WARNING: Calls about PC sending alerts.

prowla

I've had a couple of these calls today, where someone claiming to be from "Windows Technical Support" tells you that your PC is sending out alerts.

If you don't know about this already, then please to not be fooled; these people want to get you to let them onto your PC and will then try and extort money off you.

If you do know what you are doing, then please try and keep them on the phone as long as you can; in wasting their time, you'll be stopping them potentially catching somebody out who may not be so savvy.

(This time I managed to engage the first one in conversation about whether I was running Windows Server, and whether he was really stupid, and on the second one the postie rang the door bell, but they'd hung up when I picked up the phone again.)

bod1467

Is THAT what they're calling themselves these days?

Ye olde "Let's get them to look at the Event Summary, see all the warnings and scare them into letting us take over their PC" scam.

prowla

Yup.

I plan one day, when I've not got a lot better to do, to go through the whole routine with them on a crash'n'burn or virtual machine, and then when they get to the money shot, just say "Never mind, I'll delete the computer, but thanks anyway.".

I once kept them going for quite a while on a Linux PC, where I did what they said but what happened wasn't quite what they expected so they were scratching their heads a while; then someone came on and said "You're one of those bloody techies, aren't you?", to which I replied "Yes, it's been fun, hasn't it?".

Free_Spirit_31

Makes me glad not to have a landline...

I have heard about these scams. I think they want you to download something so that they can view an hijack your computer.

I have been watching loads of videos of people keeping them on the phone for as long as possible to waste their time...

This one is one of my favourites...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvNVTKXhj2o

soolin

I haven't had one of these nasty scam calls for months. However, the last one got nasty, I kept them talking for over half an hour by keep repeating back the info they gave me slightly wrongly and when they finally realised I wasn't actually on the computer they got very very abusive.

Told me they could trace my address and send someone to hurt my family and became very very nasty.

Nasty filthy scammers.

jhe

had plenty of these over the years before i got call blocker.
last time i told them yes i have a problem with my computer and my son has it at the moment, i passed on 'his' phone number to the scammers- our local police station phone number.

flipperni

soolin wrote: »

I haven't had one of these nasty scam calls for months. However, the last one got nasty, I kept them talking for over half an hour by keep repeating back the info they gave me slightly wrongly and when they finally realised I wasn't actually on the computer they got very very abusive.

Told me they could trace my address and send someone to hurt my family and became very very nasty.

Nasty filthy scammers.

I had something similar, when i kept saying yes to every question he asked me, he went on to say would i "do sex with him" when i kept saying yes he kept repeating it before finally hanging up on me.

Dirt bags.