owl Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 There are some reputable companies who offer technical support contracts for computers, and work on your computer from their end. I signed up to one and am very pleased with them so far. They did originally contact me on a cold call and were happy to give me names, contact numbers etc and wait until I had researched them on the net before committing myself. But there are other companies who introduce themselves as Windows Support or Windows Maintenance and announce that your whole computer has been infected and corrupted, hoping to scare you into letting them access it quickly. I got one this morning, and of course I wouldn't enter into any discussion until I was given full details of who I was talking to. The person rang off. I called the company who I am signed up with, to tell them about this. The man said, " Oh no, I hope you didn't let him access your computer" and was very relieved when I said no way. He told me that some companies are doing this and under the guise of scanning your computer they bung a load of viruses in and mess the whole thing up hoping that you will pay them to put it right. They sometimes even pretend they are from a well-known company. Even if you already have a contract, they try to persuade you to let them scan, then they put viruses in and say you are infected so whoever did the work for you was no good. Just thought I would pass the word around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantan Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 My sister-in-law got just such a phone call only recently. Both she and my brother are technophobic and it put the fear of dog into her. Fortunately she is also naturally wary and refused to co-operate with the person on the end of the phone before she checked it all out. She rang me and I explained the scam to her and told her that should they ring again to tell them to get lost or just put the phone down. Thanks Owl for bringing this up. Forewarned is forearmed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merledogs Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 The Police should be informed it that happens. Scumbags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzeanna Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 Luckily my OH is an IT Service Desk analyst...anything wrong with our comp, I ask him! I did have a phone call today from someone who sounded eerily like Alexandr Meerkat, saying he worked for a firm of solicitors and they had been notified that someone in the household had been involved in a car accident recently. I told him his "information" was incorrect, as the last accident I was involved in was around 35 years ago, and my OH even longer and please stop wasting my time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooster Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 Whenever my mum gets a phone call like that, she tells them that there are no computers in the house (there are 3; PC, Mac and a laptop), but this tactic soon gets rid of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K9Fran Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 We've had a couple of these, infact, we're turning it into a game..... OH is an IT support guy (for the Foreign Office) so he baffles 'em with bullshit, one bloke yesterday ignored all he was saying and continued blindly with his 'script', but when OH asked which of the 10 ( ) comps in the house was the suspect one - the phone was put down. I had the 'the accident you or somebody in your family had' one a couple of weeks ago. I went along with it, identifying the victim as my son - they wanted to talk to him, so said 'sorry, can't do that' 'When can I call back?' I said there was no point in calling back - as the accident killed him! There was a strangled scream from the woman on the other end, and the line went dead..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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