Single hen

[Leicester_H]

I just got a call with an “out of area” (ie: overseas, not “uk withheld”) caller ID.

 

I knew it was a scam, but went along with it for a bit to see what he wanted. After a while I put the phone down. He tried calling back twice but I didn't pick up.

I then did a google search and found a near identical description which I've copied(with some edits) below (same me typing).

 

Don't anyone fall for it - basically he tries to convince you to visit a dodgy website.

 

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He had a thick strong accent and started off by saying:

“Hello Mr Marshall, this is the Windows XP service provider - we have had a report from your computer that it is running slow/infected”.

 

I was also noting it down, and here’s what he told me to do:

 

Go to the start>run menu and type in

 

“p as in peter, r as in romeo, e as in echo, f as in foxtrot” - etc etc, to cut a long story short, he wanted me to type in

 

“prefetch virus” in the run prompt. As it happens, I know exactly what that would do - it simply opens the windows prefetch folder. The word “virus” is ignored

 

“OK sir, can you please tell me how many files there are?”

I told him 30.

“Oh my gosh, this is a sign of very heavy infection. You must not touch these files. [about the only truthful part of the call]. Please now clear this box and type ‘temp’ and press enter”.

 

Again, “your computer has very heavy infection with so many files”. He then babbled some "Ooops, word censored!" about how these file were your f-a-t32 system files and that “at any time these files could scratch your hard drive”. Riiiighhhht…..

 

Then came the money shot. “We will connect you now with an agent, please go to http://www. (rest deleted to avoid accidental clicking)”

As I had full armoury on (google toolbar, avg, running Chrome etc), so I decided to check it out. It redirected to https://secure.l (rest deleted to avoid accidental clicking)

 

After some chitchat in which he confirmed my (incorrect, spamtrap) home address, he then said “I will now connect you to an agent - for this there is just a small one-time charge of £12″.

Before I let him take my details, I said I wanted to check what company it was. Again, he said it was “your Windows XP service provider” (whatever the hell that means).

To the answer “where are you based and what is your name”, bear in mind this man had a VERY thick/strong Indian accent and was calling from a scratchy overseas number.

“My name is Kevin Watts and we are based in Bradford”. Gold-dust! You couldn’t make it up! (Well, he obviously had).

[Old Speckled Hen]

Good for you

I hate cold callers of any description and usually put the phone down without actually cutting it off, letting them tootle along with their rehe"Ooops, word censored!"d spiel till they discover I have gone.

[Geoid]

FAT-32 files are what nearly all oldish computers (and some new ones) store their files on.

That is a scam, I would of played him along.....tehehehe

[Leicester_H]

FAT-32 files are what nearly all oldish computers (and some new ones) store their files on.

That is a scam, I would of played him along.....tehehehe

Don't worry - I did a bit. Made out I knew nothing about computers (so didn't mention my MSc IT!!) - played the dumb female (my husband deals with that etc.)- I was interested to see where he was going - but then I got bored.

 

It was sort of plausable - hence my posting here.

 

H

[Hen Watch]

I thought I'd heard it all on phone scams but obviously not...... blimey.

 

For about a 2 years now I've been plagued by overseas callers (I know they are abroad as it comes up as "overseas" on my phone display). They always say different things like they are discussing my shares, mortgage, investments (like I have any..... ) all manner of things. Usually have a Spanish type of accent. Sometimes they phone 3 times in one day and even at 10pm at night. Then nothing for a month, then it starts again. BT say they can do nothing about it as the callers are phoning from abroad. I'm sorry to say but after about 40+ of these calls now I do tell them "where to go" and just hope their English covers a knowledge of swear words..... I tried leaving the phone off the hook but they just phone back same day, so hense my short and sweet reply before slamming the phone down.

[JM]

Oo - I got a similar phone call a similar months ago (with a man with an Indian accent) and ended up having a longish conversation with the man asking all sorts of questions that he couldn't answer. I was trying to find out how he knew that my PC was running slow (it wasn't). I wasn't on the PC at the time and certainly wasn't going to boot it all up. He was going on about a one off charge for sorting out my PC... yeah right!

 

I have a fair bit of IT knowlege, and I got bored in the end, said NO and put the phone down. Haven't heard anything more, and my PC is still OK and secure!