Deep Concerns: Telephone calls from "Windows Tech Support" over four months

[BonzaiDuck]

Adding up the trail of all my thread posts at these forums (plural) -- I can show a log of my maintenance and troubleshooting activities over that time. I post here with questions -- solicitations for "second opinions" and insight. It has often been very helpful. I hope that my responses to others have been just as helpful.

Perhaps I could post this thread under the "Security Forum," but I don't have "security problems" that I know of. We have a hardware firewall, all the computers are firewalled individually, all are protected with up-to-date AV. My worst problems are handling the "spam" management in my elderly mother's e-mails.

NOW -- the story. Over the last four months or so, I have received telephone calls from "some outfit" which employs folks with thick Indian or Pakistani accents. They can't seem to identify themselves as "guaranteed Microsoft support" organizations. They are telling me:

"Sir! We are getting information about errors on your computer. These errors will severely damage your computer! Please allow us to help you!"

But -- ya see -- I've been jockeying with Windows since version 3.0, tweaking "ini" files, then registries. I don't have one computer (the caller says "Your computer") -- the fam-damn-ily has six computers on a LAN sharing a cable internet connection. I WATCH my event logs on all these machines. I clean up those event logs as I use them to troubleshoot the problems causing the red-bang "errors" and yellow-ban "warnings." I am familiar with those things which are benign, and those which are not.

I also know that to obtain support from Microsoft, you need to start a tech-support ticket by calling them! -- at Microsoft! And for OEM licensing, you PAY for that support. By calling the Microsoft number, you are comfortable knowing "who ya doin' bidnis with."

This time -- this morning -- the Indian gentleman goaded me into opening a URL named **LINK REMOVED** . (Don't click this link.) The site seems to offer a tech-support software, provides an ID and password, asks you if you wish to trust -- or deny. It is supposed to provide the caller (or his staff) direct access to a computer in our LAN (from whichever machine the TVI page is accessed).

I stopped -- RIGHT THERE. Told him "Don't take it personally, but I don't want you to get access to a machine on our LAN." And I clicked the "Decline" button and closed the web-browser.

A friend on the East Coast (I'm in CA) confirmed that he has similar telephone calls.

All my Windows Updates are successful. All my event logs are mostly "blue." The reds and yellows are benign errors or they are indicative to bugs in particular software programs -- not the operating system. And the remaining reds and yellows are benign (Microsoft forums often confirm this, or they are indicative of a particular software program. That is, in the latter case, uninstalling the program eliminates the error.)

DOES ANYONE KNOW ABOUT DIS S***!!??? Who ARE these people? I'm sure I'm doing the right thing to terminate the phone conversation, but these folks are getting aggressive. Their aggression has increased in proportion to the improvements I've made on our LAN in getting rid of the errors they say are so prevalent.

In a few minutes, I'll go through our "caller ID" telephone info and see if I can't block the calls. But I wouldn't know if the calls come from a whole set of numbers, all connected to the same outfit, scam, criminal conspiracy --- LIKE I SAID : "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE??!!"


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Moved from Operating Systems to OT. Repost... yes, this scam has been posted multiple times. -Admin DrPizza



Please do not post links to phishinig sites, or Phish sites either. Thanks.

Anandtech Administrator
KeithTalent

 

[nickbits]

They are scammers. There is zero correlation between your computer problems and their phone calls. Tell them you have a mac.

Personally I have not received one of these calls, but wish I did because I think it would be fun to play with them.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

They are scammers. There is zero correlation between your computer problems and their phone calls. Tell them you have a mac.

Personally I have not received one of these calls, but wish I did because I think it would be fun to play with them.

My! My-oh-my! You have such an adventuresome spirit!

For two decades, I thought I was on the "vanguard" of utilizing this technology -- in a large institution, teaching it to college students on the "software" side of the equation, and in my personal applications.

After I had friends who needed my help in purging their systems from malware, Trojans -- viruses -- I became more and more cautious. Before I got around to creating a Facebook account, I heard more bad stories pertaining to that phenomenon, and swore off creating a Facebook account. I'm careful with my credit-card usage; very few resellers have my card info.

IF "THOSE PEOPLE" are scammers, what is the purpose and objective of their scam? What would they do, if I had "let the gremlins in the door," so to speak?

 

[nickbits]

My! My-oh-my! You have such an adventuresome spirit!

For two decades, I thought I was on the "vanguard" of utilizing this technology -- in a large institution, teaching it to college students on the "software" side of the equation, and in my personal applications.

After I had friends who needed my help in purging their systems from malware, Trojans -- viruses -- I became more and more cautious. Before I got around to creating a Facebook account, I heard more bad stories pertaining to that phenomenon, and swore off creating a Facebook account. I'm careful with my credit-card usage; very few resellers have my card info.

IF "THOSE PEOPLE" are scammers, what is the purpose and objective of their scam? What would they do, if I had "let the gremlins in the door," so to speak?

I was 50/50 you being serious or not in the OP... I see I have my answer.

 

[VirtualLarry]

IF "THOSE PEOPLE" are scammers, what is the purpose and objective of their scam? What would they do, if I had "let the gremlins in the door," so to speak?

I think eventually they ask for payment info (CC #), to "fix" your "errors". Of course, they do not. I had a friend / client allow them access to their machine, and then they called me, and I told them to disconnect from the internet immediately. I had to clean up (backup and pave) afterwards.

 

[ninaholic37]

this sounds like a Virgorising thread :awe:
http://forums.anandtech.com/member.php?u=326256

 

[BonzaiDuck]

this sounds like a Virgorising thread :awe:

But . . . it's not . . .

Why do some of you folks have such an ax to grind with her? Oh. . . who knows . . . maybe she's a "scammer."

You can't trust anyone these days.

I can't trust the local Verizon-store guy to give me the I-Phone 5c upgrade promised to me in e-mail: today, I have to march down there and turn in the "4s" phone he gave me yesterday, even when I suggested it was supposed to be "5."

My dermatologist keeps treating a disintegrating acne-cyst with LN2. It seems to be "gone" now, but he was "concerned" that it was a "pre-cancerous lesion." It's a Medicare subsidy. LN2 is "surgery." So it will be interesting to see if I get the LN2 a few months from now, when it seems to be "gone."

And -- Hey! These are the folks in the "relatively honest" component. Last year, there was news about a company ordering drugs in bulk, charging them to Medicare, and dumping cases of them in the trash.

If Diogenes walked among us today . . . . his lamp would have extinguished decades ago . . . .

 

[hoorah]

Look up "indian, microsoft, scam" on youtube. There are dozens of people that go through the whole thing and show what the scammers do, sometimes telling them off, sometimes not.

They basically act like you have viruses and spyware and throw out some common buzzwords my mother would get worried about. Then they tell you that if you buy their 'product', they will get rid of the viruses. Sometimes they will try a 'warranty' angle (that you're extending the warranty coverage on the computer' Its usually $3-600 payable by CC.

I've never heard of anyone paying so I don't really know what they do.

The remote desktop is rather meaningless. They usually just pull up either an event log or something confusing to the user and try to sell it as viruses and errors, all of which need fixing. Maybe the remote desktop makes it seem official? Who knows. Either way, they're not really interested in what is in your computer based on what I've seen on the youtube videos, although I'd certainly not trust them in my systems.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Look up "indian, microsoft, scam" on youtube. There are dozens of people that go through the whole thing and show what the scammers do, sometimes telling them off, sometimes not.

They basically act like you have viruses and spyware and throw out some common buzzwords my mother would get worried about. Then they tell you that if you buy their 'product', they will get rid of the viruses. Sometimes they will try a 'warranty' angle (that you're extending the warranty coverage on the computer' Its usually $3-600 payable by CC.

I've never heard of anyone paying so I don't really know what they do.

The remote desktop is rather meaningless. They usually just pull up either an event log or something confusing to the user and try to sell it as viruses and errors, all of which need fixing. Maybe the remote desktop makes it seem official? Who knows. Either way, they're not really interested in what is in your computer based on what I've seen on the youtube videos, although I'd certainly not trust them in my systems.

Like I said -- coordinating with another enthusiast-friend-retiree of Medicare age -- this seems to be fairly common. I don't know how other people handle it. A lot of folks have bought into the mobile phenomenon. Or -- they buy an OEM machine, expect someone else to service it, and become gullible to the phone-calls.

And I keep telling the fam-damn-ily that we should change our home-phone and make it "unlisted." It will be like pulling teeth.

Welcome to the 21st century. Ya got your ISIS "Enemy-at-the-Gates," ya got your e-mail from Nairobi telling you some 2-percenter left you money in his will (if you just give out CC or personal info) -- and now this. We had the Carlyle Group yucking it up in a conference after the big WMD scare.

Git yur AK-47s, some ammo, some freeze-dried packages and other wonderful stuff -- build yourself a bunker -- I say . . .

 

[hoorah]

And I keep telling the fam-damn-ily that we should change our home-phone and make it "unlisted." It will be like pulling teeth.

A few friends have gotten these calls on their cells, which are listed nowhere. I think they just cycle through the numbers one by one with robocallers.

 

[Underclocked]

Did they ask you to view your Administrative Events?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Either way, they're not really interested in what is in your computer based on what I've seen on the youtube videos, although I'd certainly not trust them in my systems.

They execute RUNDLL commands on XP, that screw up your system. I've also heard that they copy documents off of systems and then delete them.

DONT give ANYONE remote-access to your system.

 

[code65536]

Did they ask you to view your Administrative Events?

An acquaintance of a friend of a friend (this is the danger of becoming known as the "computer guy") called me once because they had been "hacked". I later discovered that they had a printer problem, and they called what turned out to be a fake "tech support" number that they found from a Google search, and the scammers proceeded to log in remotely and show them "evidence" that they had been "hacked", using the Event Viewer and--this is my favorite part--opening Chrome in Incognito mode and telling them that the picture of the shady-looking guy in a hat was the hacker. And these people actually believed them. To their credit, though, they didn't feel right about paying strangers over the phone to fix their problem and instead called me, informing me that they had a security breach that needed fixing. When I got there, I found their system to be in good health with no sign of malware, at which point I asked them what made them think that they had been compromised.

 

[Towermax]

Yeah, I've had three similar calls over the past few months. Fortunately, I had read about these calls somewhere and knew they were scams, so I just put them on hold "while I go to my computer", and then never pick up the phone again. Sometimes they wait several minutes . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Did they ask you to view your Administrative Events?

Yes . . . they did . . .

You've heard the story about carnival-fortune-tellers. With the use of a few phrases or vague insinuations, they convince the customer that they know "secrets" about him or her. When they said "you have errors on your computer," I may have said something like "I track my Event Logs . . . [yada-yada] . . . " So they asked me to look at "Admin Events" -- which is what I always do.

To buy into their palaver, even an enthusiast/power-user might think their "errors" are being tracked at MS through "Windows Update" or some means by which you send data to MS. We KNOW that we do this, and the scammers attempt to take advantage of our assumptions.

code65536 : Interesting anecdote. This is similar to the story in which I'd received a suspicious e-mail with attachment in 2003 from "San Bernardino County Government." A little more research, and I found the attachment -- when opened -- would infect me with the "KLEZ" virus. I wondered HOW the e-mail was sent to me. Who do I know in SB County Gov? A friend was retired Deputy Sheriff, who still worked part time as a gun-range instructor. I sent him an e-mail about the e-mail, instructing him he might be infected.

The response was "H-E-L-L-PPP!!" Spent a week at has house unraveling his mess.

Feeling groggy this morning, the Indian guy led me to the TVI.name address, which popped up an ID and password. He asked for it -- I made the mistake of giving it -- but the pop-up required choosing the "Trust" or "Decline" button. At that time, I clicked "Decline." That was on my brother's computer. I think I'll keep an eye on that system and see if I can't purge the internet temporary files.

But since the Indian guy panicked when I told him I'd clicked "Decline" -- I might feel more confident about it . . .

 

[PliotronX]

I know elderly folks who were hit by this and luckily most used credit cards and were able to chargeback but still.. I toyed with one when they called me. Was that your thread about setting up a windows 3.1 virtual machine for them to remote in to? Now that was funny!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I know elderly folks who were hit by this and luckily most used credit cards and were able to chargeback but still.. I toyed with one when they called me. Was that your thread about setting up a windows 3.1 virtual machine for them to remote in to? Now that was funny!

I feel humbled in the forums sometimes. If you tell me you want to "toy" with the scammers, or set up some black-hole like a Win 3.1 VM, I'd say to myself "Gawd! That's clever!" But then, I'd tell myself "I don't have time for this boolsheet!"

There was a movie maybe a decade ago -- "The Score" -- featuring Brando, deNiro, Edward Norton. It included a minor character punk-geek who lived in his mom's basement, whose expertise the thieves required to hack into the Toronto Customs House. I'm too damn old, too damn tired, too burned out to fit that profile. . . .

 

[Towermax]

Here's someone who did toy with the scammers:

http://www.techcentral.co.za/we-scam-the-indian-call-centre-scammers/50579/

 

[zir_blazer]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...ing-from-india-can-i-take-control-of-your-pc/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...ws-a-tech-support-scammer-dials-ars-technica/
http://arstechnica.com/information-...computer-how-to-troll-a-tech-support-scammer/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...ers-walked-right-into-a-trap-set-by-the-feds/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...-us-governments-war-on-tech-support-scammers/

 

[corkyg]

No need for such verbosity. It is a scam, and warnings have been posted for months by MS and FTC. And, yes, . . . this really belongs in Security.

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...ort-scammers-continue-to-stalk-consumers.html

OK, I guess OT is OK.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

No need for such verbosity. It is a scam, and warnings have been posted for months by MS and FTC. And, yes, . . . this really belongs in Security.

http://www.computerworld.com/articl...ort-scammers-continue-to-stalk-consumers.html

OK, I guess OT is OK.

No problem. But given all the other stuff I have to do, I didn't track down these useful articles (as with ComputerWorld or ArsTechnica). In this episode yesterday, I came "that close" to letting those guys gain access.

I should've known better, and known sooner.

This thread, which I started, provided useful feedback.

 

[Newell Steamer]

I wish I could get these calls,..

They are looking to prey on techoramuses,.. so, give them what they are looking for! Something along the lines of "Where is the ANY KEY!?"

Breath heavily into the phone as they are speaking and tell them you can't hear them. Don't ever do what they say, but tell them; "OK, now that Windows is reinstalling, what do you want me to do? The ETA is 4 to 5 hours."

Don't ever give them the impression that you know what you are doing. Frustrate them to no end, by pretending you don't know jack about PCs.

 

[ViviTheMage]

they're scammers, ignore the call.

I have heard of people getting them, have yet to get one. I am curious what list they're pulling numbers from.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Do people still get scam calls to their cellphone? I feel like ever since people stopped using home phones these calls have reduced.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

The phone rang, and then suddenly your spaghetti fell out of your pockets!