Beware Fake Tech Support Scammers

Back when these first began to be reported - all on the East Coast - I got one, even though I live on the West Coast.
Like with Robert Baily, it began with the caller said, "We detected through the Internet that there is a problem with your computer".
I told the person there was no way anyone could tell what was going on with my computer from the Internet, and told him to go scam someone else.
I have not gotten any calls like that since.
I did have one other call from someone with a heavy Eastern accent, but after telling him I wouldn't fall for his scam, I found out he actually was from my ISP trying to help me fix a problem with their system from my computer. In the follow-up evaluation, I let the ISP know they need to be more selective in their technicians due to the large number of scam calls - they should have been more aware of the problem.

Here's how I got (I think) scammed: I called Dell with an issue and the call was hijacked. At the end of the "repair" they hit me up for $$$ which I didn't have in the bank for the "protection". That's when I thought "uh oh, I don't think this is Dell!" So, I blew them off until I could pay for it, which I never did, of course.I did not have any info compromised, ID stolen, etc. but about every two months I have to block their call #s on my phone provider's site.

I thought I had the scammer when I told him over the phone, "I don't have a computer." Then he quickly fired back- " Then why do you have an internet account with ***** ?" He even knew my provider, as well as my phone number. NO RANDOM CALLER WAS HE !!

Thinking fast I told him that it was for my daughter when she visits from College." Than finally shut him up.

Another tome a scammer phoned & told me ," Your Windows computer is infected." I use Windows, but told him, " I only use Linux, goodbye."

What about a case where the computer gives off a terrible sound and a message pops up that says a serious issue was detected and the computer was being locked to prevent further damage and I need to call the number to have the problem fixed before it does more serious damage to the computer. Is this a scam too?

We get these scams in Australia too. I warn my students about all these scams - I am a volunteer Technology/Computer Tutor for a senior organisation. If I receive one of the calls, I play along with them to waste their time -pretend I am not getting/seeing what they say I should. I think they wake up after several minutes and hang up. Our government puts out a booklet - "The little black book of Scams" available free from - https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/the-little-black-book-of-scams.

Thanks, once again, for keeping us on top of these things Bob. I have never received a call like this but my philosophy with anything like this assume it is a scam....always. The more the message like this gets out there, hopefully the percentage of victims will drop significantly. Please tell all your friends about this because if one person tells another person, etc. you know the drill....we can make a difference and help potential victims to not get victimized.

Phone scammers also may use scanning software which picks up active VOIP connections in use. Although this is not a line tap, it does alert the scammer that a VOIP phone is in use, and their phoning software will dial the active line, often arriving during the original call as a "Third Party Waiting". This explains the prevalence of unsolicited, spam calls during or immediately after an original phone transaction with a VOIP-type phone.

The second to last section should be titled "Update and run full anti-malware scans" as some people may not have the latest update(s) yet.

In the last section the bank should also be notified so that they would recognize any fraudulent transactions right away and immediately notify you of such activities.

I thought this was old news :), since I hadn't had a call like this in a while, but JUST NOW someone "from Microsoft" called to tell me that my computer is sending information to their centralized server! I asked for a phone number where I could contact them instead and it was a phony number. He said he'd call back if I didn't, so hopefully I'll have time to waste their time a bit. Like some of the readers above, I enjoy playing dumb to hopefully take time away from someone else being called.

I get those calls weekly. I let them say two or three words to recognize who is calling and then by the fourth or fifth word I have already hit the off button on my phone, stops the conversation in the middle of the sixth word.
James Thornton

As alwys Bob, an informative report.
I would like to advise of a suspected scam on Friday 17th.

I got a phone call from a person who said he was from my e-mail service provider, and although suspicious at first, I paused to listen.

He informed me that they had detected that they had monitored my system and noted that the Chinese were hacking my system and unless I verified that there was not a problem, they would terminate my internet connection. - (they even knew my e-mail address!!!)

I informed the person, with a heavy indian sounding voice, that I had malwarebytes as well as other anti-viral software, to which his reply was to at least confirm the spoken of activity, before hanging up. I had threatened to do so.

The caller then told me to press the Windows key and while holding it,to then push the 'R' key, to then type in "eventvwr". Out of curiosity I tried this. He then instructed me to go to a directory in the Event Viewer, something I had never seen before.

When I followed his instructions it showed me a heap of 'errors' - I told him how many, but it was when he smugly advised me; "How good are your programs now?"

It was at this point he requested access to my computer, I then told him NO, he advised then that they would terminate my account.

I then hung up, called my provider to learn it was indeed a scam, albeit a new one, but a scam none the less.

Thought I would share this for those that may get this 'scam' in the future.

Thanks again for such informative and helpful reports.

Bob, another scam MAY be running through a payments processor called Uplink. They send you an email telling you a subscription is coming up for renewal. When you try to cancel the subscription, they block your progress with 'invalid information' although your info IS valid. The Complaints Board (whatever standing they have) have a list of disgruntled customers. Maybe not a full-blown scam, but certainly dodgy.

I have been receiving calls from someone purporting to be with Panda Tech Support. I know better than to give them remote access so I tell them I'm not at home now call back in 4 hours. I have been receiving calls from 28132556556 (which is what shows up on my phone) 1st we don't have 11 digit phone numbers. the number also shows up without parenthesis or dashes as other numbers do. It is simply a scam. Another scam showing up is the 0% interest on your credit card. Only your credit card issuer can lower your interest rate. Don't fall for it. Thanks for the article Bob, I'll be sending it to all my friends.

simple solution - answering machine - never fails!

We get these calls two or thee times a week. If my wife - who is a total computer illiterate, and happy that way - answers the phone, the conversation is similar to yours to begin with, except that she says something like,"Oh dear, that's terrible news, How did you find out?" and when she gets the standard "through the internet" answer, she just says, "That's incredible; I didn't know the internet could do that - especially as I don't have a computer!" That's when they hang up.
If I answer, the conversation usually goes like, " Oh dear. Which computer is it? Is it the Windows 7 desktop, the Windows 10 desktop, The Ubuntu Linux desktop, or one of the laptops? Or maybe my Android tablet? You'd better give the IP address and the MAC address of the one that has the problem." That's usually when they put the phone down.

Simple advice, as ever: ALL these calls are either scams or simple sales calls. They can't tell anything about your PC unless you give them access to it - and then you have just made yourself wide open to anything they want to do.
Do NOT, ever, give any caller such information.

If you didn't call them, it's a try-on. It's that simple.

I have been getting calls from this number for over a month now and am so tired of them trying to get me to let them into my computer. My phone is for business and it is getting to where i may have to change my number and that will destroy my little business i have through ebay. I am disabled and can't work outside of my home. How can you make these calls stop? 20+ calls a day from just this number alone.

I don't answer any phone numbers that are not on my ID list and I Goggle all unfamiliar phone numbers both on my cell phone and my magic jack.

The first contact I received was on my laptop. It scared the bejesus out of me to think something was wrong with my brand new computer. I called the phone number given and it seemed like it was going to take too long so I hung up and figured I would call back when I had time. I received a call from an Indian person the next day saying he was from Microsoft. Then it hit me that it was a scam. I've received two more calls since. I know now to call them out on it and hang up. Hanging up is the smart thing to do - better safe than sorry

We have been getting calls from these "computer repair scammers."

When the number comes up on our phone ID, it doesn't come up as anything personally identifiable with the name of a business, company, individual and so on, so that you know who's trying to call you.

I don't answer those kinds of calls. When I do look the number up to see who tried to call, I'll find that it is one of those repair scam calls.

They call from different phone numbers when they do call. I'm thinking that they either have more than one number that they use, or they just keep changing numbers.

The numbers have been blocked since we have been using the Nomorobo call-blocker service.

My sister got one of these calls before she had a computer, pretended she was following their instructions and had them tied up for an hour while she sat in the garden enjoying a coffee.