Fake microsoft "your computer is infected" call

I just got my second one of these calls.

Hi: I'm from microsoft support calling to warn you that your computer has many
infections...... and I am calling to help you get rid of them"

I played the game with him awhile. He had me start a run box and type in "inf"
and enter, then told me all those files are problems. He then told me to type
into the run box www.teamviewer.com, which I later checked to be a remote access
provider.

At that point, I told him is was great fun wasting his time, but that was as far
as it goes. He responded with a couple F.U.s and hung up.

The guy was calling from a big operation. There were lots of voices and noises
in the background.

I wonder how many people get scammed by this? Must be a lot to have a room full
of people doing this.

If you get such a call, have a little fun too. Let's really waste their time.
Anyone think my action will get me off their call list?

"Bob F" wrote in message
...
I just got my second one of these calls.

Hi: I'm from microsoft support calling to warn you that your computer has
many infections...... and I am calling to help you get rid of them"

I played the game with him awhile. He had me start a run box and type in
"inf" and enter, then told me all those files are problems. He then told
me to type into the run box www.teamviewer.com, which I later checked to
be a remote access provider.

At that point, I told him is was great fun wasting his time, but that was
as far as it goes. He responded with a couple F.U.s and hung up.

The guy was calling from a big operation. There were lots of voices and
noises in the background.

I wonder how many people get scammed by this? Must be a lot to have a room
full of people doing this.

If you get such a call, have a little fun too. Let's really waste their
time. Anyone think my action will get me off their call list?



That's been going on for years and they often do call back. Even when you
jerk them around. G Probably hoping someone else will answer.

Is it a genuine call from Microsoft?
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/p...uine-microsoft


Avoid tech support phone scams
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/secur...one-scams.aspx


Don’t fall for phony phone tech support
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/securitytips...h-support.aspx

--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP 2004 ~ 2010
Imperial Beach, CA

On 11/13/2013 10:35 AM, Bob F wrote:
I just got my second one of these calls.

Hi: I'm from microsoft support calling to warn you that your computer has many
infections...... and I am calling to help you get rid of them"


I wonder how many people get scammed by this? Must be a lot to have a room full
of people doing this.

One of my sisters was taken in by this, because she was desperate for
help regaining access to her third Gmail account (she keeps losing her
password and totally losing access, thus requiring her to create a new
account). He strung her along using the standard ploy and she bought
into it completely - well, until he told her he needed $300 to clean
her pc and regain her password. She's broke and unemployed. She told
him she didn't have that much in her savings account. He obligingly
lowered the fee to just below what she told him was left in her
savings account. She belatedly acquired some common sense, declined,
and hung up.

He called back. This time the fee was a mere ninety-nine cents. She
refused and hung up again.

He kept calling the rest of the afternoon.


If you get such a call, have a little fun too. Let's really waste their time.
Anyone think my action will get me off their call list?

No, because they haven't got a call list. They have sequential
diallers that phone numbers in sequence.

If you annoy them, they're ready and willing to annoy you right back.
Personally, I see nothing to be gained by interacting with criminals.
Safer and faster to just hang up.

Per Bruce Hagen:
- Is it a genuine call from Microsoft?
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/p...uine-microsoft


- Avoid tech support phone scams
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/secur...one-scams.aspx


- Don’t fall for phony phone tech support
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/securitytips...h-support.aspx

- If somebody calls that you don't know, tell them their life
would be easier if they didn't call people on the Do Not Call
List and hang up.

Personally, if it don't hear what I call "activity" within about a half
second of saying "Hello, this is Pete Cresswell", I say "Hello...Hello",
wait another half second, and hang up.

Seems like dialers take a couple of seconds to alert a telemarketer that
somebody has picked up and the sound (or lack of) on the line is
peculiar to that situation.

I have hung up on two legitimate callers that I know of (who called
right back) in the past year - but that's out of hundreds and hundreds
of other calls.
--
Pete Cresswell

In message , Moe DeLoughan
writes:
[]
If you annoy them, they're ready and willing to annoy you right back.
Personally, I see nothing to be gained by interacting with criminals.
Safer and faster to just hang up.

I'd be more inclined to be public-spirited and call the police on
another line, but I suspect they'd not be able to respond in the time
needed (i. e. for as long as I could string them along). I'm speaking of
UK police and telecomm. systems; would it be any different in the USA?

(Of course if they're calling from say India, it wouldn't help anyway.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Per J. P. Gilliver (John):
I'd be more inclined to be public-spirited and call the police on
another line, but I suspect they'd not be able to respond in the time
needed (i. e. for as long as I could string them along). I'm speaking of
UK police and telecomm. systems; would it be any different in the USA?

IMHO, speaking as a USA resident, you would be wasting your time and the
police's time.

I have a collection of lame-sounding letters from the Pennsylvania
Attorney General's office responding to my reports (via their web site
dedicated to that purpose) of callers who violated the state's
Do-Not-Call list law.

They all say words to the effect of: "The game has changed. These guys
have moved offshore and hide behind VOIP accounts - sometimes with
multiple hops from VOIP account to VOIP account."

Bottom line, it sounds like unless the perpetrator is really dumb, he is
pretty much untouchable.
--
Pete Cresswell

On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:20:30 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per J. P. Gilliver (John):
I'd be more inclined to be public-spirited and call the police on
another line, but I suspect they'd not be able to respond in the time
needed (i. e. for as long as I could string them along). I'm speaking of
UK police and telecomm. systems; would it be any different in the USA?

IMHO, speaking as a USA resident, you would be wasting your time and the
police's time.

I have a collection of lame-sounding letters from the Pennsylvania
Attorney General's office responding to my reports (via their web site
dedicated to that purpose) of callers who violated the state's
Do-Not-Call list law.

They all say words to the effect of: "The game has changed. These guys
have moved offshore and hide behind VOIP accounts - sometimes with
multiple hops from VOIP account to VOIP account."

They should tell you that when you report numbers to the National No
Call List, but they don't. They will let you report a company over
and over knowing there is nothing they can do to stop them.

Bottom line, it sounds like unless the perpetrator is really dumb, he is
pretty much untouchable.

I used to get so many calls from Cardholders Services, I was tempted
to have my phone disconnected. The strange thing is that the will
call using the same phone number more than once. I have bought a
phone that will let you block 30 phone numbers. Blocking the number
does help, but they call from other numbers too. I wish the phone
would let you block the name on the caller ID. They use more than one
caller ID, but they do use the same ones again.


The blocking seems to have slowed the calls down, but they still call.

After serious thinking Metspitzer wrote :
On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:20:30 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per J. P. Gilliver (John):
I'd be more inclined to be public-spirited and call the police on
another line, but I suspect they'd not be able to respond in the time
needed (i. e. for as long as I could string them along). I'm speaking of
UK police and telecomm. systems; would it be any different in the USA?

IMHO, speaking as a USA resident, you would be wasting your time and the
police's time.

I have a collection of lame-sounding letters from the Pennsylvania
Attorney General's office responding to my reports (via their web site
dedicated to that purpose) of callers who violated the state's
Do-Not-Call list law.

They all say words to the effect of: "The game has changed. These guys
have moved offshore and hide behind VOIP accounts - sometimes with
multiple hops from VOIP account to VOIP account."

They should tell you that when you report numbers to the National No
Call List, but they don't. They will let you report a company over
and over knowing there is nothing they can do to stop them.

Bottom line, it sounds like unless the perpetrator is really dumb, he is
pretty much untouchable.

I used to get so many calls from Cardholders Services, I was tempted
to have my phone disconnected. The strange thing is that the will
call using the same phone number more than once. I have bought a
phone that will let you block 30 phone numbers. Blocking the number
does help, but they call from other numbers too. I wish the phone
would let you block the name on the caller ID. They use more than one
caller ID, but they do use the same ones again.


The blocking seems to have slowed the calls down, but they still call.

Ok so they are money grubbing aholes.

This is what I have done in the past.
Recently it has not been too annoying so I have it off for now.

I have an PC with voice/FAX modem and software application that
monitors the incoming caller ID. When a call come in it logs the call
and records any messages like an answering machine. I review the
incoming calls and see if any are worthy of responding to. Those that
leave no message and are out of the area I assume are after my wallet
so I put them into the "bad caller" list. The next time they call, the
"This number has been disconnected" tones and message is automatically
played by the software app. For automatic calling machines this
signals to remove my number from their list. For other callers it just
discourages them enough to not bother calling back.
I let the software run for quite a while before activating that feature
so that I do not cut off the important calls.



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

(Responding to various posts about scammers being off shore,
protected by VOIP, and cannot be traced effectively.):

So the NSA can't track them in real time and cause trouble for them
the next day if they are anywhere in the USA, Europe, India, and about
100 other countries?

On Thursday, November 14, 2013 12:35:56 AM UTC+8, Bob F wrote:
I just got my second one of these calls.



Hi: I'm from microsoft support calling to warn you that your computer has many

infections...... and I am calling to help you get rid of them"



I played the game with him awhile. He had me start a run box and type in "inf"

and enter, then told me all those files are problems. He then told me to type

into the run box www.teamviewer.com, which I later checked to be a remote access

provider.



At that point, I told him is was great fun wasting his time, but that was as far

as it goes. He responded with a couple F.U.s and hung up.



The guy was calling from a big operation. There were lots of voices and noises

in the background.



I wonder how many people get scammed by this? Must be a lot to have a room full

of people doing this.



If you get such a call, have a little fun too. Let's really waste their time.

Anyone think my action will get me off their call list?

I wonder how they got your number ?

I wonder if it might be better to act retarded....stutter....ask the same question multiple times. :-)

Bill Gates

On 13 Nov 2013, Andy wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

I wonder how they got your number ?

They bought it.

I wonder if it might be better to act retarded....stutter....ask
the same question multiple times. :-)

No, it's not better. Any response is a bad response. The simple act of
you answering your phone tags your number as being valid and therefor
more valuable for sale to other tele-scammers. I suspect but don't know
for sure, that even getting an answering machine or service is a good
thing for them. Anything is good except for SIT tones indicating a
disconnected number.

As far as I know there's really no practical solution to the problem at
the moment. Your best response is to NOT answer the call. Don't engage
the caller, don't "press 1 to speak to a representative" - it wastes
your time and they still win.

Mark F wrote:
(Responding to various posts about scammers being off shore,
protected by VOIP, and cannot be traced effectively.):

So the NSA can't track them in real time and cause trouble for them
the next day if they are anywhere in the USA, Europe, India, and about
100 other countries?

Wow! Finally someone comes up with a real reason for the NSA.

Nil wrote:
On 13 Nov 2013, Andy wrote in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

I wonder how they got your number ?

They bought it.

I wonder if it might be better to act retarded....stutter....ask
the same question multiple times. :-)

No, it's not better. Any response is a bad response. The simple act of
you answering your phone tags your number as being valid and therefor
more valuable for sale to other tele-scammers. I suspect but don't
know for sure, that even getting an answering machine or service is a
good thing for them. Anything is good except for SIT tones indicating
a disconnected number.

As far as I know there's really no practical solution to the problem
at the moment. Your best response is to NOT answer the call. Don't
engage the caller, don't "press 1 to speak to a representative" - it
wastes your time and they still win.

FWIW, there have been a couple big busts in the last year or two of the "account
services" type of scammers.

http://www.networkworld.com/communit...5-mass-callers

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201...ocollers.shtml

On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 17:40:07 -0800, OldGuy wrote:

After serious thinking Metspitzer wrote :
On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:20:30 -0500, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per J. P. Gilliver (John):
I'd be more inclined to be public-spirited and call the police on
another line, but I suspect they'd not be able to respond in the time
needed (i. e. for as long as I could string them along). I'm speaking of
UK police and telecomm. systems; would it be any different in the USA?

IMHO, speaking as a USA resident, you would be wasting your time and the
police's time.

I have a collection of lame-sounding letters from the Pennsylvania
Attorney General's office responding to my reports (via their web site
dedicated to that purpose) of callers who violated the state's
Do-Not-Call list law.

They all say words to the effect of: "The game has changed. These guys
have moved offshore and hide behind VOIP accounts - sometimes with
multiple hops from VOIP account to VOIP account."

They should tell you that when you report numbers to the National No
Call List, but they don't. They will let you report a company over
and over knowing there is nothing they can do to stop them.

Bottom line, it sounds like unless the perpetrator is really dumb, he is
pretty much untouchable.

I used to get so many calls from Cardholders Services, I was tempted
to have my phone disconnected. The strange thing is that the will
call using the same phone number more than once. I have bought a
phone that will let you block 30 phone numbers. Blocking the number
does help, but they call from other numbers too. I wish the phone
would let you block the name on the caller ID. They use more than one
caller ID, but they do use the same ones again.


The blocking seems to have slowed the calls down, but they still call.

Ok so they are money grubbing aholes.

This is what I have done in the past.
Recently it has not been too annoying so I have it off for now.

I have an PC with voice/FAX modem and software application that
monitors the incoming caller ID. When a call come in it logs the call
and records any messages like an answering machine. I review the
incoming calls and see if any are worthy of responding to. Those that
leave no message and are out of the area I assume are after my wallet
so I put them into the "bad caller" list. The next time they call, the
"This number has been disconnected" tones and message is automatically
played by the software app. For automatic calling machines this
signals to remove my number from their list. For other callers it just
discourages them enough to not bother calling back.
I let the software run for quite a while before activating that feature
so that I do not cut off the important calls.

I thought about trying one of those. I have a drawer full of old
modems, but no computer with one in it currently.

Which app do you use?

Andy wrote:
On Thursday, November 14, 2013 12:35:56 AM UTC+8, Bob F wrote:
I just got my second one of these calls.



Hi: I'm from microsoft support calling to warn you that your computer has many

infections...... and I am calling to help you get rid of them"



I played the game with him awhile. He had me start a run box and type in "inf"

and enter, then told me all those files are problems. He then told me to type

into the run box www.teamviewer.com, which I later checked to be a remote access

provider.



At that point, I told him is was great fun wasting his time, but that was as far

as it goes. He responded with a couple F.U.s and hung up.



The guy was calling from a big operation. There were lots of voices and noises

in the background.



I wonder how many people get scammed by this? Must be a lot to have a room full

of people doing this.



If you get such a call, have a little fun too. Let's really waste their time.

Anyone think my action will get me off their call list?

I wonder how they got your number ?

I wonder if it might be better to act retarded....stutter....ask the same
question multiple times. :-)

Bill Gates

Just say " Hold the line , please " and put it down for 1/2 hour . They
soon give up .