Scammers are calling people up pretending to work for Microsoft in the latest social engineering hack.
According to the Guardian, the scam is really simple the phone rings at someone's home, and the caller, usually with an Indian accent, asks for the householder, quoting their name and address before saying "I'm calling from Microsoft".
The caller claims that Redmond has had a report from their ISP of “serious virus problems” from your computer.
After predicting the end of the world if the problem is not solved, the caller asks the user to open a program called "Windows Event Viewer". Of course it lists errors, some labelled "critical" which causes most people to make the fatal mistake of trusting the caller.
The computer owner is directed to a website and told to download a program that hands over remote control of the computer, and the caller "installs" various "fixes" for the problem.
Then the bloke from Microsoft asks for a £185 for a "subscription" to the "preventative service".
Not only has the person paid for something they don't need, but they have also given their entire computer over to the scammers.
The Guardian said that the scam has been going on since 2008, but lately it has grown after being run from call centres based in Kolkata.
The scam is run by teams believed to have access to sales databases from computer and software companies and is being done without the legitimate outsourcing company's knowledge.
However the Guardian seems to have worked out that the scammers are probably just using the phone book.
The Guardian has been told that the entire scam is the brain child of one bloke in Kota in Rajasthan.
He has provided fake documentation to a number of payment companies including PayPal and Alertpay, a Montreal-based online payment company, to set up accounts which route money to a bank account in Kota with Axis Bank.
In March, site hosting company Hostgator shut down one of the longest-running sites used for the alleged scam, F1Compstepuk.com, after complaints.
Redmond seems to think that the whole thing was being used by dodgy people within the Microsoft Partner Network. It said that it had terminated its relationship with certain partners who are clearly misrepresenting their relationship with us and using our company name in order to facilitate their telephone scam operations."
Not that that has stopped the scammers. Two sites alleged to be involved were still listed as "Microsoft Gold Certified Partners", which Microsoft says means that they must have "demonstrated expertise" and "must employ a minimum number of Microsoft Certified Professionals".
Just to clear matters up. Microsoft never rings anyone up.
Is there any thing that microsoft can do about this.
I have paid out 180.00 for this cover,and they promise to protect my comuter for 3 years + 2 years free?.
Iknow i have been a fool, and would like to warn others about the unsatisfctory scaremongering selling technique.
I eagerly await any further comments
I got hoodwinked today,bells should have rung when i heard the accent.just at the moment when this guy on the phone told me to enter a pass code LETMEIN 123,I froze coupled with the words only 95 pounds,then i told him to eff off.
Its so easy to be so naive.
So bloody angry I am at the moment that these people do this to other people.
The poor people that are sucked in and what they must do to peoples pc's. Bastards.
Once they said that they were calling from Microsoft and the other two times from a company called "health pc online" all within the last week. This really is getting on my nerves, im sure plenty of older people would fall for this, its disgusting really.
Is there anyone we can report them to?
One said that they were calling from Microsoft and the other two times from a company called "health pc online" all within the last week. This really is getting on my nerves, im sure plenty of older people would fall for this, its disgusting really.
Is there anyone we can report them to?
An Indian lady called my home a few weeks back saying pretty much the same thing that is stated above but she said she was from Microsoft... I called her bluff though as I actually work for Microsoft in the UK and I know they would not contact customers in this way.
When I said this to her she hung up the phone.
When I went into work the next day they said that there are scammers who ask you to do certain things on your computer and they manage to get data from your files/search history - including banking details if you log in online.
I called back the number (out of curiosity) and it was answered by the company, who were now "PC Support ..something). I asked to speak to Angel, and was put through - she asked me if I was now in front of my computer, to which I replied "yes I am, and I'm looking at the microsoft site which says that they never make unsolicited calls." She then tried to deny that she had ever suggested she was calling from Windows etc etc.
Anyway to cut a long story short, here is their phone number. 0151 4402 785 . Call em up and see if they like having a few unsolicited calls of their own.
but insisted it was my loss...It pisses me off that as hard as I tried and as big of a fool that I acted like I coulnd get these guys to throw in the towel and just admit it was a scam,or hang up on me.
But if one of these guys calls you please go ahead and jerk them around and act like as big a fool as possible...its alot of fun screwing with someone whos trying to rob you of your hard earned money.
A good trick is to give them a totally made up credit card #
and act like a total bafoon.
I look at it like this..as long as you can keep one of these fools on the line with your bogus info its just time they cant be trying to scam someone else..have fun with it and try not to laugh while you mess with these douchbags.
I posted this on jan 15th 2011
This firm has a registered Front Office in Miami,Florida,U.s.A as FINMAESTROS LLC with specific call-back numbers for US,UK,IRELAND,AUSTRALIA,NEWZEALAND on their website.Their Modus Operandi is very SIMPLE.Hire a few needy youngsters fluent in English,pay between $100 to $300 per month with incentives for performance.. BINGO..The Jackpot is theirs.
The name of the Company operating 1)www.24x7pchelp.com
2)www.technogenie.com,etc
is M/s Shine Solutions P Ltd, No.10 Shyamananda Road,
Kolkata-700025.
Contact No-033 24549679.
Some of their Senior Employees have the following Cellphone Nos-
+91 9681612762.
+91 9007452651.
+91 9874312622.
+91 9903113539.
+91 9883618027.
+91 9007365702.
+91 9331649249.
+91 9007565706.
+91 9038613837.
+91 7278555346.
Any Victim of Breach Of Trust having GENUINE grievances now knows what to do.
Please forward this Post to as many people you can.
Investigations are on to locate many more such Fly-By-Night operators having NOTHING to do with Microsoft WINDOWS but are just trying to CASH IN on your fear of losing Precious Data.
All The Best...
A scam?
windows oriented software on a day to day basis. I told them that I use Linux instead. They thanked me for the time and hung up. the phone number they used was...get this.... 123-456-7890. When I saw the number on the call display, I knew it had to be a scam or something. That number is used mostly for advertising, like on credit or debit cards from notable banks. (Most annoying phone call I've ever had )
And yes, it was and Indian's voice on the other end. I could barely understand him. He used the name " Robin ".
The name of the Company operating
1)www.24x7pchelp.com
2)www.technogenie.com,etc
is M/s Shine Solutions P Ltd, No.10 Shyamananda Road,
Kolkata-700025.
Contact No-033 24549679.
This firm has a registered Front Office in Miami,Florida,U.s.A as FINMAESTROS LLC with specific call-back numbers for US,UK,IRELAND,AUSTRALIA,NEWZEALAND on their website.Their Modus Operandi is very SIMPLE.Hire a few needy youngsters fluent in English,pay between $100 to $300 per month with incentives for performance.. BINGO..The Jackpot is theirs.
Have you got such call in the recent past.? If you have & have been duped,report it to the local police.
Please forward this Post to as many people you can.
NAIL THEM NOW...
Scamming scumbags!
He gave me a phone number 02081239216 to phone him back after I had checked him out. I did'nt phone.
Today I have a message on my answer machine saying that Jason Smith has arranged for 5 machine guns to be delivered tomorrow (26th Feb), I will have to sign for them and pay £200. I could pick out the word Affgan but did'nt understand.The company he was recommending I download from was e-pclive.com, but I'' could'nt buy from them''.
Two days later I had one of these scammers ring me. At first I was a bit confused since I had actually made a call to my ISP regarding speed issues, but they would have introduced themselves as my ISP not from microsoft. The guy was very insistent and demanding that I should let him have access to my computer to fix the problem. I told him to rack off, in less polite terms. At first I was worried that they might have hacked my local ISP and got details of my fault call, and then I wondered if they were actually screwing around with the local area network in some way. Seems a huge coincidence that I would be getting painfully slow internet and then get a phonecall telling me I have a virus that is causing it.
dont worry then cont do anything......they have just got your phone no and nthng elz.....
and those callers are not from microsoft......100% sure.....
Last week they phoned me, only a week after I purchased a new laptop from grays online, so only running the pre-installed norton internet security. The phone call lasted ages as her english was bad and I had had a few drinks, but my internet had been slow and there were a couple of occasions where I had to use the task manager to close applications. So I let them in with their remote app thinking it was all legit. As soon as they asked me for $195AU to fix it, the penny dropped, I hit the wireless off button and did a clean install. I don't know where these guys get their information from, if they are just cold calling or if there is an information leak from Grays, or even the Indian door knocker from Telstra (my isp provider) to whom I complained about my slow connection the same day this all happened. Got another call today though, same deal, but this time I was asking the questions, and I was in no mood for BS as I don't like being made to look a fool. I asked if she worked for Microsoft, she said no. I asked her where she got my phone number ( on a "do not call" list and liable to prosecution ), she said her R+D department. I asked her who she worked for, and she could not tell me so I gave her a mouthfull and hung up. Thanks to this forum I don't feel like such a schmuck as I know I'm not alone. But I'm still pissed off and want revenge, and yes the scam is still going strong, at least here in Australia.
Telephone numbers:
01613530323 United Kingdom
03213123418 United States of America
08765123498 Australia
The same cold call saying "your computer is sending out an alert which we are responding to". Why does our telecoms system allow people to buy an operate these numbers?
I told the man that he would have to speak to my husband and he appeared annoyed. I hope he phones again and I will tell him where to go!!
Lots of people seem to have been hooked by this one - I can imagine its quite scary, a friend of mine was told that his machine was distributing viruses and trojans across the globe and that he would be held responsible for the infections...
Does anyone know what sort of recourse is available - as far as I can tell my friend was told to download and install the free version of avast, and was then billed for a years "support". The companies involved seem to be 'Finmaestros' and 'greybytes.net'. Would the credit card issuer cover this as part of the card insurance?
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!
I'm from Wellington, New Zealand and received a call last night (around 8.45pm) from a male chap who had an 'indian' accent who went by the name of 'Peter Jackson' who works for a computer company who fix computers worldwide for known faults and wanted to check the operating system on my computer as there were known viruses 'out there' and he wanted to help prevent them from being on my computer... I was suspect from the start and asked for his name again, who he worked for, where is his company located and what did he want again?... He advised he is Peter Jackson, works for 24x7PCHELP based in Auckland (NZ) and again advised about the operating system check - I pleasantly advised "Peter": 'that I seriously believe this is a dud phone call, my PC is 12 years old and has not been used for the last 6 years so I'm not too fussed about it, I don't know how you (he) got my number, I can only presume by some random process and I am now going to hang up - so thanks for the call and goodbye!!'
OH and to 'Peter' from the so called company "24x7pchelp"... YOU IDIOT next time come up with a more original name to use than using a well known NZ Directors name (doh!!)
..
Elsita, from Perth.
Since then I've learnt that they will also try to "sell" you Windows upgrades: the licence key is invalid. (If you were sold one, please forward it to me - charles.arthur@guardian.co.uk : I can get Microsoft to tell me where it was issued.)
Please tell friends about this - for once it's a real warning - and note also that they try to get you to pay with your debit card because you can't charge it back. ALWAYS pay on your credit card - those you can reverse, and it hurts them where it matters.
Get in touch if you've been affected. I'm still investigating this story.
tpg has indian support used to help customers set up tpg accounts. after 2 days of being hooked up by tpg i got the scam call, knew something was sus and told them to never ring again as i suspected them.
just a thought- but tpg customer service details in india may be compromised. its not an accusation aimed at tpg but just seems sus - perhaps some one should look into it.
"Squad Tech" was the name of the company that called me today, presumably that is squadtech.net (not that I visited the site).
As this is about the 6th or so time I've been called and have got bored with "which computer?", "what actual files?" and other semi-tech queries I tried "are you gay?", that got rid of him real quick.
AH BUT, within 10mins another bloke (Victor) rang me! He wasn't put off at all by being asked if he was gay and where he lived and what his phone umber was, had to really camp it up before he hung up. I assume this was also Squad tech but didn't ask.
It is appalling to think that these wicked individuals are preying on the elderly and I hope that they are dealt with very severely.
If you have a lapse in judgement and fall for the scam (as I did) and follow their instructions giving them remote access to your computer (you might not be aware this is what they are doing, but it is), they will use Event Viewer to show pages of files with errors. From my computer research, I now understand that "Event Viewer system logs display prominent 'Error' icons, which often relate to trivial matters like the failure of a process to start, but could be used by a scammer to convince someone their computer needs 'fixing' by running a script." (http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/314295/windows_event_viewer_phishing_scam_remains_active/). He will also be able to read out to you your operating system product code, further deceiving you into believing he is truly an authorized Microsoft technician. In fact, he is just reading it off your screen which he has obtained remote access to without your knowledge. Then under the pretense of scanning your computer, the technician will get access to your computer through www.logmein123.com and is able to display, through sleight of hand, a screen saying your software warranty had expired and that you will lose all your data in 5 hours. They will say you need to renew your software (like Vista or your antivirus) to avoid a complete systems crash and will direct you to a very professional looking website, www.24x7pchelp.com, to make the purchases. Then they will request remote access to your computer for one hour to “fix” it and do the download of purchased “software”.
Basically, these guys are masterful at gaining your trust and use their superior computer knowledge to deceive you about the status of your Antivirus software, the state of your Operating System, and the security of your computer. They use fear of an imminent computer crash to persuade you to buy “software” you do not need. When you express doubts or reservations about what they are telling you, they assure you that they are who they say they are (authorized Microsoft professionals), that the situation is critical and that saving your computer’s data is their chief concern. If you lay down your money, their refund policy (it’s a joke, really) will not protect you and the company will likely refuse you a refund, basically standing behind these deceptive marketing and sales tactics, essentially showing you they endorse this kind of business practice--which is completely contrary to the marketing on their website. Here’s their mission statement: 24x7PC Help was founded by a bunch of enthusiastic computer professionals passionate about raising the bar on service quality with a view to provide best technical support service and with it educate the customers about their computer. If you are lucky enough to get your money back (for me it meant playing my cards very carefully and going to the top, company co-owner Shawn Ray), you will not get a full refund; they will keep a deduction of $59 USD for “instant services”.
If you go to your Credit Card Dispute Department, you will be told that you have nothing in writing, so they can’t help you – which is exactly why these scammers do the whole transaction over the phone. You will also be told ‘Buyer Beware’ which is basically an approach that blames the victim of the scam. Yes, you can call me stupid for falling for it; but the charge against the 24x7pchelp employees is far more serious: misrepresenting who they were (it’s called fraud, folks) and using deception to obtain purchases. Buyer Beware says if you’re stupid enough to fall for it, it’s your fault. I find that outrageous. Well, I for one am going to hold this company accountable for the tactics of this salesperson and am going to hold them to the high standard they advertise on their website. I will point the finger where the blame lies. I share this so that others will learn from my experience and not fall for similar scams.
Working for a more honest world.
Suzanne
UK:
+442032865123
01613530323
0141 295 0025
USA
03213123418
Australia
08765123498
Now they've added New Zealand to the scam (049748913).
I can understand that it is hard to track these people down, but why can the authorities just cut off their access to UK telephone numbers?
My advice...tell them that you use Linux, the safest operating system available... that stumps them.
can he obtain any of my personal information from my computer???
It was a good idea to disconnect your pc once you saw the cursor move.
just recieved a call from so called microsoft representative
let him babble on for a few mins and told him hes full of **** and i am a pc engineer and that i had kept him on the line long enough to run a phone trace and this would be handed over to the police he hung up :D