scam alert be aware

[dertsap]

I put this in the safety forum simply because of the potential danger of a complete con game which will put a victim at great risk

here is a link describing the con https://darranboyd.wordpress.com/201...-support-scam/
I got a call this morning telling me that Microsoft is getting loaded with my error reports
I simply don't trust anyone over the phone but played along with their game to see how far it would go just for the simple fact that i love to mess with people of this sort , to cut a long story short they sent me to two different links none of were associated with Microsoft . So then they came across as wanting to remote access my pc to remove the errors , i said no one gets access to my pc so tell me how i go about removing these errors . they demanded that the only way to remove these errors was from their end .
beware of anyone of this sort that calls over the phone , we all know better but normal well thinking people can get looped at times into believing something is legit

[Ron Dunn]

I work for Microsoft, and my home phone diverts to our VOIP network. One of these scammers called me last week.

I conferenced him into a call with our Security Officer. *grin*

[TarHeelTom]

Originally Posted by Ron Dunn I work for Microsoft, and my home phone diverts to our VOIP network. One of these scammers called me last week. I conferenced him into a call with our Security Officer. *grin*

What a great solution.

I got a call from a guy in Nigeria, saying he was calling from Las Vegas, but there was way too much delay in the line to be from Las Vegas. He had a long cover story, but simply wanted my bank account number.

I'd just woken up, on a Saturday morning, and had nothing to do, so I kept him on the phone for three straight hours.

Tom

[cyclestart]

Originally Posted by dertsap i love to mess with people of this sort

You too eh ? I knew it was a scam immediately as my only Windows installs have no internet access. The guy asked me to press a key combination involving the winkey to bring up the run command (winkey+R ?). I explained that the shortcut wasn't working and wondered if something was wrong with my computer. Next we tried the start menu, it was a merry chase until he finally gave up and transfered the call to "technical support". I asked the "tech" if he knew how to fix Linux. His reply: "Sorry sir, the call was not meant for you"

Ron Dunn
Did your guys manage to track down the Bastard ?

[fizzissist]

Originally Posted by cyclestart Ron Dunn Did your guys manage to track down the Bastard ?

They were probably in the process of tracking the guy when their computer locked up......

[cyclestart]

Originally Posted by fizzissist They were probably in the process of tracking the guy when their computer locked up......

Oh don't start, it never ends well LOL.

Honestly knocking MS wasn't the point of my post although people come to expect it from Nix users Blaming an OS for foolish users is like blaming the banking system if you give away a PIN number. My guess is the call was traced back to a country that doesn't prosecute these type of activities but if they got nailed it's a good day.

[dertsap]

apparently they use skype to make their calls so theres a good chance that they could be using unsecured networks to make the calls , which would make it impossible to track them

[harley4ever]

Thanks for the heads up dertsap. I will definitely be more alert when the phone rings.

[fizzissist]

Honest...knocking MS wasn't really a something I just had to do, rather, it was just something that I couldn't resist. For all the endless hours of grief they've caused me over the years....

And you have to admit....It wasn't too far from the realm of possibility.

Along the same scam lines....I've been getting emails from the "IRS" telling me that I need to go to their website and punch in my info. Can't help but suspect the URL ends up in China, or Nigeria.

[Ron Dunn]

fizzissist, in all seriousness, I haven't had a "lock up" in many, many years, and I've had exactly one blue screen since the internal dogfood builds of Windows 7, and that was the fault of a bad wireless MODEM driver.

I do most of my CNC work on an Acer Aspire 1810TZ, with 2Gb RAM, running Windows 7 64-bit, which no-one could call a "power" machine.

As for the caller, unfortunately he disconnected the call very quickly.