quick internet search and saw this is a common scam, nevertheless i took the phone call to make a fool of this scammer.

he called back.. on his system all the info he had about us was my dads initials and surname, and phone number. i have a microsoft / windows computer registered in my name but my dad has a mac, something which the scammer couldnt get his head round.

i'm not a techie person but i asked him awkward questions like 'what type of trojan is it?' which he couldnt answer

i wasted quite a bit of his time when i 'went off to look for a pen and paper' too

finally, i asked him to confirm my dads name, which begins with G, he kept saying G <surname> is your name, eventually he guessed 'george' and i gave him an earful and put the phone down.

Lifeforms

I had one at my mums today. I wasn't interested in !!!!ing around, but asked what it was about before I put my mum on the line (they asked for her specifically, mrs surname.)
That kind of threw the guy off a bit, and he stumbled about saying something like virus, problems etc. I said, are you going to tell me you're from Microsoft. No sir, madam I mean. I am not. He didn't actually tell me who he was from, but went into the blah blah windows machine etc etc. I interrupted him saying I don't have windows, I have apple. Ignored me the first time, went through his speel again, and again I said I have an apple machine. Mum at this point was chanting APPLE in the background!

This really threw him off his game. BUT it's a windows problem.
I have apple! (well punctuated to make sure he understood.)
Oh apple mac? Then I got about 20 seconds silence as if he was trying to get around this, and he hung up on me.


Sorry, but anyone who calls me with this at home, just gets told to F off now.

prowla

I think the next one I get, I'll say to them "Yes, I know - I am working on a program that will send test messages to your systems, to check whether you respond to them correctly. Please go and tell your manager that you have received test response 12753-alpha-57, so that they can make a note of that. Thank you!"

itch_for_a_glitch

cottager wrote: »

I'd never had one of these calls till last week. Completely failed on the time-wasting front I'm afraid! -- no time as I was about to go out.
Just thought I'd pass on how the conversation went...

Him: Is that [name]?
Me: Yes...
Him: [Usual blurb about MS and how they'd detected a lot of viruses.]
Me: That's odd because I don't have a computer...
Him: You don't have a computer?
Me: No.
Him: Do you have a television?
Me: No
Him: Do you have a ???? [couldn't catch it]?
Me: A what?
Him: Do you have a [still could't catch it, sounded like 'torch-lamp']
Me: I don't know.
Him: Do you have a bathroom?
Me: Yes
Him: Well go up to your bathroom and cut your throat. [Hangs up]

Charming...

Doh, I thought I was good at wasting their time, you're obviously much better than I am, I always start by asking to wait a couple of ticks whilst I set my timer, - so I can quantify how much of their time I waste.