Phone call PC SCAM

[Iforgot]

I received an interesting call today, Saturday approx 7pm, about possible infections in my pc.
A person (with an Indian accent) called me by phone and said he worked for "eprotectionz" and that he believed my pc was contaminated by viruses.

He asked me to do a cntrl R and look to error messages in event viewer in either Application, Security or System

If you say, yes, there are error's then he will put you over to one of there Microsoft Certified Engineers to have a look.

At this point they will be looking for remote access to your pc to fix the problems.

The return contact no given was 0258097072, and website eprotectionz.com - Global Technical Support | Computer Maintainance | Remote Technical Support | Computer Trouble-Shooting | Online Support | Instant Support but you cannot contact them till Monday.

This looks like a scam............:devil:
Do NOT let anyone you do not know have remote access to your computer.

This is a warning, these people tried this a few weeks ago, and tried again today and it can be anywhere in Australia.

PS I do not know if they have anything to do with eprotectionz.com but this is the contact details they are given.
It could be any company name and number that you cannot contact to validate.
Even if you could validate the contact number/name, A legit company wouldn't cold phone canvas.

 

[smarteyeball]

This has been going on for a while now

Had one of these calls myself a while back. It's definitely a scam.

 

[Iforgot]

I had the first call a while back too.

Now It looks loke they are starting up again.

People just beware........

 

[Borg 386]

The thing you have to ask yourself when you get one of these calls is:

Why would someone be calling me out of the blue to offer me PC help?

They're always trying something new....

I'm waiting for my call so that I can act like I'm very old, confused and see if I can make the guy hang up out of sheer frustration (well, I gotta have something to entertain me now that I'm on summer vay cay....)

 

[z3r010]

I've just had another one of these myself, this time he claimed to be from the "Microsoft Maintenance department" but I think he could tell by my enthusiastic tone that I was out to play and hung up before I had any fun

 

[Tews]

I've just had another one of these myself, this time he claimed to be from the "Microsoft Maintenance department" but I think he could tell by my enthusiastic tone that I was out to play and hung up before I had any fun

You are a very mean man John!! :roflmao:

 

[theog]

My Charlotte had one last week, told the chap, I have a Dad for that.

 

[Golden]

I've just had another one of these myself, this time he claimed to be from the "Microsoft Maintenance department" but I think he could tell by my enthusiastic tone that I was out to play and hung up before I had any fun

Awwww.....unlucky. The conversation would have made an epic thread

 

[JMH]

We’ve discovered this telephone scam is aimed at English-speaking countries, including North America and the United Kingdom. The callers pretend to be from Microsoft and try to sell the victim something, direct them to a specific website, asked for remote access, to install software, a credit card number, or run a bogus security scan that showed an infection. The Trustworthy Computing Team conducted a survey of 7,000 people, and found that more than 1,000 people had received calls. Of those 1,000 people, 22 percent of people fell for the scam (234 people total), and 184 of those lost money - on average, more than $800.
You can check out some tips for avoiding phone scams here, but we want to remind you will never receive a legitimate call from Microsoft or our partners to charge you for computer fixes. If someone does call you claiming to be from Microsoft:

• Never give control of your computer to a third party unless you can confirm that it is a legitimate representative of a computer support team with whom you are already a customer.
• Never provide your credit card or financial information to someone claiming to be from Microsoft tech support if you did not initiate the call to Microsoft first.
• Ask upfront if you are required to purchase software or pay a fee or subscription associated with the "service." If there is, hang up.
• Take the caller's information down and immediately report it to your local authorities. If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, check out these tips that can help you protect your money and identity.

Windows Security Blog

 

[stacey]

Almost fooled!!!

I too just recieved one of these calls. Being extra tired I was more gullable than normal so I let it get right up to the invoice payment before I realised it was a scam!!!!

It was a call from an indian man that said he was based in sydney for a company called EPROTECTIONZ which are the only security company that is able to detect a new virus that has spread right across the UK and US and guess what - it was days away from completely destroying my computer.

'David Morrison' the technician set up all these alerts saying my computer was incredibly infected and my Norton Anti Virus despite being up to date could not fix this problem. He then gave me a contact number which was 02 5809 7072 whist he installed a program named IObit. 'David' then put me through to his 'senior technical officer' who's name was - wait for it - 'Jamal Fingers' At this point I'd come to my senses despite 'jamal' giving me the same contact number with his extension of 4408 that he said he could be contacted on 24hrs a day. He started getting a bit nervy when I told him I couldn't pay the invoice because my credit card was not nearby and I would have to do it later when I returned from my 'office'. He then tried to be personal and asked me why I was working so late on a saturday and why was I so tired. I gave him a false mobile number as the only number I could be contacted on to confirm a later payment which I will certainly not make. $265.98 for a three year subscription to EPROTECTIONZ when I already had purchased up to date security from a reputable company - I don't think so!

When I was off the line I called the number I was given and the 24hr service was not correct so confirming my suspicions I then deleted the IObit program and called Norton who ran a scan over my computer and it is safe again.

Hopefully nobody will be as gullable as me!!

 

[marsmimar]

Welcome to Seven Forums, stacey.

At least you caught it!

 

[Golden]

Hi,

After doing a bit of research, it appears that they are a legitimate service (the telephone number checks out on their web site), and IObit is in fact a legitimate product. This sounds like a simple case of cold-calling and getting you to pay for something that they led you to believe you needed. Keep details of everything that happended, incl. any correspondence you may have, as I feel they may approach you to claim payment, since you did install the IOBit product.

Regards,
Golden

 

[z3r010]

I've just had another one of these scammers call and this time I managed to keep them going for 25 minutes and about 3 different "technicians" and "supervisors" before they asked asked my OS to which I replied Ubuntu 11 to which the supervisor got really upset ranting why I didn't tell them that before, I said "you rang me with the error report, I assumed you would know my operating system"...he hung up.

 

[Hopalong X]

"I don't know what OS I have."

"There is an emblem on the case that looks like a piece of fruit with a bite out of it."

"Does that help?"

 

[JMH]

Priceless....they got what they deserved.
The "wasted time" probably "saved" some other confused souls from the harassing charlatans.

 

[Jacee]

I've just had another one of these scammers call and this time I managed to keep them going for 25 minutes and about 3 different "technicians" and "supervisors" before they asked asked my OS to which I replied Ubuntu 11 to which the supervisor got really upset ranting why I didn't tell them that before, I said "you rang me with the error report, I assumed you would know my operating system"...he hung up.

LOL!

 

[Dwarf]

I haven't had one of those calls yet, but if I did I guess I'll string them along a bit. Here's how it might go:

Phone: Ring, Ring.
Me, picking up phone: Hello.
Chap on other end: Good evening. It has come to my attention that your computer has got a very serious bug which I intend to help you fix.
Me: Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't realised. Where do you want me to start?
Chap: Click Start and then...
(He went into a whole list of things that I needed to do, but I just opened Notepad and tapped the keys to make it sound as though I was doing what he asked. After a while, he asked if I had got the information he wanted).
Me: I've got the information you want.
Chap: Could you read it out to me?
Me: Sure. Here you go. The second item from the right, fourth row down and eigth page in is what you're after. I'll read it out for you... Woops. That's broken it.
Chap: Eh?
Me: I've just broken it. Do you think you can help me?
Chap: Oh yes, I'll be delighted to.
Me: Ok, thanks. Do you know where I can repair a set of Napier's Bones?
Phone: Click. Buzzz...

 

[Golden]

I've just had another one of these scammers call and this time I managed to keep them going for 25 minutes and about 3 different "technicians" and "supervisors" before they asked asked my OS to which I replied Ubuntu 11 to which the supervisor got really upset ranting why I didn't tell them that before, I said "you rang me with the error report, I assumed you would know my operating system"...he hung up.

Nice one....

 

[richyrichuk]

yeah had a couple of these, but wasting their time having some fun sounds better than just taking their sales pitch to pieces, i think i'll do tht if i get another 1.

i also did contact local trading standards over the company that called me.

 

[Borg 386]

I've just had another one of these scammers call and this time I managed to keep them going for 25 minutes and about 3 different "technicians" and "supervisors" before they asked asked my OS to which I replied Ubuntu 11 to which the supervisor got really upset ranting why I didn't tell them that before, I said "you rang me with the error report, I assumed you would know my operating system"...he hung up.

Now why can't they call me sometime so I can have fun like that?