Heads up on phone scam

[Grayson Morris]

I just wanted to let folks here know about something to watch out for.

I was just called by someone who knew my name and said he was calling from Company XYZ tech support. (The company name used will no doubt vary per phone call, so I'm not listing it here.) I'm sure he thought he'd hit the jackpot when he got a Mac-using woman on the phone. He told me one of our Windows computers was downloading malicious software from the Internet and he wanted to walk me through how to fix it. Yeah, right. Sorry, Charlie, you got a woman with a professional computer background on the phone. Bye bye.

It's a complete scam. NEVER, EVER let anyone who's cold-called YOU "guide" you through "fixing" something on your computer (or anything else connected to the Internet). Neither Microsoft nor anyone else could even KNOW your PC is downloading malicious software. At best, your ISP might call you and say, "Yo, man, you are seriously violating the fair-use policy with all your downloads, so stop it." Even so, don't let them walk you through anything. Hang up, and call your ISP's tech department yourself.

Searched a little and found an article on it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ju ... ll-centres . (My helpful caller was "from" a company I'd never heard of before, but that appears to be legit.)

[Strycher]

Has anyone ever been exposed to the one where they call and claim to be the police? They tell you that you've either got outstanding debt that you've been court-ordered to pay and you're past your deadline or that you have a speeding ticket from one of the automated/camera systems and you've failed to appear in court incurring fees that are past-due. Then they tell you that unless you pay over the phone RIGHT NOW with a bank account or credit card, the police are going to come arrest you.

::palmface::

Can't happen. You don't get court-ordered to do anything without notification. There is not branch of government (in the United States) that calls your house and asks for financial information.

[Beez]

Keep 'em on the phone and call the cops if they're acting like police. Isn't that a felony?

[Strycher]

Keep 'em on the phone and call the cops if they're acting like police. Isn't that a felony?

It is, but you won't be able to keep them on long enough for the real police to do anything about it. The advice I've heard is that you should take down all of the info they will give you (ie fake name, fake badge number) and then submit that information, along with the number they called you from, to the police.

[Jess]

Well, I for one am not worried about this. Sounds like the sort of trap one has to answer the phone to fall into.

[Juliana]

Well, I for one am not worried about this. Sounds like the sort of trap one has to answer the phone to fall into.

Exactly why I won't have a problem with it either. One of my college professors really messed me up when he talked about technology making us feel like we HAVE to be available all the time. Just because it's possible to answer the phone does not make it my moral imperative.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

Well, I for one am not worried about this. Sounds like the sort of trap one has to answer the phone to fall into.

Exactly why I won't have a problem with it either. One of my college professors really messed me up when he talked about technology making us feel like we HAVE to be available all the time. Just because it's possible to answer the phone does not make it my moral imperative.

As a friend once told me, "It's my phone. I decide when I want to use it. I don't let other people decide that for me."

I found that attitude impractical at the time. Now with caller ID and voice mail? Very practical.

[E.CaimanSands]

Well, I for one am not worried about this. Sounds like the sort of trap one has to answer the phone to fall into.

I don't really have a phone either, I certainly don't have a mobile. Yet occasionally I pick up the phone to someone on a terrible line with a strong Indian accent who claims to be from "Microsoft" who then unintelligibly tries to convince me of something or other. I'm tempted to say, "You see that nice river, the Ganges behind you? You see that nice crocodile in it? Well that's me, and I'm coming to eat you."
Maybe one day I will.

(Actually, the Ganges is a rather horrible, poluted river I believe, not at all nice for the gharials that live there, poor scaly ones.)

[william52]

Wow! That's exactly the call I got earlier. I got to your site because I was looking up information about this Microsoft/Tech repair scam call. The scammer's phone number was 206-456-0661 and this guy Jim told me my computer was downloading malwares from the internet. I felt obligated to post so I could share this warning.

And this scammer was definitely convincing. He had the right attitude to effectively handle the call and scare me with the virus story. Had I not read about this scam from the news before, I might have fallen victim to the scheme right away.

[william52]

Boy, was I surprised?! I looked up the phone number through Google and I got this site http://www.callercenter.com/206-456-0661.html. It looks like this scammer has been around for quite sometime. If he's made money by stealing if from his victims, he may be very rich by now.

[gower21]

I've gotten this call before too. They said they received a fix order of some kind on our computer. I said, it must be a mistake because my husband is a computer genius. Then he tried to say that my husband was the one who called (when earlier they had said the received an email). I hung up.

[Jess]

I probably haven't encountered this, on account of not answering my phone.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

I probably haven't encountered this, on account of not answering my phone.

If you're in this contest, how can you NOT answer your phone?

[Strycher]

I probably haven't encountered this, on account of not answering my phone.

If you're in this contest, how can you NOT answer your phone?

People've reported that Joni leaves voice mails. I don't answer my phone if the number isn't programmed in. If it's important they'll leave a voice mail.

[Isto]

I probably haven't encountered this, on account of not answering my phone.

If you're in this contest, how can you NOT answer your phone?

People've reported that Joni leaves voice mails. I don't answer my phone if the number isn't programmed in. If it's important they'll leave a voice mail.

Joni leaves VOICE MAILS???? Then my leaping over furniture and stubbing of toes and handing up on friends is all unnecessary? Though on the positive side, some telemarketers have had some really sweet receptions... at first.

[Strycher]

Joni leaves VOICE MAILS???? Then my leaping over furniture and stubbing of toes and handing up on friends is all unnecessary? Though on the positive side, some telemarketers have had some really sweet receptions... at first.

::squinty face:: I can't remember who . . . but somebody on the forum reported . . . during one of the quarters . . . that she left them a voice mail.

Yeah, I've been at this so long I can't remember where all of my information is coming from any more. ::pathetic smilie::

[MJNL]

Me, , Joni's left me messages more than once. As a fellow phone-o-phobe, I can tell you there's no need to panic.

[Strycher]

Me, , Joni's left me messages more than once. As a fellow phone-o-phobe, I can tell you there's no need to panic.

Thank you! Now I have credibility again.

[bobsandiego]

If you have a book in a publisher's slush pile, then a phone call is a real possibility. They call if they like your stuff. However it might be best to let it go to voicemail. I have a friend, no names, she got the call that they loved her novel and wanted to buy it. seh squee'd and got herself an agent right away. Then trouble set it.
Seems because she was so excited on the phone the publishers thought that they coudl low ball her on the advance, when her agent felt the book was worth more. The publisher would not budge and jy friend had to make the call go for the sure thing, bird in the hand and all that, or let her agent shop it to other houses and maybe not find a sale.
She ended up shopiing it around and getting a much larger advance.
If you do get the call, remain calm, remain professional, and ask them to send the particulars to you. Squee and jump and shouts *after* the call. Or better, use voicemail.