Computer Repair Telephone Scam

[FriendlyComputer]

I've posted this before, but it's becoming more prevalent....

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE "repair" your computer!

I just got a call from an east Indian fellow, calling from (253) 802-0308. He's been trying to call for days. He asked for me by name and said he was calling from the "computer repair center". It's a scam that's going around, one that totally amazes me. How did they get my name? Two of my customers had similar experiences, one was scammed. These people called, asked for him by name, claimed to be Microsoft technicians (who he had actually paid a month or two before, so that story was a bit believable for him), then took control of his computer for days, trying to convince him that he had viruses only they could remove. He was promised lifetime virus removal, transferable to any computer he ever owned for the rest of his life, for $280. THAT made him suspicious, and he called me.

I found the software that was put on his computer, removed it, and he wasn't bothered again.

I'm going to repeat this mantra:

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE "repair" your computer!

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE "repair" your computer!

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE "repair" your computer!

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE "repair" your computer!

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE "repair" your computer!

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU ON THE PHONE "repair" your computer!

[UnknownResident]

Is it landlines he is calling? If he asked for them by name I would assume he's just going through the phonebook??

[FriendlyComputer]

I just called that number back, and apparently the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is intercepting calls TO the number (why not the ones "from"?) and has a recorded message letting people know its a scam. Apparently the number has been in several phishing emails too. They probably let the number through on caller id because they have (had) a system set up whereby people could call in and "verify"... I know I rarely will even answer the phone of the number doesn't show up, so they are smart.

[FriendlyComputer]

Is it landlines he is calling? If he asked for them by name I would assume he's just going through the phonebook??

At first I thought "DOH! How come I didn't think of that?" because yes, the ones I know about were on landlines.

But then I realized, my phone book listing only has the first initial of my first name, and he asked for me by my full first name and last name. And, it's on a phone number I rarely give out, I almost exclusively give people my cell number.

Well, probably could have gotten my name from any number of sources, but each time I spoke to him, I think he could hear in my voice that I was on to him and both times he hung up abruptly.

[clefairy47_]

He called here about a month ago, and if I hadn't of read this forum. The number that showed up on my phone was123-456-789.
My computer had started to run slow too .............

[rekabis]

Got called about this myself just a few days ago. Told the Indian speaker (who had a very think accent and spoke slowly as if reading from a script) that I ran only Linux and BSD on my computers. They cut off pretty quick after that! :dyinglaughing:

Found an article on this issue here: https://www.ajc.com/business/microsoft-warns-of-growing-978452.html Clearly, this is not local.

Bump to keep this thread active. Please don’t sage.

[cubafreak]

I just got a call.....it showed up on caller id as...International call...926-754-3277
when I said hello there was nothing and then the sound of a phone ringing and a foreign sounding male asked for me by name,I asked who was calling and he babbled something that I couldn't understand and then said it was about my computer.....I said I am not interested and then told him to not call again and then I hung up....It has un-nerved me to the utmost.....

[Woodenhead]

Please don’t sage.

There's probably 5 users on this forum who know what this actually means. haha ;-) (for those that don't, Urban Dictionary should suffice)

It's times like this I'm glad my # is unlisted.

Gotta admit though - scammers can be quite creative. I tend to poke fun & "claim Darwin" on people who get duped by stuff like this, but in all honestly I'm kinda split on that - while I feel that folks should be smarter than that & therefore kinda get what they deserve, at the same time I also feel quite bad for anyone who suffers negative consequences at the hands of scammer scumbags.

[econovan64]

I have received this call twice in the past two weeks, the second time yesterday. I have talked to at least one person who has been stung by this scam.

The first dead giveaway is the accent of the caller, sounds very Jamaican. They spoof the caller ID so the number you see is faked. Try calling it back, it doesn't work.

The caller says he is calling from or about the Microsoft Windows Computer. He says your computer is generating error messages and they want to fix it. You have to allow them access through desktop sharing or remote access and they want money.

No one can possibly detect error messages from your computer and then connect your phone number with your computer!

The whole thing is a complete scam, a fishing expedition.

At least one local senior has told me they got taken in by this and that someone spent a lot of time looking through their computer but didn't fix any problems and took credit card payment.

These scammers could be getting valuable personal information for identity theft and or fraud from your computer.

If you get this call just tell them you don't have a computer and hang up. Or ask if you can call them back in 5 minutes. I don't know if the RCMP are aware of this scam or if they even care.

The phone companies have some responsibility here. Crooks should not be able to spoof return numbers, the phone companies are providing these crooks with the tools to rip their customers off.

[FreeRights]

I have received this call twice in the past two weeks, the second time yesterday. I have talked to at least one person who has been stung by this scam.

The first dead giveaway is the accent of the caller, sounds very Jamaican. They spoof the caller ID so the number you see is faked. Try calling it back, it doesn't work.

The caller says he is calling from or about the Microsoft Windows Computer. He says your computer is generating error messages and they want to fix it. You have to allow them access through desktop sharing or remote access and they want money.

No one can possibly detect error messages from your computer and then connect your phone number with your computer!

The whole thing is a complete scam, a fishing expedition.

At least one local senior has told me they got taken in by this and that someone spent a lot of time looking through their computer but didn't fix any problems and took credit card payment.

These scammers could be getting valuable personal information for identity theft and or fraud from your computer.

If you get this call just tell them you don't have a computer and hang up. Or ask if you can call them back in 5 minutes. I don't know if the RCMP are aware of this scam or if they even care.

The phone companies have some responsibility here. Crooks should not be able to spoof return numbers, the phone companies are providing these crooks with the tools to rip their customers off.

They had an article about this scam on the news during the summertime. Sounds like it's coming back.

[Glacier]

I've had this call at least 15 times since the summer. I swear it's because they see from my Castanet profile that I'm 100 years old, and thus, geriatricly gullible.

[dodgerdodge]

Never had the call but agree about the spoof numbers. I lost count how many weird numbers come up, like 1234567890 or 11111111 or other seemingly normal numbers that don't allow call back. You are right why do the phone companies allow this practice?

[milo]

A friend had the call months a go. Gave a CC# for the $50 or what ever it was and told them a command to input and they had control of the computer. Friend sat and watched the cursor move about. Called me a and I told them it was a scam and they unplugged the computer. Called CC company and the charge was reversed. Had a computer tech scan and look at the files and nothing was compromised.

[36Drew]

This scam has actually been going on for a few years now. I can't recall which IT rag ran a full rundown on what happens - but one of their reporters actually played along. The scammer persuades the victim to allow the scammer to establish a remote-desktop support session. The means of doing this varies - the scammers seem to like to use logmein rescue. The scammer then opens up Windows Event Viewer and points to any of several common alerts and attempts to convince the victim that there's a real problem. They then offer to fix said problems after collecting a credit card number - the entire point of the exercise.

These idiots used to call me weekly. Usually on my cell.

I have a pristine installation of Windows that runs inside a Virtualbox virtual machine. It has a lovely background of the goatse image (DO NOT GOOGLE THAT IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS). I stall the scammers long enough to fire up the VM - then I let them connect away.

The phone usually goes real quiet real fast.

[Lulu123]

I've received 3 calls in the last 2 weeks. Each time they call I admonish them for even trying that scam on me and then I ask if their mother knows what they are up to! Or I'll ask about how they would feel if their mom or dad got taken in by a lying scammer.

The last guy I spoke to couldn't remain civil to me after those 2 questions. He started swearing in his foreign accent and I just laughed. He finally hung up. I think I made his day!