A new scam phone call..

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[Baron]

Am a bit miffed that I was not able to continue the conversation with matey as the Housing maintenance man knocked on my door to do an internal job.

Anyway, I had a phone call this morning, by some foreign gentleman, probably from India, informing me that he was from Microsoft IT (or something) and it had been reported to him that my computer was causing problems....

 'Ah, goody gum-drops, playtime !' I thought.

He wanted me to confirm my name, and since he had it right, I agreed.
Then he asked me to switch on my computer so that he could sort out the problems.

I asked him to hang on while it booted up. Never mind that I was reading posts on here at the time.

So, I went to the kitched to make a coffee and returned........'Sorry about the wait.' I said 'My PC can sometimes take a while to boot up.'
He asked me what I could now see, and I told him 'My desktop' and he muttered something about needing to take control of my computer to fix the problem. (Oh yes ?  ') I thought.
Then he asked me to press the 'windows' key and the letter 'R' at the same time, and tell him what appears on my screen.
Of course the 'run' box comes up..........but just at that moment the 'fix it' chappie knocked on my door, and I had to put the phone down.
I can't remember all of the spiel that he gabbled on about at first since he was not that easy to understand.............and I was not fully alert...

Now, I wanted to see what he was aiming to get at ?.

I guess he would then want me to type something into the 'run' box, and I was very curious to know what.

Note. I wouldn't neccessarily do what he wanted, but depending on what he wanted me to do, I might just have some fun with him.......after all, 'he' is paying for the call. 

Anyone any ideas as to what matey was hoping to achieve ?.
I have a couple of ideas, but they are probably wrong....

[Richard]

John had a series of similar calls a while back but didn't allow them to progress.

They probably wanted your ip address, and the next thing would be to turn your firewall off.

If they can't get into your machine because you have a NAT router the next stage would be asking you to connect your machine directly to the cable modem.

Still can't gain access? Kill your antivirus.

Welcome to their botnet at the very least, and possible goodbye to your data - which can then be retrieved for a fee.

There are (mainly) American firms actively recruiting for these 'mechanical turk' operations in India and offering about twice the salary of a legitimate call-centre... which must be very tempting with a family to feed and rent to pay - a few Indian friends of mine who work in the IT industry have been approached by a 'Merkin with a Californian accent asking their salary and offering to double it if they come to the dark side.
Very sensibly, they got his offer in writing then went back to their own boss for a pay-rise instead!

[Baron]

Cheers for an answer.
So that is possibly what the bugger was up to.

If I get another one, then I will play him along and see how far we get and will tell him 'Yes I have done that' whilst not doing it, and see what happens.

A retired person has to get some amusement during the day....

[Babs]

I remember when I worked for CocaCola... and their help desk was overseas... I did the run bit for something which gave them the IP address followed by a couple of directed clicks and that was that. It was quite amusing watching the cursor move about and things happening on screen without me lifting a finger.

In Help & Support... look up "Remote access". Interesting reading and it describes it better than I can.    Here's a starter...

The steps described in this topic are designed for advanced users who are comfortable with changing router configurations. To set up Remote Desktop Connections within the same network—a much simpler process—see Allow someone to connect to your computer using Remote Desktop Connection.

There are six steps you'll need to follow to set this up. Each one is explained in detail below.

Allow remote connections to the computer you want to access.

Make sure Remote Desktop is able to communicate through your firewall.

Find the IP address of the computer on your home network that you want to connect to.

Open your router's configuration screen and forward TCP port 3389 to the destination computer's IP address.

Find your router's public IP address so that Remote Desktop can find it on the Internet.

Open Remote Desktop Connection and connect.

[Baron]

Cheers ...

On re-installing Windows as part of my set up I always disable 'remote desktop' ....'remote assistance' ...'remote registry'.....by opening 'services.msc'...in the 'run' box.

Those are my technical terms for these things, and may differ from the MS ones...

[Baron]

Ha, got another phone call this evening (two previously but I was busy) with these 'Technical support' for Microsoft windows chappies....

Apparently it shows on on their computers that I have a lot of errors on my computer (even though I have only just finished re-installing W7) and although their Indian English was a bit duff, it sort of went like this:

I had to open the 'run' box (W+R) and type in 'prefetch' then open the 'readyboost' folder.
I only have 5 entries in there: 'Trace'  FX files.
He gave up on that after I couldn't do what he wanted.

He then passed me to a colleague of his for the next stage.

Next matey came on and got me to open the 'run' box again and type in 'event viewer' and then 'windows logs/application' and to tell him how many yellow warnings and red errors showing.........I had a quick scroll and guessed at about 10 yellows and 4 reds.

Things got a bit muddled because I didn't quite do as he wanted (perhaps I was being a bit difficult) and according to him this was serious and passed me on to another colleague for the next step.

The next matey got me to type into IE www.microsoft-technicalsupport.com  (http://microsoft-technicalsupport.com/) and to click on the 'remote' tab which wants me to download 'TeamViewerQS_en.exe' .
I told him that I was not happy to download an .exe file that I was not sure about, but he assured me that using this he could then solve all my error problems.

We went back and forth so he got his manager on the phone, who asked me how I was today.... ....and tried to get me to download the file so that they could help me.

He also assured me that I would not have to pay any money as it was free from MS Technical support..when I mentioned that I was worried that it would install and I won't be able to uninstall it without having to pay any money.
"No, no Sir, it is free and then we can help you fix the erros that are showing on your computer...blah...blah...blah...".
I left it that I would download the file, save it, and check it out on Google.

He also mentioned my firewall, but the line was bad and so was his English, that I wasn't quite sure what he was wittering on about.

I then got bored, since I had now spoken to four helpful chappies who were concerned about all the errors on my computer, and I now know what the buggers are up to, and this is my 3rd call today, but decided to take this one.

The phone call was quite long what with me being very worried about all these errors, and making him tell me what to do 3 or 4 times, and asking him to repeat things.....quite a lot actually, but I was curious as to where he was going to take me, so I was all sweetness and light whilst being very concerned, and after a while he didn't seem too amused when I was adamant that I was not going to install this eventviewer thingy, knowing that the bastard thing would cock up my fresh instal of Windows..

The next one will be left on hold whilst  I 'switch on my computer'............that can take quite a while since it is already on and I am checking out some forums....

[PCKitty]

We get those here also! Mum confuses them by saying she doesn't have a PC! She's not lying because the PC is mine...

I'm hoping they call when I answer so I can lead them on a 'merry dance' too!

[Baron]

We get those here also! Mum confuses them by saying she doesn't have a PC! She's not lying because the PC is mine...

I'm hoping they call when I answer so I can lead them on a 'merry dance' too!

Good for you Kitty..........it's a bit of fun especially since they are paying for the call. 

[Babs]

I'd like to know how they choose their victims...

[Casper the Ghost]

I had the call last week and was so completely enthusiastic about them being kind enough to help me out that they hung up on me! Bugger - now how am I going to get me PC fixed?

[Baron]

I had the call last week and was so completely enthusiastic about them being kind enough to help me out that they hung up on me! Bugger - now how am I going to get me PC fixed?

Not to be too enthusiastic methinks....
I played the rather concerned attitude, but not too much. 

They shouldn't have my phone number because I am ex directory.......not that it makes sod all difference, since I reckon that when one fills in forms online, like a car/house insurance quote for example, then as they want all your details, then I reckon they flog them on and eventually get passed to some outfit in deepest India for starters.

If I happen to buy some software that I think is better than the free version (malwarebytes, display fusion, and a couple of Ashampoo products especially if they are on offer) I make up a different name on each order, so that when I get emails offering products and crap I don't want, I know where the source of my email has come from.

 Little things like that keep me amused.........

[PCKitty]

Good for you Kitty..........it's a bit of fun especially since they are paying for the call. 

Still waiting...

[Baron]

Still waiting...

I've not had another call since then..
I get one or two emails from people telling me that they have zillions of dollars to give me if I send them certain details.

The last one was from a woman who claimed her terminal illness meant she only had a short time to live and therefore wanted to send me quite a few millions of dollars before she karks it.
I did reply and wished her the best of luck, but as she did not include an address, I couldn't send her a 'get well card'.
Not heard back....yet.