Tony Le Mesmer Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Just wondered if any of you have ever been contacted by someone claiming they are from Microsoft and that your computer is at risk from a virus which they need to fix remotely? I had a call this morning and was listening the guy (indian I think and sounded like he was in a busy call centre which made me think it could be genuine). The bloke was trying to talk me through steps to sort this out but after opening up my run program box I twigged and asked him for his name and a phone number and I could ring him back and go through it. He kept on insisting that I continue with his demands so I hung up. Anyone had this? I know zero about computers and surprised that I was on the phone 5 minutes before twigging. Fortunately I got away with it but don't let it happen to you. Apparently it is quite common? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Microsoft do not ring people, Microsoft take your money by other means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 3 minutes ago, LesterRam said: Microsoft do not ring people, Microsoft take your money by other means. Well they can't take it if I've got nowt so even if I do get hacked it won't be very profitable for their efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 6 minutes ago, Tony Le Mesmer said: Just wondered if any of you have ever been contacted by someone claiming they are from Microsoft and that your computer is at risk from a virus which they need to fix remotely? I had a call this morning and was listening the guy (indian I think and sounded like he was in a busy call centre which made me think it could be genuine). The bloke was trying to talk me through steps to sort this out but after opening up my run program box I twigged and asked him for his name and a phone number and I could ring him back and go through it. He kept on insisting that I continue with his demands so I hung up. Anyone had this? I know zero about computers and surprised that I was on the phone 5 minutes before twigging. Fortunately I got away with it but don't let it happen to you. Apparently it is quite common? I get them calling every other month, I like to string them along and see what point they will hang up Last one was going through how they knew there was something wrong with my computer, when I just casually dropped in that I didn't realise that Microsoft could access my Apple computer. Told another that I was concerned that someone knew something was wrong my computer without an internet connection, and asked him if he had been peeping through my window. Think next time going to say I have 3 computers set up and see if they can tell me which computer is the one they are on about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 yeah apparently Birmingham is near Southampton, according to my friendly Microsoft technician Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 Haha rynny. Good lad! First one I've ever had and being pretty clueless about technology (i'm more creatively gifted....) I had no idea what was going on. I'm a natural cynic though and don't trust anyone really so served me well in this instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GboroRam Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 They nearly got my dad. Asking for £250 to fix a serious issue, they accepted his counter offer of £130 as it was all he'd got. Only when my mother overheard the conversation did he hang up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicME85 Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I love it when they ring, always have a play with them. Also... Dozy bint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stive Pesley Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Yeah playing with them is quite fun if you have the time. My favourite is when they ask for my password and I tell them it is "youareascammingc***" At that point they either realise they've been rumbled, or they try helplessly to use it as a password and get cross when it doesn't work. Working in IT support myself - I also like to act as thoroughly retarded as some of the worst users and see how far I can stretch their patience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewetube Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 My mum always gets them calling which she finds amusing as she doesn't have a PC, internet connection, tablet or smartphone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaspode Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 I played along (very slowly) and then told him my PC had popped up a message. "What does it say?" he asked. "Don't trust the scummy Indian Crimin..." I managed before he hung up - at least I felt good and wasted 10 minutes of his time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 anybody gets scammed I will rip them a new one on your behalf, we do laugh about how inept they are but unfortunately many OAP's fall for this and the likes of Google, Microsoft and BT spend the equivalent of 1.2% of profits for crude security, soft phones should be banned in the UK and fixed IP location should be adhered to for access to banking, we are woefully short on protection for the most vulnerable in our society regarding internet usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 35 minutes ago, RicME85 said: I love it when they ring, always have a play with them. Also... Dozy bint. Hahahaha so funny this! Obviously being conned isn't but come on! "He asked me to go down the post office and transfer 5 grand by moneygram and I didn't think anything of it" she says nonchalantly. Flamin' eck. What I don't get though is when she says she opened up her computer because they said there was '' on it and she did and there was. How is this possible? Unless it's the dirty hubby sat looking sheepish behind her who had accessed it then how is it possible for someone externally to just put something like or anything onto your computer? Bit like Alan Partridge in his travel tavern asking the receptionist if she make porm come on his telly! Bit scary if this can be done. Internet and computers. More trouble than they're worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicME85 Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Can remote desktop and do it if you have been foolish enough to leave things open and been caught out with phishing. She is dozy as hell, going and paying another lot at a different post office Her bloke is blatantly the one watching , as dodgy as Ron Hayward http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2602504/Pensioners-72-75-charged-900-Virgin-watching--claim-didnt-order-five-year-battle-media-giant.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Le Mesmer Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 26 minutes ago, RicME85 said: Can remote desktop and do it if you have been foolish enough to leave things open and been caught out with phishing. She is dozy as hell, going and paying another lot at a different post office Her bloke is blatantly the one watching , as dodgy as Ron Hayward http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2602504/Pensioners-72-75-charged-900-Virgin-watching--claim-didnt-order-five-year-battle-media-giant.html What is 'phishing' Ric? I've got Kaspersky on my device and I just presumed that would take care of things without me needing to know the ins and outs of all this technology guff but any advice to further protect myself online i'd be grateful for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stive Pesley Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Phishing is where someone or some program tries to get your details by pretending to be someone/something it isn't A typical old skool phishing email will be one that looks like it came from your bank telling you that you need to change your password Except it didn't come from your bank, and the link in the email will not go to your bank either - it will take you to a fake website that looks like your bank. You put your password in - they get a copy of your password and then redirect you to the actual bank website and more often than not you won't even notice Most email providers filter this rubbish out these days though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 most anti-virus software are actually viruses, the ones that are not render your machines unusable, industry standard anti-virus software that I have used for eons without fault is NOD32 (ESET) which doesn't slow your machine down and is pretty quick with new viruses, the worst one I have used is Norton, that was tragic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicME85 Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 Theres a lot of Apple (well fake) emails going out at the moment trying to catch people out. Looks real, people go on **** better click the refund button and thats when information is passed back to the person sending them out. A lot of the time the easiest way to tell is just looking at the email address as they are usually a load of numbers and letters rather than 'sales@apple.com' for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 if you are using Gmail/Hotmail type email addresses you should increase your security filter, you can filter out scam nations by restricting IP Locations and only accept incoming emails from your safe senders list, I was sent an email from some spammy email address something like @dcfcfans.uk which always hits my spam folder, I wasn't concerned because it was probably about another ban Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostyn6 Posted September 26, 2016 Share Posted September 26, 2016 12 minutes ago, RicME85 said: Theres a lot of Apple (well fake) emails going out at the moment trying to catch people out. Looks real, people go on **** better click the refund button and thats when information is passed back to the person sending them out. A lot of the time the easiest way to tell is just looking at the email address as they are usually a load of numbers and letters rather than 'sales@apple.com' for example. my mate posted one on facebook which was appie.com, not apple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.