Coincidence or a new clever scam?

[oldtimer]

Had a long conversation with my bank today to  try and resolve log-in problem.  As usual they were totally unhelpful but they did agree to post a new PIN.  Now here comes the coincidence or scam.  Ten minutes after my discussion with the bank, I get a ‘phone call from the Indian HQ of Microsoft telling  me there is a problem with my computer.  Is someone listening or am I paranoid?

Its easy when you know how

[PlaneMan]

Paranoia is good when things like this happen.

Don’t trust anyone that phones out of the blue.

[Anonymous]

I had the same phone call over a year ago and I fell for it.

They wanted access to my computer (I gave it) they wanted my email password (I gave it) they tweeked about as I watched).

While tweeking they changed my pin on my Visa (I found after an email in my account for password change. They took £84 out my account.

The bank offered to give it me back but I had to take the PC to PC World for them to check it. By this time I had already re installed a backup, so no point going to PC World.

I lost the £84 and changed my pin via the bank.

I think they just take pot look and get your phone number and assume you have a PC running Microsoft Windows

[Dave Rice]

It’s coincidence but a new campaign of this old scam must have started as I’ve heard of a few others.

If you want to stop these scams and other cold calling dead, get one of these  http://tinyurl.com/hzyebxq

Yes it costs £98 but as a home worker I can tell you it’s worth every penny. Only one of them has had the nerve to brazen it out and they probably wish they hadn’t.

Legitimate callers are quite happy to wait a few moments and those on your white list don’t even know it’s there. Those on the black list get a very polite feck off.

It’s easy to use; 1 to answer a call, put the phone down to reject. * to put caller on the white list or # on the black list.

Oh, it’s an answer phone too.

Best gadget I’ve ever bought. If you have a cyanogen phone you can have it on your mobile for free.

[The Duke]

I had fun for agood 45 mins with one of theses bozos about 4 years back, I just acted simple and slow. I was bored and gather my fun would stop them attempting to rip someome else off.

 

I’d say it was coincidence. But rule of thumb never give details to anyone thst calls you. Politely say, ok I find ha an issue with xyz I’ll call you to mark your you are who you say you are. Put the phone down and look up the number for who they say they are.

Then youll either get though to someone that knows of your issue, or a very confusesed rep on the other end.

I never admit to being be me if somecalls I don’t know. When they say os this xxx, I also was say no but I can leave him a msg.

[Richard]

Them: usual spiel about being from Microsoft and it being about my computer.

Me: Which one

Them: Your Windows computer.

Me: Yes but which one.

Them: You have more than one?

Yes: There are, let me see 10 or so, do you want me to go round and count them all.

Them: you have ten computers?

Me: yes I think so but I might have forgotten one or two.

At this point they appeared to go into mental melt down so I hung up. At least four are not currently in use, darn it I miscounted there is another not in use in a corner.

SWMBO hates it when I wind these bozos (or are they just crooks?) up.

Richard

[Ed P]

The Duke wrote:

I had fun for agood 45 mins with one of theses bozos about 4 years back, I just acted simple and slow. I was bored and gather my fun would stop them attempting to rip someome else off.

Take care doing that! My wife did the same and thoroughly peed-off the caller by wasting his time., Unfortunately what she did not know (or me) was that Yahoo had been criminally irresponsible in their computer security, and compounded it by not informing anyone for years. As a result the Subcontinent ‘gentleman’ just used her surname to search the Yahoo password dump and made her life (and mine in passing) hell for three months until she dumped her old BT email account and used a brand new email account instead. Luckily I had coached her never to use the same password twice and to distrust on-line banking (before the days of wide-spread two factor), so the collateral financial impact was zero.

[The Duke]

On my experience they never have your name, they usually start off with is that Mr Jones or Davis, (the hit hate is huge with that in Wales), I’m from Ms support. I’d reply with no, think your have the wrong number, then they would say, I’m from my and there is some dodgy behaviour coming from your ip…. And go into there pitch. One day I was sat there and just had fun.

So they need they never had my name or details, they was just fishing  for hits playing the phone number lottery.

[Ed P]

They had her name from the telephone directory (I still have a 2002 UK ‘People Finder’ phone directory that was a CD freebie with PC Plus mag, and probably the caller was using this or similar). Although people move every seven years on average it still works for a surprisingly large percentage of our friends.

Most telephone cold callers used our name until we installed the system recommended by Dave – unfortunately the wife refuses to go Ex Directory, but I did ex us off the electoral role to stop the Council selling all our details to cold callers.

[The Duke]

We still have a few phone line, but it’s been many years since a phones been attached.

We got a fair share of cold calls, but the main reason we stopped using it, was everyone had mobiles, and I have a Skype number, I was sick of getting huge phone bills, at the time we had 4 teens in the house! So one day the phone got binned.

Far cheaper for the kids to call mobiles off a mobile (free) than off a landlines which is about 40p a min or was at the time. 4+ years ago. Maybe more thinking about it.

The call I mentioned above could of been 6+ years back. Time seems to blend into one long smudge

[JayCeeDee]

Our Sky package, and TT afaik, includes calls to mobiles now – it’s taken me a while to adjust – I was always in landline for calls to landlines and mobiles for calls to mobiles mode.

[The Duke]

Very rare I call a landline for personal use. My nan (dead just over 3 years) was the last person I’d regularly call on a land line.

[Ed P]

Being Mobile-Only does not completely protect you. link.

If you want another morel to my story, never set up family email address of the form freda.bloggs@isp.com That was how the ‘M$’ scumbag from India linked things to my wife. Never use your surname in an email address.

[The Duke]

I wasn’t thinking mobile would protect you, I was just meandering as usual.

My mobile must get 10ppi, sand soliciting calls a day every day. And with out true caller I’d me an angry pigeon.

It a crowd fueled spam filter from calls,and texts its very good. If you owned a 1+1 or a wileyfox it’s built in, as it’s part of cyanogen. Or was.

That’s how I got introduced to it, I think it was CM11 it was rolled into the os,  I’m sure I had it on my M8, and tbh with it being integrated into CM that was the best way to experiance it. But it’s also avalible as an app for any Android (maybe ios) phone.

[D-Dan]

I really really want one of this fake MS calls. I’ve been Linux only for maybe 7 years, and the fun I could have with them.

But they never call.

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[Ed P]

Dan, my wife was using Ubuntu in a VM and knew darned well that the M$ scammer was lying.

[Richard]

Unfortunately many of the sops who make the calls have a script printed out and can only suggest Windows, many not even realising that there have been different versions. Throw in a few oddball computer systems, Cray, PDP 11 or anything else and they keeps saying ‘your windows computer’. They would assume that UNIX, LINUX, UBUNTU, etc. was another version of MS Windows.

[The Duke]

I spent the first ten mins he was saying turn pc on, log in, open this, type that click here, type this…. I then he said, right what do you see. And I replied oh you wanted me to do that, I was writing it down. So we went thought it again, with me apologising for the “many kids interruptions” “the door knocking “, and my super slow typing.

It was quite fun. He got very annoyed when I told him I knew exactly what he was up to..

[Bob Williams]

Ed P wrote:

As a result the Subcontinent ‘gentleman’ just used her surname to search the Yahoo password dump and made her life (and mine in passing) hell for three months until she dumped her old BT email account and used a brand new email account instead. Luckily I had coached her never to use the same password twice and to distrust on-line banking (before the days of wide-spread two factor), so the collateral financial impact was zero.

 

Ed, same happened to 2 of my neighbours, both ladies with new laptops who innocently used their FULL names as an email address. One: “But I thought no one would know who I was, if they didn’t see my name.” Imagine how long an explanation that was. The daft thing was, the first one was a big friend to the second one and warned her about using her name. Second one’s explanantion: “But I didn’t use her name, I used mine!” Talk about taking words out of context! I had sorted out the first one, reinstalled everything and advised her to remove her details from the Electoral Roll (as mentioned by Steve, we have not been on the Roll for many years) and showed her how to set up an address that would have no trace of her ID. Then I had to do the same with the second. Explaining the Electoral roll bit was another trial: “But how will I pay my Council Tax?”

Sometimes I regret having helped the first computer user in the Close…Now I am a ‘go to’ for every kind of tech problem they have. Some are in their 80’s and 90’s and have never used a PC before, it’s a nightmare. Yesterday it was a 87 yo bloke with a new TV, couldn’t use the Remote to start it. TV was not plugged in… I dread the time when one of them buys a Smart TV. I know I am only a few years behind them, and they can’t help it, but it does nothing for my own declining faculties. And I am too settled in a lovely spot, to move, unless those 6 numbers come up.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Author]

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