The Steel Guitar Forum

Today I received a phone call from someone with an accent that said they were calling from MS. He said my computer had sent a message to MS showing some problems. Is it customary for MS to call computer users? The call came from area code 949. He was somewhat persistant but I refused to fire up the computer. This sounds like a scam to me. Has anyone else received a call like this? I have had a problem with a home page that I use for news not opening the link when I clic on it to read a story. I am sure when a problem does develop this info is sent to MS but I can't believe someone would call.

I get about one of those a week. They are scams.

Yeah, I got a couple of those calls last year when I didn't even have a computer in the house. Didn't own one at the time.

Jerry Overstreet wrote:Yeah, I got a couple of those calls last year when I didn't even have a computer in the house. Didn't own one at the time.

That IS amusing. Sometimes I wonder how people like that get their minds so screwed up, it makes them want to do that to people they don't know.

Definitely a scam. I'm a PC Tech, and I even get these calls in the shop. Haven't received one lately though. I've had more than one customer show up with a trashed PC due to these guys.

This scam uses IP Telephony over the Internet and is usually based in India or Pakistan in call centers that are sometimes contracted out for tech support for US computer companies (that's how they may have gotten your number). Others are simply using Robo-dialers to contact as many numbers in a given area code as possible.

Their goal is to scare and scam you into paying for a computer scan, or tune-up, then for removal of alleged viruses or problems, and/or to sell a service contract. They will ask you to open your computer's Windows Event Viewer and use entries in there to scare you into believing that the computer is infected. Those errors have nothing at all to do with infections. Using the Event Viewer in this manner is a scam.

I have fun with them. When I hear who it is, I say "You're one of those scammers." Then when the say what, I say "You're one of those dirty, rotten, no good scammers." Then, I get amazed as to how well they can cuss in perfect English...

Scott Duckworth wrote:I have fun with them. When I hear who it is, I say "You're one of those scammers." Then when the say what, I say "You're one of those dirty, rotten, no good scammers." Then, I get amazed as to how well they can cuss in perfect English...

LOL - I believe the same guy called me!

They sure don't like being exposed for who they are, do they?

Occasionally I get these calls and I play along with the guy, pretending to be the most stupid computer user in the world as he tries too talk me through setting up a connection (I used to work in IT support so I know the frustration of trying to explain what "right clicking" means). Telling him the computer is on the other side of the room from the phone, dissapearing for a minute and coming back and asking him to repeat his last instruction is a good tactic to use.

When he's at the end oif his tether (or if I get bored first) I say - "Oh, I'm not on the Internet, does that makes difference?".

Jeff Mead wrote:When he's at the end of his tether (or if I get bored first) I say - "Oh, I'm not on the Internet, does that makes difference?".

now that's funny!

I find that most of the robo calls will ring two or three times and then quit. You might check if that's true with some of your calls. However, I have a little device that has over time solved all my unwanted telephone annoyances.

When I get these calls they usually say that they are calling "on behalf of Microsoft". I just tell them if MS want me that bad they can call me direct.

This has replaced my previous tactic of wondering out loud whether even such a massive organisation as MS has the resources to arrange personal calls, but that required too much thought on their part.

This last week I had an e-mail come in to my yahoo account and the header went something like, We have received a call from xxx xxx xxxx, my number, that you have a computer problem. Of course I have learned to never open these kind of things and delete right then.
But how do they get all this info together. It must take forever. Also have recently gotten things like get your free $500.00 gift card from Red Lobster now along with other chain stores. Remind yourself there is nothing FREE. And their is nothing we can do about all this infringement on our privacy?? J.R. Rose

JR;
Scammers peruse social networks and user forums to glean facts about potential victims. These data are combined into scripts that insert the correct matching sets of names and situations into phishing scams, fake invoices containing ransomware, money mule scams, 419 scams and other tricks.

J R Rose wrote:Also have recently gotten things like get your free $500.00 gift card from Red Lobster now along with other chain stores. Remind yourself there is nothing FREE.

Exactly so. Last week, I got a letter from some local outfit proclaiming proudly they had reserved a brand new iPad tablet (or some such device) to give to me. All I had to do was call them at the number they provided to get it sent my way. Of course it was a scam of some sort, and I knew that - I wasn't about to call them.

But I did bundle up what they sent me, and added my handwritten note back to them that said "I have a better idea, one that will save us both some time. Just send the tablet to me in the mail, using the same address you used to send me this letter". I chuckled as I dropped it in the mail, and I bet that tablet shows up any day now.