Beware This Scam!!!! (1 Viewer)

[motorhomer]

I had a telephone conversation today. It was obvious to me that it was a scam, but might be less obvious to someone without computer experience. Thought it a good idea to warn as many people as possible.

The call went like this:

It was from an international number, number withheld.

The caller - a woman with an Indian accent - said she was from microsoft support and they had noticed that my machine had generated a lot of error reports recently.

I decided to play along at least for a while.

She said many websites put things on my computer without my permission and this makes it go slow.

She asked me to go to the computer. She then said press ctrl + r (clever this, its a windows shortcut that brings up a run box, but it makes them sound as if they know what they are talking about)

She asked me to type "inf unwanted" (in fact the word unwanted here does nothing, typing inf here just opens a folder called inf, which is a windows folder)

She asked me how many things were listed. I told her about 1100. There was an intake of breath, she said this was a huge number and my machine badly needed attention. (actually all rubbish, inf files are normal and harmless)

She then asked me to try ctrl + r again, which I did. She then asked me to type www.log2support.com , which I did.

After a bit more talk - all intended to make me worried - she asked me to click on a particular icon on the web page. As this was an executable file (.exe) I decided that this had gone far enough.

So I said I would not do this, I said I had worked with computers for 40 years, this was obviously a scam, do not call me again. She said "Oh!" and hung up.

I can only guess what might have happenned if I had clicked on the executable, my guess is that it really would have done damage to the machine, and that she would then have demanded money - possibly for a support contract - to fix it.

So if anyone rings caliming that your computer is slow, be very carefull, and have nothing to do with www.log2support.com. I looked this up, and it is a company registered in India, nothing (of course) to do with Microsoft.

 

[Hollyberry]

There have been a whole rash of these calls here in Dordogne. The callers speak reasonable to good English and so are happy to talk to ex pats as well as French I assume.

I got so many of these calls last year in Uk while house sitting that when they asked for Dr G (lady house owner) I said I would give them an appointment to see the doctor and they must bring a urine sample to the STD clinic--they always hung up at that point..........

 

[Carol]

This is a scam that has been doing the rounds for a good 12 months now, and I a have to admit I have had a fair bit of sport with it.

As you say though can catch someone unawares so the warnings are always good.

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[pappajohn]

Shirl gets this sort of thing all the time......

usually 'windows support' (Indian officeoh:) and when they mention her computer she says....

"what computer ?"

"Err ! the one you use at home."

"yes, but what computer would that be then ?"

"Err ! the one you always use."

"what computer...i dont own a computer !"

CLICK !


works every time :thumb:

 

[bigfoot]

The ones I've had has had my response 'which computer?' I then tell them I have 3 all Apples-obscenities form the caller and hang up,one time I dialled 1471 and got a number,reported to plod and got a crime number YIPPEE! nothing else heard.:Angry:
Come out of retirement Dixon, Reagan and Lockhart and bring Fabian with you we need help!:thumb:

 

[scran]

p c

This is a scam that has been doing the rounds for a good 12 months now, and I a have to admit I have had a fair bit of sport with it.

As you say though can catch someone unawares so the warnings are always good.

we have had these calls a couple of times

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[scally]

I've had these, persistent b*****d's aint they :Angry::Angry::Angry::Angry:

 

[jhorsf]

I am afraid I still get them, despite the South Derbyshire (PIT LANGUAGE) reply they still have not crossed me off their Xmas card list

 

[nicklu]

There have been a whole rash of these calls here in Dordogne. The callers speak reasonable to good English and so are happy to talk to ex pats as well as French I assume.

I got so many of these calls last year in Uk while house sitting that when they asked for Dr G (lady house owner) I said I would give them an appointment to see the doctor and they must bring a urine sample to the STD clinic--they always hung up at that point..........

we are looking to travel to dordogne in april, is it a nice area also is there any areas sites around there?

kind regards

lu x

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[Peter JohnsCross MH]

I have had a couple of these call in the last week, had great sport for twenty minutes pretending to be an old pensioner without a clue.

THey cannnot understand that when they say I have a virus, I keep saying 'nio I have a cold'

 

[EthnGeoff]

This seems to be incredibly common, I've had them on 2 or 3 occasions at least, I suspect they're peddling some needless anti virus programme or the like, but of course it could be much worse than that.
Geoff.

 

[sedge]

They are idiots aren't they? I had a young lad come to the door yesterday who asked me if I liked the way the folk over the road had had their roof coated. I said 'The one this side that looks garish in comparison to the one it's attached to? - No, why do you ask? Cos if that's they way they look when you've finished I'd be bloody annoyed, frankly! Thank you, goodbye!' and shut the door on him and he was still talking at me as I did so.

Pete always tells em he has a Mac.

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[EthnGeoff]

They are idiots aren't they? I had a young lad come to the door yesterday who asked me if I liked the way the folk over the road had had their roof coated. I said 'The one this side that looks garish in comparison to the one it's attached to? - No, why do you ask? Cos if that's they way they look when you've finished I'd be bloody annoyed, frankly! Thank you, goodbye!' and shut the door on him and he was still talking at me as I did so.

[HI]Pete always tells em he has a Mac[/HI].

That's not going to keep much of the roof dry!
Geoff.

 

[dryad]

oh, i haven't had those phone calls yet, just ones telling me i've won wonderful prizes (cruises and houses in tropical places) in raffles i haven't entered, how stoopid do they think we are .
mind you, my old aunt would get caught out i suppose, evil beggars aren't they, scammers, not aunts.
usually i don't answer the phone if i don't recognise the number, but if i do get caught out, i just leave the phone in the kitchen and them talking to themselves while i get on and do something else. they soon get pee'd off and hang up.

when i did report one scammer to BT, they said there was bugga all they could do about it as the call and the number was international and they have no control over that.:Angry: