Dodgy Tech Phone Call

[renormalised]

Just had that dodgy tech phone call for Windows, by those Indian guys. Just told them I don't use Windows and hung up. Never gave them a chance to say anything much:)

Despite their business being legit', the authorities should nail their hides to a wall and shut them down.

Personally, I'd stick them on a really slow boat back to India and make them eek out a living in the Bombay or Calcutta slums, where they belong. Gives everyone from there that's honest and upstanding a bad name. But like all rats, you give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

[supernova1965]

Actually I don't think they are legit so watch out everyone I believe this is a scam to gain access to your computer to plant spyware,netbots and backdoors

[peter_4059]

I got one too. She asked if I owned a computer and I asked her if she wanted to buy one. The call ended pretty soon after that.

[renormalised]

No, the business is legit', but it's their activities which aren't...apparently.

[UniPol]

Pretty harsh words there Carl. Unfortunately, here in Australia, we find it hard to understand the cultural and economic conditions which bring about these enterprises. As you say, "hang up", it is quite easy if you are polite.

By the way, just to keep you up with the times and certainly no offense intended, "Bombay" is now called "Mumbai" and "Calcutta" is called "Kolkata".

[multiweb]

:lol: I like that. Wish I was that quick. :)

[renormalised]

I know what the cities are called, so there's no need to "correct" me, or "inform" me of their new pronunciations. FYI, Mumbai and Kolkata are actually the original Hindi pronunciations for the names of those two cities before the Europeans arrived in India.

Yes, they are harsh words, and deservedly so. They're crooks, whether they're Indian, Australian, "calathumpian" or red with green spots. The cultural or economic conditions have nothing to do with the enterprise that's been set up. That is a load of crock. They'd be crooks in India as well. Call them for what they are.

[OneOfOne]

I got one today, Thursday, and once they said they were from phone support, I said "Oh, get stuffed" and hung up. He rang me back and abused me for yelling at him. I then told him that he sounded like one of the supposed Microsoft Support calls and I hung up. The phone rang again and he explained how he was a legitimate company in Adelaide, however there was a definite half second delay, and that they were a real company that had detected that our computer was infested with a virus which our scanner would not be able to detect. He said he could give me a website that I could goto that would indicate they were a real company (yeah, and when I go there, it downloads something onto the computer). So I hung up and he actually didn't ring back.

I thought of it later, but I should have asked him what the time was in Adelaide and what the temperature was for today, he would probably not think about it being winter and would not know about the half hour difference. I should have also asked how he was able to associate my phone number with a particular computer!

So they are getting really persistent now! And to have them complain that I yelled at him! Well, I never....

[GeoffW1]

Eh ??? :question:

[renormalised]

It's a registered business.

[mithrandir]

Does he have an ABN and phone number to call back to confirm their existence?

Last time I asked how Linux could get their Windoze viruses. Next time I'll roll some dice as to whether I'll say AIX/Power7 or Solaris/SPARC or OS/2 Warp Server.

I'm not sufficiently bored to set up a separate VLAN, and a Windows VM, and punch holes in the firewall just to see how dumb they really are.

Andrew

[Saturn%5]

My phone tells me who is calling so after so many of these calls i thought time to try something different when i answerd.

Hello Australian Fedral Police, The responce i got was Beep Beep Beep

guess they didn't want to ask me about my computer :D

[ZeroID]

I asked one to wait while I did something and left the phone by the TV to keep him amused. Came back in half and hour and he was still there. Told him I was still busy, shan't be aminute though ..... he wasn't there when I went back 30 minutes later.
Between these dodgy baskets and the marketing/survey wallahs who ring on dinner\wine time........ they don't get much from me.

Local paper ran a comment from a guy who asks them ' Does your mother know you tell lies ? ' Apparently he gets all sorts of replies but got threatened to be 'cut like a chicken' recently.
The beauty is they are all overseas with no hope of getting any where near you so I just give them hell.

[JohnH]

I have had about 4 of these calls - given that I only work from home occasionally they must have called many more times...I am on the do not call list and so when I got the first call I asked for the company name, contact number, managers name etc. I point out I am on the do not call list and ask to be left alone. Still got calls. GRRR. I have never go more than a mumbled vague reference to M$oft tech support. So if you know who is behind this and it is an AU registerd company let me know - I will get a formal complaint in to the ACC - suggest we all do the same. This con is clearly targetting those who are not to confident with tech and they daytime calling pattern means it is probably the older and more trusting members of our society at most risk which is very low indeed.

[Barrykgerdes]

I had a spate of these calls some time ago over about a week. I gave them the clear off at first then. I told them they must be mad because I was a computer expert. This didn't stop them.

Next time I carried on the conversation in a "dumb manner for a few minutes and then told them thanks for the information as the FBI had been monitoring the call to get voice prints for prosecution. I have not had a call since.

Barry

[big_dav_2001]

Love it! :) lmao

I've gotten several of these calls, being the son of an IT professional I played along, Seems they want you to open msconfig and play around with the settings to allow them in. Don't fall for the trick, its troubling to think how many unsuspecting people they've fooled.

Davin

[Suzy]

Hubby got a call from them yesterday.

He played along for a good half an hour pretending to carry out the commands on the computer they were directing him to. Their reasoning being virus issues with the computer and was trying to get him to download a website.

Hubby said there was a lot of commands they wanted him to follow, he figured the idea being to get into a false sense of security with them so when it came time to download the file he was in kind of robot mode by them from listening to all their instructions.

Eventually after half an hour hubby said that he's over it it, was just playing along, doesn't want to do it anymore and knows its a scam. The guy got really angry at him and said, "Sir, you have not only wasted your time, but you have wasted my time too." And hung up abruptly on him.

This is so worry some- I can't believe how many of our club members alone, they have had contact with. Imagine all those people out there who have now got their personal files infected. Not to mention people's bank account details etc. And if I'm to be perfectly honest- I know very little about computers - if hubby wasn't in charge of my computer, I probably would have done as they asked.

I think Carl wasn't harsh enough.... :lol:
I'd have lots more to say... personally, I'd like to hang them off a tree branch and torture them so they never ever ever do this kind of job for a living again.
Coming from that part of the world myself, I understand the culture quite well. Whatever their situation is, it just doesn't give these people the right to steal from innocent, trusting people and making their lives hell.

Not just a simple case of hanging up either, think of all the people that have been scammed already thinking it's legitimate. :sadeyes:

[barx1963]

A friend of ours who is very smart, and has never been tricked into anything, unfortunately is very computer unsavvy. He and his wife have had their computer about 8 years now, but are still at the stage of if I say "Save the file in My Documents" to them I have to write doen a list of keystrokes for them to be able to do it.
Anyway they got one of these calls and got sucked in. Rang me up and wanted to know how "The Windows People" knew there were viruses on their computer. Told me that they had allowed access and thought it was really impressive watching someone esle control their mouse etc. Told them to immediately unplug the modem, and sure enough they "Windows Peaple" rang back complaining that the connection had gone down.
Luckily nothing drastic had been done and I was able to fix the couple of things that had been done.

Even smart people are not always computer savvy.

Malcolm

[supernova1965]

Hi Malcolm,

That is strange for someone to use a computer for 8 years to be still so computer unsavvy they must not consider it to be a priority being as smart as they are. Must have too much on the go, they may now consider it more of a priority.:shrug:

[Analog6]

We have an answering machine - it is a wonderful thing - these type of oxygen thieves hang up! I mean they can hardly leave a message with a call back number, can they?

mithrandir, I like the idea of asking them for their ABN - I bet there would be a deadly, panicked silence from the other end!

[barx1963]

Warren, he just isn't interested! Wants it to do certain things, beyond that doesn't care. Bit like me and clothes shopping.

Malcolm

[mithrandir]

(muffled with hand partly over microphone) "Sergeant! Start the call trace. I've got a live one."

[Gem]

Twice for me now. The second time they even provided a phone number in Sydney for me to confirm with when I asked them...
They always phone at really annoying times too. :mad2:

[Ric]

They never call me.

I wish they would, I now have a notepad beside the phone full of annoying replies.

Thanks to all here for your witty replies and suggestions.

[Paul Haese]

They called me last week and after he announced himself, I pulled him up and asked him where he was from and why he was calling again. When he told me he they had detected I had a virus on my computer I then said bullsh1t and told him not to ring me again. I promptly hung up and have not heard back from the parasites since.

[mithrandir]

It will be a number that redirects to their call centre in whichever subcontinental city has the cheapest pay rates for workers.

[ColHut]

Make sure if you are on the do not call register that you lodge a complaint with ACMA. They sent out a press release about this.

regards

[OICURMT]

I had one the other day ... "Excuse me sir, but our system detected a virus on your computer causing it to have delays on the internet"

My reply: "Alright! It works!"

His reply: "Excuse me sir? What works?"

My reply: "The virus I've unleashed from my computer!... it's taking over the world! HA HA HA HA (laughter in a deep dark cynical voice)"...

<click>

My wife busted a gut laughing...

[DavidU]

:lol::lol::lol:beautiful.

[OICURMT]

Damn... I meant sinister.. not cynical... (work must be making my brain melt)...