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Alert

A call from the technical department of Microsoft

Sep 25, 2015 8:34AM PDT

I received a call on my husband's landline from Microsoft Technical Department. The caller identified himself as Peter Jones. He had an Indian accent. He wanted me to go on the internet with my computer, because there were many corrupt files downloaded on my computer every time I go online. He had to help me to remove it.

I thought it sounded strange, because how would he link the landline to my computer? in any case, I asked him to call me on Saturday, because my laptop was not with me. I gave him my mobile number. He gave me a code: 05.

I did not trust this, and Googled Microsoft Technical department. I found interesting information there, and could not wait for Peter to call back.

Today, Friday, I received another call from my friend. He called from the number +1 516-342-5264. It said New York on my phone. He said he wanted more information from me. I asked him how on earth he would know that my computer has problems if he wanted info from me. He should know certain information. I also told him that I contacted Microsoft, and they said they don't do things this way. (I did not)

When I told him that he was a fraud, he put the phone down. Just an alert that this is still continuing. I live in South Africa.

Discussion is locked

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Just got the call myself
Sep 25, 2015 3:39PM PDT
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Good afternoon Mr Digger.
Sep 25, 2015 3:56PM PDT

This is your Microsoft tech from Redwick (an actual place in Wales), I see you have 2 million viruses on your computer! If you give me your bank details and your girlfriends address, I will remove all viruses from your PC. If you wish to converse in Welsh (for security porpoises), let me know.
In short, if you post all your details here, I'll keep it dark, honest!
Bill Fence, the valleys.
Edit by mod due to typos.

Post was last edited on September 25, 2015 4:08 PM PDT

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LOL
Sep 25, 2015 4:00PM PDT
Devil
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How I stopped them
Sep 25, 2015 6:45PM PDT

Had this call about a year ago. I played along with him, pretending to look at files on my PC and asking about them. He also took me to a website and wanted me to download and install some type of remote access software. I would pretend to download it and after a few minutes I told him my PC was rebooting, so he had to wait some more. After about four pretend downloads and reboots I asked him how it felt to be messed with for an hour, and I knew from the start that he was a vile creature. I also told him to have his buddies call me and I would also waste their time. Haven't heard from them since.

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Scam
Sep 29, 2015 10:56PM PDT

If I have time I'll **** with them also. I've had these calls in recent months. They always have an Indian accent. Just waste their time as long as possible. Nice payback.

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Wasting their time too
Oct 2, 2015 8:55AM PDT

I was getting these calls all the time. Sometimes over 5 or 6 times in a row. Got one this morning and two yesterday. This morning I used one of the ideas suggested. I wasted their time. Told them computer was shut off in another room and to hang on while I went in to other room and boot up the computer. Told them it was an old desktop running XP. She keep asking me if it was up yet and I had her waiting over 6-minutes. Then told her computer was updating and I would have to wait it updated programs. This took about ten minutes. Then computer rebooted taking another five minutes. Told her I was ready for her to tell me what to do next. I acted as if I was following her directions. Then I just hung up the phone.

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Retired Time Waster
Sep 30, 2015 12:57AM PDT

I'm retired so can afford to waste their time just as you did. It was quite funny after about 10 mins he began to ask if I was wasting his time which of course I denied and then I got another 10mins out of him before the profanities started.

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I'd be afraid they'd retaliate by incessantly calling my ph
Oct 1, 2015 7:06AM PDT

Wouldn't want to take that chance

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Call Trace
Oct 5, 2015 11:39AM PDT

You should have used another phone to initiate a call trace. Maybe they could have tracked them down.

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We get them here in Australia too
Sep 26, 2015 7:42AM PDT

Before I get into it, it's worth restating that MICROSOFT WILL NEVER EVER CALL YOU IN THIS WAY. The only way to get to Microsoft Support is for you to contact them, so any such unsolicited call is a scam - 100% guaranteed.

We get the calls here in Australia too. The callers usually have a sub-continent accent and always an English name. Aside from just hanging up, sometimes mischievousness gets the better of me! Here are a few quickies that have worked:

1. What's the weather like in Bangalore this morning? Believe it or not, one of them actually told me it was bright and sunny! Usually the question is enough for them to hang up.

2. Thanks for your call but before you go on, I'm obliged to tell you that I am working on a contract for the security services and all my incoming calls are traced, logged and recorded. If you are happy with this, please continue. I rarely get to the end of this statement!

3. I subscribe to the telephone preference service (no unsolicited calls), so please can I have your full name and the address of your finance department so that I can submit my invoice for your $1000 violation penalty?

We also get calls from people claiming to represent Telstra, the primary telephone company here (think AT&T in the USA or BT in the UK). The usual story is that my computer is causing problems for other users on the network and the caller requests remote access to my computer to fix the problem, otherwise they will disconnect me from the broadband network in 5 minutes.

Like Microsoft, Telstra never make the calls and so I know it's a scam. My favourite response goes something like:

Caller: You have a problem on your computer that is affecting the network, so I need access to it to fix it or you will be disconnected from the Internet.

Me: Oh dear, that sounds serious, thank you for alerting me, tell me more.

Caller: {some nebulous story that makes absolutely no sense}

Me: It's lucky you called me, I've been in the IT industry nearly 50 years, so I'm sure we can solve this problem together, What exactly is it that you need?

Caller: I need remote login access to your computer.

Me: Well, actually, since other computers, to which I have no direct access are affected, I don't think the problem is on my computer. It will be on a common link, probably the server. So if you give me the logon credentials to your computer, I will remotely login and investigate the problem from there.

I usually get the hang-up click before I complete my offer!

A friend uses a simpler response to the "Microsoft" calls:

1. I don't have a computer. One time, this produced the response "you are lying!"

2. I run Linux.

3. I run Ubuntu.

4. I don't have a telephone. (Think about it) One time the caller apologised before hanging up!

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Here's another nasty payback
Sep 29, 2015 8:15PM PDT

Zouch:
If the number is coming from another country that I don't deal with or is on my personal alert list I usually pickup and in my best Russian English say " You are reaching St Petersburg help desk. How may I be helping you today Tovarisch!"
It just blows their minds. Sometimes they actually start adding up the rubles(rupees?) out loud.
Another I like is "Department of Homeland Security, Cyber-Terrorist Division, Special Agent Hoover speaking." Long about mid word in Division I get this loud and most rude click. Wink)

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Where do they Get the Phone Numbers?
Sep 26, 2015 12:38PM PDT

The only thing I can come up with is they get the telephone numbers off resumes that are stored on job websites or through tech support that has replaced American jobs with off-shore support. It is really sad that there probably are some elderly people that will fall victim to this.

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I think they get the numbers from public records.
Sep 28, 2015 9:35AM PDT

Or they can simply just open up the public phone book and just start dialing.

I'm sure there are people who have fallen victim to this and not just the elderly.

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not from web sites
Sep 29, 2015 11:17PM PDT

my dad has never been on a computer, he hates them. typical 85 year old. So they are not getting the numbers from anywhere, they are just robot calling.

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Robodialers and/or Robocalls....
Sep 28, 2015 10:55AM PDT

Ever hear of them?

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Squential dialing
Sep 29, 2015 6:10PM PDT

A machine dials all numbers in an area code in sequence - e.g. 555-1111, 555-1112, 555-1113 and so. They don't have to "get" the phone numbers from anywhere.

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SyrNY is correct. However,....
Sep 30, 2015 8:07AM PDT
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(NT) My dad has never osted to a job web site. So that is not th
Sep 29, 2015 11:13PM PDT
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Where they get the numbers
Sep 30, 2015 12:06AM PDT

I once had a cold call from a local company selling blinds. I always say I am registered with TPS and should not be receiving the call, but they were selling window blinds and we had been looking for a reputable company to supply them, so I asked the lady not to hang up. She was very apologetic and explained that they subscribed to TPS but their system used a random number generator. If they were told it was a TPS number, there was a box they checked so that number was not called again. She was very pleasant and the blinds were superb. That was about fifteen years ago and I guess they don't do it that way any more. On another matter, I sometimes wonder if some of the scammers have been scammed themselves and really believe the tosh they are peddling.

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You Could be Correct
Sep 30, 2015 12:00PM PDT

What I've noticed lately is that the caller appears to be reading a "script" of some sort. If we assume that the callers are in a "third-world" country or living under the poverty line, they may just see this as a job (any job) and may not be fully aware of what they are doing or their families might be just that desperate that they will do anything to get by. But this whole thing is wrong, no matter how you slice it.

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Scam Baiting
Sep 28, 2015 11:14AM PDT

Like others here, if I have the time, I'll go ahead and scam bait them for a while before telling them that I don't use Windows, but instead, use Linux. Most of the time they don't even know what Linux is. I've actually had them say something to the effect that my computer was still causing problems for others, anyway. If they don't hang up on me when I notify them that I use Linux, I go into a short (due to the circumstances) dissertation of what Linux is while using what seems to them to be a lot of over-their-head technical terms. It normally doesn't get to that point, though, but it has happened a small handful of times. If I don't have time for them I just hang up and disconnect my land-line for a bit if the call came in there or block the number if it came in on my cell.

The fact that this is still going on proves that there are still way too many gullible people in the world that actually fall for this nonsense because they are too uninformed or are just too lazy to learn otherwise. I'm glad that liz was skeptical enough and had enough on the ball to do the research that saved her and her husband a LOT of headache down the road.

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Scammers
Sep 30, 2015 2:04AM PDT

Like joolz above, I have a great laugh when they ring, as I am a Linux user also. Their scam is either to sat the machine is infecting others, or Microsoft is giving a refund for new machines. So I let them rant on about procedure to download TeamViewer ( windows key, press r et all that gumph )....as it don't work on Linux, they get all aerated thinking the dumb idiot they have on the hook can't even follow simple instructions... and to go to windows/system32 folder, but as not have one it leaves them perplexed, so I ask them should I do a uname -a for them...upshot is if they have a number displayed on the phone I am busy tracing the number, and have successfully sent email to the company their piggybacking from, informing them of the security breach, and details of the search has been sent to their country's authorities....Not had a call in ages... I miss messing with them and their heads.
Linux localhost.localdomain 4.1.3-nrjQL-desktop-3omv #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Aug 1 10:35:00 UTC 2015 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

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(NT) How do you trace a number?
Oct 1, 2015 7:20AM PDT
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Yah, terrypowling,
Oct 1, 2015 9:43AM PDT

Just how do you trace a number?

The telcos can, but how do ordinary folks like us do it?

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I suggest we don't.
Oct 1, 2015 9:53AM PDT
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@R. Proffitt
Oct 3, 2015 10:20AM PDT

I guess you didn't read and/or comprehend terrypowling's post completely??? Maybe you should [re]read it and pay [more] attention to it [this time]. I feel that you misunderstood the intent there...which, btw, would be most others' intent, as well...like snidely9447 and myself, for instance. Quite frankly, I think that terrypowling is doing something quite good and helpful. At least he is actively doing something instead of whining on message boards about the problem like a lot of folks I see in http://800notes.com/ and other sites like them when I do a search from my browser for different numbers to make sure of what they are.

Your link only brings up the topic of yet another "scam" and the thread there explains it quite succinctly. That explanation is quite true as evidenced by the overly long "message" that plays from some types of junk calls that can be heard chirping in mid-sentence when any given answering machine gives the space to leave a message.

Oh, and it doesn't matter too much (I wouldn't think) that your answering machine is set to just beep. That beep is just as good as saying 'hello' because it is still an audible like the word 'hello'. If the answering message doesn't exist, doesn't that just leave more room for the beginning of the offending message to be heard?

In addition to which, I have no answering machine at all on my land line and there are numerous times where the phone only rings from three to five times and then quits when I ignore it because I see on the CID that the call is junk. Most of the auto-dialers/robocallers that are used to make the calls have ways of sensing whether or not a phone line is even open or not. I found this out when there have been times that I did answer and just stayed silent and the automated voice or the person at the other end started chattering their spiel, anyway.

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call trace
Oct 3, 2015 11:48AM PDT

Every time i've attempted to back trace the number I've found that its a voip number and could go no further.

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Scam Baiting
Sep 30, 2015 10:39AM PDT

I think saying people who have been scammed are too lazy to learn or too uninformed is terrible. These scammers are fast talkers, and in my case they were difficult to understand (sounded East Indian) and seemed to know what they are talking about. When I realized I had been scammed I contacted my credit card company and they reversed the charge and told me to advise the Police. They told me they could do nothing, but, to tell these scam operators that I had contacted the RCMP (I live in Canada) and the FBI about them. It's amazing how fast they hung up!

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I gets called
Sep 29, 2015 5:40PM PDT

I get called all the time.

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Use some of the tactics above...
Sep 29, 2015 5:45PM PDT

... Like Loreal, "they're worth it".
Dafydd.