An enjoyable Scam phone conversation

[David Tuson]

My wife took one of these calls a few weeks ago, and since the gist of it was that her computer had allegedly been sending error messages to "Windows Support"

Arthur

A good response to this is "But my computer isn't connected to the internet"

[Sandyhall]

I had one awile back kept him talking for 15 mins, son sat there giving me the thumbs up cause he knew what I was doing.
After 15 mins counldn't carry on not to laugh asked him for the name and address of the company so that I could write a thank you note and include a bill for £100 addmin fees for answering his phone call and him waisting my time.

Son laughed his socks off and tells me "I'm a class act" is this a step up from being called "A legend" what him and his mate called me before.

Sandy

[v.wells]

Priceless!

Truly brilliant!

[spison]

We've had a lot of these too. I usually just say I'm not interested. The very first time I asked for their website so I could check them out and checked it with my IT son who said the address was fishy. Now I have a better plan of attack. I'll pretend I have a Mac! Bring it on I can hardly wait!

Jane

[Barnzzz]

I had one of these calls last week. I asked for the name and address of the company and for a technical explanation of how they knew what my computer was doing. The gentleman didn't answer either question.

He repeatedly asked me if I had anti virus software so I repeatedly asked him for the name and address of the company he was calling from. He then asked to speak to my husband (guaranteed to get a woman's back up!).

We may have hit a language barrier here, because when I asked him why he wanted to speak to my husband he said it was because he 'wanted to check he was a man!!!'. Bizarre..........

Sue

[arthurk]

.... after stringing them along for a while she asked how it had managed to do that without recording anything in the error logs on the machine itself.

OK, they're learning. I took another call this morning, and they actually wanted me to look in the Event Viewer and some of its logs. (If you've never done this before it can be a bit scary, as Windows computers tend to produce quite a lot of warnings. There may also be error messages, but I've found that the ones I get tend to be to do with printer drivers etc which the mfr seems unable/unwilling to sort out - and the computer works OK regardless.)

Anyway, I was told, these warnings and errors are evidence that I've picked up some malware and need their expert help to get rid of it, which would involve one of their technicians accessing the computer remotely. I managed to string them along for quite a while till I got exhausted and told them that I had no intention of allowing a stranger who had rung up out of the blue to access my computer, thank you very much.

For the record, they said they were calling from a company called Comantra, and wanted me to go to a site at pccure.net. A web search indicates that others have been given similar information, and that it is (surprise, surprise) a scam.

Arthur

[Lynne Black]

Thankfully i had read your story because i got a similar call myself yesterday and was prepared for it, otherwise, not being terribly computer-literate, i might have believed the "windows support" caller and with goodness knows what ramifications! it's got so that you cant believe anyone who rings or even "virus alerts" that pop up on your screen that are apparently fake. it's getting all too complicated!

[Nightryder]

Ive only received one of these calls so far & that was before xmas,my 9 yr old grandson answered the phone & he was on the pc at the time,luckily he couldnt understand the caller because of his accent & came to find me to hand over the phone,im not sure if he could have understood the caller, if he would have followed the instructions, so its a good idea to warn anyone who might use your pc especially children.
Im assuming these callers just ring people at random out of the phone book,has anyone who is not listed in the book received one of these calls?

[kandi]

My 90 year old father was getting quite a few phone calls saying they were phoning about his computer. He dealt with them quite abruptly by interrupting & telling them he didn't have a computer & then slamming the phone down on them.

The calls started just after he bought a new computer from a well known store last year & gave his phone number for the delivery details.
Coincidence ??????

These pc related calls have now stopped but last week he received a call supposedly from his bank (yes, it was a foreign lady calling) who was saying something about a sum of money & wanted his date of birth. Of course Dad refused & she got quite nasty with him when he said he wouldn't tell her anything.

I just wish they'd phone while I was there.

[arthurk]

Im assuming these callers just ring people at random out of the phone book,has anyone who is not listed in the book received one of these calls?

I forgot to say before that the caller asked for me by my full name, whereas the entry in the phone book only has the initial letter, which means I must be on some kind of contacts list that his company has bought. To try to avoid this I'm usually very careful to untick the boxes allowing companies and "selected third parties" to contact me, so either this one slipped past me or some unscrupulous company has passed my details on anyway.

Arthur