There are articles about this type of scam in a number of 'computer mags'. They use auto-dialling systems so have no control over whether they have called before themselves, irrespective of whether they are 'caught' by the people replying. Interpol and other police networks permanently try to nail them down but they work by moving between a number of places that often hide behind 'legitimate' businesses and use a very large number of phone numbers, all of which have their number withheld. It seems that the police occasionally find one, but then the operators are never in the same place, so the rest of them continue. Needless to say, they find enough people every day to make their sordid business profitable. I simply find it an annoyance now but if anybody ever finds a way of killing off these scams I would applaud them.
Bravo, this is a scam worth fighting.
My neighbor fell for it and they scammed not only her bank but they got the banking details of all her clients.
I have heard that they come back time after time and maybe we should not speak with them on phone as perhaps there is a way to access info via telephone - who knows?
I just dropped a piece of wood onto my neighbors roof and thoee tiles are broken. he has been screaming in the street. I have called my insurance,called the police, yet noI am sca my to go out as I need to go passed his doorway to get to my car.
Ho hum la vie en village
A scam passing itself off as a Microsoft Technical Support service that attempts to cajole the hapless victim into handing over (or typing in) their bank card details under the pretense that your Windows computer has been exhibiting some strange behaviour and it needs "sorting".
I managed to keep one gentleman dangling for about 20 minutes one day while I first enquired the actual name of his firm/employer - eventually I was given the name of a company alleged to be based in the USA. The conversation thereafter went something like this :
Me : "your statement of unusual Windows activity is odd because I don't have any Windows computers, only Mac and Linux,
Him : "yes, suspicious activity on Mac and Linux too.
Me : "so you're not Microsoft support after all, then ?"
Him : "yes, yes, but we need to access your computer, please switch it on and we will help you solve the problem."
Me : "so that would be the problem with the non-existent Windows PC, or my other machines which don't run Microsoft operating systems ?"
Him : "Don't be so smart !" - hangs up...
Occasionally you can tell that someone is ashamed, which is good.
I like Jane Williamsons reply. Will use it.
Thanks Jane
Yes, I receive these calls rather often with same details, i.e. Hang up when I speak in French. One day, I said,“do you have an Indian accent”, and I received a torrent of insults.
However, people do fall for this scam, my neighbor lost money, accounts, and her clients details.
I have heard that they keep coming back so as to verify your prescence at your address.
Would like to hear a response that is more than just hanging up.
We are now in the habit of asking which computer? Then when we get an evasive answer saying that we have twelve running and that the caller should contact our systems manager. That soon gets rid of them. We do sometimes have several running, often three laptops and my PC, so we are only exaggerating threefold (OK, we are fibbing) but even so since they talk in the singular... Like others, we have received these calls for ages and from the first time treated it as the scam it is, but now consistently tell our story in the hope that one day that will prompt them to ditch our number off their auto-dialling system.
Who are Norman Richard and David?
You should probably go into the Orange shop to get the old email address shut down.
The internet, you can access anything any time, great but the converse, people with bad intentions can contact you, sorry. Ireland is by no means immune, http://www.gctech.ie/latest-news/microsoft-ireland-warns-of-scam/
I tell them that I work for Microsoft Norman, Richard and David all
trying to pull the wool.
I tell them that they are criminals and does their mother know what they are doing.
As they say there is one born everyday, somebody must take the bait occasionally.
Hi I get these calls frequently, it us a scam, they want access to you computer, just put the phone down, they don’t like it when you ask to speak to a supervisor !
I get these calls from time to time. I just put the phone down on them. That anyone is taken in by them astounds me.
I have gotten at least two calls from them...the first thing they ask is if I speak English...duh..with my accent you have to ask? They did have my address and obviously my phone...I wonder if any of the French speaking folks have rec'd these calls.
Microsoft are never ever going to ring you up end of story! Treat it as some scammer.
We've been receiving these phone calls for at least a year and they come fairly regularly. Normally we just hang up but sometimes my husband likes to "play" with them. It's amazing how long you can keep them talking if they think they have hooked you.
This is a well known scam and has been mentioned on this group a few times. I'm amazed that people still don't know about it and that people are still falling for it, but they must be otherwise these scumbags would stop doing it. They are just trying to get you to handover control of your computer to them so that they can get access to any computer banking details (to steal your money) or to lock your computer which they will then charge you to unlock.
The interesting thing for me is that they are obviously phoning a French number yet they speak to you in English. I guess they already know about you before they dial which makes me wonder where they get the numbers from. We all give our phone numbers on websites without really thinking about it but I guess the less scrupulous ones are selling them on.