WARNING - "The Nerd Support"

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HoofeHearted
HoofeHearted Posts: 2,651 Forumite
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in Techie Stuff
Just read an article in PCPro warning people of a phone scam from "The Nerd Support".

They call you and say you have problems on your PC. For £185 they will fix your problems and support you for 12 months.

Total ripoff.
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  • spmc
    spmc Posts: 89 Forumite
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    My mum got a call today, presumably by coincidence 30 minutes after sending one those microsoft problem reports, from a guy from thenerdsupport. The guy knew her name and obviously her phone number. He made out he was from microsoft and said he understood she was having problems. He convinced my mum to let him take control of her computer remotely and he did various things (not sure what). He wanted £185 to provide a service contract which my mum declined. He then asked for £25 for one off support which she declined and hung up.

    I've told her to keep the computer off and I will wipe everything and reformat the hard drive. Can anyone advise whether from the information he gleaned would he be able to access the computer again once it has been reformatted. My mum doesn't do online banking but she does have a list of bank account numbers and balances.

    Any help greatly appreciated
  • Esqui
    Esqui Posts: 3,414 Forumite
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    Heard about this from our local police force (or a similar one) where they ask to fix your problems for free if you allow them remote access to your computer.

    They take card details for 'ID purposes'...and then charge you anyway.
    Squirrel!
    If I tell you who I work for, I'm not allowed to help you. If I don't say, then I can help you with questions and fixing products. Regardless, there's still no secret EU law.
    Now 20% cooler
  • Lil306
    Lil306 Posts: 1,692 Forumite
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    Esqui wrote: »
    They take card details for 'ID purposes'...and then charge you anyway.

    They're definately bad, I read that link

    They have a clause in their terms of service, that basically says you can make the payment to them and can't charge back to which you have to agree to and they can also cancel your service at any time for any reason

    Just another scam, someone looked into it on that site and apparently it was an Indian called Ragnasar (or something like that) I vaguely read it

    Stuff like this boils my !!!!!
    Owner of andrewhope.co.uk, hate cars and love them

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  • Gaucho
    Gaucho Posts: 1 Newbie
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    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I just had a cold call from The Nerd Support - they said they had received a Microsoft report that my computer was going slow, and directed me to TeamViewer which would allow remote access to my laptop - it was a poor phone line, and I became increasingly suspicious when the caller wouldn't give info on how they got my contact details, who she worked for or where they obtained the computer error report, so needless to say I didn't proceed further with the call - I googled thenerdsupport and saw the PCPro warning - beware.
    [/FONT]    [/FONT]
  • Aiadi
    Aiadi Posts: 1,840 Forumite
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    Lil306 wrote: »
    Stuff like this boils my !!!!!

    Stuff like this make me happy that I got my 'TrueCall' box when I did:j It is just a shame that consumers are not better protected from these scams in this country.
    Do I want it? ......Do I need it? ......What would happen if I don't buy it??????
  • renegade
    renegade Posts: 1,282 Forumite
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    Aiadi- What is a 'truecall' box ?
    You live..You learn.:)
  • Aiadi
    Aiadi Posts: 1,840 Forumite
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    renegade wrote: »
    Aiadi- What is a 'truecall' box ?
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/TrueCall-The-Nuisance-Call-Blocker/dp/B002GP7HQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1271170262&sr=8-1

    and here:

    http://www.truecall.co.uk/
    Do I want it? ......Do I need it? ......What would happen if I don't buy it??????
  • John_Gray
    John_Gray Posts: 5,823 Forumite
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    For £77-odd it seems rather expensive to emulate the sentence "No, go away..."

    Anyway, surely proper nerds don't need support?
  • CHR15
    CHR15 Posts: 5,193 Forumite
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    spmc wrote: »
    My mum got a call today, presumably by coincidence 30 minutes after sending one those microsoft problem reports,

    How did they get her phone number??

    Probably coincidence about the fault report (didn't realise anyone actually sent those!!)
  • Taffybiker
    Taffybiker Posts: 927 Forumite
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    Occasionally (OK then - once) after sending a fault report I got a pop up from MS suggesting the problem may be with my graphics driver.
    Try saying "I have under-a-pound in my wallet" and listen to people react!
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