Can any one help,just hade a phone call from a chap and he says that our computer is showing viruses,he said he was from the tecnical department of windows,I suspect this call was dodgy.

Sheila

Ignore it it's a scam my neighbour had the same call she doesn't have a computer

We had a call a little while ago telling us a similar thing and so did my son.
We just ignored the call and said our computer is fine.
Just a scam.

just tell them that you do not have a computer or if you do not know the number calling in your posh voice pick it up and say good afternoon/morning scotland yard serious fraud squad and they usually hang up quickly i have no idea why

My elderly parents had the same call and they don't have a computer their mobile phone is like a brick so techno phobia that they are lol

I have had similar calls 2 or 3 times per month for a few months now.  When you tell them you don't have Windows because you ahve a Mac they slam the phone down.  I had assumed that the reasoning behind the calls is to try and get the computer online and then they can plant a trojan or one of those things which records all your key strokes.

>>if you do not know the number calling in your posh voice pick it up and say good afternoon/morning scotland yard serious fraud squad and they usually hang up quickly i have no idea why>>

Love it!!!

We have had the same phone call - my son answered and told them computer was fine - and then after he put phone down - they phoned back giving him verbal abuse !!!!  So beware talking to them

My 76 year old nan had a call from them last week , she got so mad she ended up shouting F off to the person on the phone. It really annoyed her as she hasn't got a computer. So beware of ringing my nan as well :)

>So beware of ringing my nan as well 

LOL! :-D :-D

We have had this call recently as have my in laws. Unfortunately my mother in law believed them and then they talked her into giving them remote access to her pc. From there they can download all finanical details recorded on the machine, they can also load a virus onto the machine that monitors your key strokes so they get even more information.

Fortunately my mother in law has never used the machine for anything finacial and hasn't bought anything on line unfortunately the machine was originally my nieces and she had.

My hubby cleaned the machine - the virus was a horrible one to get rid of. My niece had to contact the bank and freeze her accounts - there was a transaction that occured before she froze it but fortunately she is a student so has very little money and she did get it back.

So beware of them contacting you.

Believe this http://elagoon.org/index.php to be the firm you are talking of. Hard sales, yes, virus, not sure, take a look and see what you think. If anyone has proof that they are in the business of collecting personal or financial details then perhaps the police would like to know, the 'firm' are in the Bradford area.

They rang again today,I told him that I was going to ring the police,he said,there is no need for that,I put the phone down,I havea feeling these calls are comming from India?

Sheila

We went through a period of these calls - they were very insistant - my husband played along for a while and I think they thought we were worth working on.  They were international - not that that means anything these days because they can be international but still from this country.  They did say there were from Microsoft windows and our computer had logged a problem.  My husband had been having trouble with his computer and it threw him for a minute - now if the call comes up as international - we just don't pick them up.  The other one is Sky box insurance - they ring up saying they are from Sky.  One even asked my husband if he wanted to 'renew' his insurance as the year was up - he had to check with me first - never had insurance for the sky box.  If it breaks down they can have it back.

> Can any one help,just hade a phone call from a chap and he says that our computer is showing viruses,he said he was from the tecnical department of windows,I suspect this call was dodgy.

The same happened to me, but i told him i would tell my son who works with computers and he will fix it for me. Which is true by the way.

I had this, told him I didn't know him, he could be anyone trying to hack into my computer ;-) and that I would be checking with my server and the police to see if there are any scams going around. Funny how I haven't heard from him again :-D

I had one of these today but had heard there was something not right about it so simply said "I'm not interested" and put the phone down before he had a chance to reply. There was a delay at the beginning of the call which I associate with an automatic dialling system of companies trying their luck. :-(

My mum had one of those when I was there, she was sucked in, asked me to turn the computers on.
I demanded she gave me the phone.
Challenged the foreign women, asked questions, and she kept trying.
In the end I said to her you are a scam and oput the phone down (was angry with mum for being taken in as she is normally sooooooo careful!!!)
They have never rang again!!!!!
Make sure they know you know it is a scam.
Hope people arnt taken in.
Lea :) :)

i was almost taken in as the name they asked for is the same as bt use to call me, it was a spelling mistake. i was more annoyed as the guy had a very strong foreign accent and i could hardly understand him.

how does the scam work, i got as far as sit infront of your computer before i gave up, i was at the time anyway

i can see how easily people will fall for it though

I am still not sure this is a scam but more a case of hard sell take a look at http://elagoon.org/index.php and see if it rings a bell.

My husband had one of these calls told him his computer was riddled with virus's, husband told them it wasn't they retorted it will be. My husband does not have a computer couldn't even turn one on.

Nova, the firm you mentioned seem reputable, these phone calls are coming from what seems to be a foreign call centre, and are pretending to be calling on behalf of your own ISP - they are working from a script as all of the ones I have had open with an almost identical pitch about having been advised by the ISP that my computer is running slowly due to  a new super bad virus having been downloaded to it, one which is not detected by normal anti virus software (this is not a verbatim report, just the gist of what is said).  I don't think an reputable company would use this sort of technique.  They are only interested in computers running Windows, and want to get you online and at the keyboard.  I don't know of anyone who has gone this far, but assume they would be wanting to install some malware/trojan?

You may be right Gwen, but I had a similar call and asked for a phone number and the number belongs to this firm, at least one of the IT 'experts' is Indian. So is it just hard sell or has anyone actually reported to the police or had their computer infected?

Just done a quick google search - apparently this has been going on since 2009 and is mushrooming!  They don't only get you to download malware so they can record every key stroke but they also collect payment for their service!  Here is on of the articles:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/phone-scam-india-call-centres

Strange this call defiantly came from a Bradford area number and was linked to that web site. Shame seemed like if it were OK it would have been a good service.