Hi, am calling from Microsoft. Your PC is infected

[john g. 37,683]

Older man, intelligent, just got bamboozled. They called us several times last year and at first it sounded plausible. But then I asked a question about which city they were calling from - Ierapetra or Agios? We pay utility bills in both towns.

Then they hung up but other people kept ringing our number the same day and we became all the wiser!

 

The last time, I let the guy chat for a while and then told him “ interesting! I am recording this call.”

And he hung up.

At the Greek Telekom place, I asked about this scam and they told me it was being reported on in the Greek media ( including on TV ) but there was nothing they could do as the calls were coming from Turkey.

 

 

[LeonG 14,796]

9 minutes ago, john g. said:

Older man, intelligent, just got bamboozled. They called us several times last year and at first it sounded plausible. But then I asked a question about which city they were calling from - Ierapetra or Agios? We pay utility bills in both towns.

Then they hung up but other people kept ringing our number the same day and we became all the wiser!

 

The last time, I let the guy chat for a while and then told him “ interesting! I am recording this call.”

And he hung up.

At the Greek Telekom place, I asked about this scam and they told me it was being reported on in the Greek media ( including on TV ) but there was nothing they could do as the calls were coming from Turkey.

 

A good way to get out of a phone call like that is to tell them that you don't have time, can't hear well or whatever and ask them to send you a letter instead.  If they have to ask for your address, they are obviously not legit. 

 

In case you do get some strange letters from somebody, take them to the utility company or call their main number to find out if they are legit.  I actually did this here in Germany.  I got a very unprofessional looking letter from my power company, photocopied logo, no envelope or a plain one.  They wanted access to my house to change the meter.  It looked seriously suspicious.  The power company verified it was from them, it's apparently a department that is a bit sloppy and they said yeah, we know, it looks odd.

 

This was a few years ago and now I have a letter from them again, same style, photocopied logo, no envelope.  Now I know them, I phoned them to make an appointment and the guy said sorry but his colleague is sick so he can not give appointments right now

 

[lunaCH 972]

15 minutes ago, LeonG said:

If they have to ask for your address, they are obviously not legit.

Unless it is market research. In this case it is quite normal that they neither have your name nor address. 

I worked for a such a company years ago and on some projects numbers were simply dialled at random by the computer.

On others we started from a base number and changed the last digit by 1 each time until we found someone. We didn't have any names or addresses at all, we just needed to speak to someone who was willing to do the survey. 

At no point did we even ask for the name and address unless they were willing to be contacted again for a follow up or for other projects. 

Other times it was a follow up call for market research that had been done in the street. There we had the names but no addresses.

 

[john g. 37,683]

Did you get a more sensible job later in life, luna?😂

[lunaCH 972]

Just now, john g. said:

Did you get a more sensible job later in life, luna?😂

Hey. That job was fun. I liked it and did really well. I only left as I moved to a different country.

[john g. 37,683]

I still ( though rarely ) sometimes get calls from market researchers. Normally, it turns out I’m not  a useful “ victim “ due to my age! ( Favourite radio stations or whatever.)

 

Normally, they are young people and I react “ fatherly “  and ,depending on their friendliness , will be helpful. Until I no longer fit into the age box!🙏🏻😂

That’s when the scammers take over!😂

[HH_Sailor 3,529]

10 minutes ago, lunaCH said:

Hey. That job was fun. I liked it and did really well. I only left as I moved to a different country.

 

In most countries that job is punishable by death by enforced listening to Tony Blackburn repeats,

or waiting at the gates of hell for the toilets to be available.

 

[lunaCH 972]

18 minutes ago, HH_Sailor said:

In most countries that job is punishable by death by enforced listening to Tony Blackburn repeats, or waiting at the gates of hell for the toilets to be available.

Bit of an exaggeration. At the time it paid well and I was sorry to leave. With market research it's just a questionnaire. 

There's a distinctly different type of call I consider far worse and would never do as a job and nor do I like to receive: sales calls. 

[john g. 37,683]

I liked HH’s humour!😂

Sales calls: yuk. The bane of society!😟

[john g. 37,683]

28 minutes ago, HH_Sailor said:

 

In most countries that job is punishable by death by enforced listening to Tony Blackburn repeats,

or waiting at the gates of hell for the toilets to be available.

 

Tony Blackburn repeats? Showing your age! ( As am I!😂)

 

[keith2011 2,571]

I got a disturbing call on my German mobile, not least of which because it was after midnight, it was a recorded voice message claiming to be from the NatWest bank saying a one time code was available but if I had not requested one, phone a number, I didn't, codes don't come that way. It is a scam, I guess if you call the number the scammers will try and get information out of you, googling the number the call came from on the internet showed many others had received such calls always claiming to be from the NatWest or RBS

The call came from the number +44 800 161 5173 watch out.

I attempted to report it as a scam to NatWest via an online chat, but they did not seem to interested once I told them that I had not responded to the call. They also claimed they have not been hacked despite my point about how anyone would know both that  I have a UK bank account and my German mobile number other than the NatWest.

[Techsmex 13,356]

On 10/2/2020, 1:33:40, john g. said:

Older man, intelligent, just got bamboozled. They called us several times last year and at first it sounded plausible. But then I asked a question about which city they were calling from - Ierapetra or Agios? We pay utility bills in both towns.

Then they hung up but other people kept ringing our number the same day and we became all the wiser!

 

The last time, I let the guy chat for a while and then told him “ interesting! I am recording this call.”

And he hung up.

At the Greek Telekom place, I asked about this scam and they told me it was being reported on in the Greek media ( including on TV ) but there was nothing they could do as the calls were coming from Turkey.

 

 

 

John GeeWhiz...  Billions of PCs in the world and someone from a Microsoft department detected that your PC is infected and contacted you?  Really?     you poor fella.

 

Btw,  there is no such department at Microsoft that call customers up for these type of maladies.  If you get such a call or email or text, don't fall for it.  Try spraying some WD-40 lubricant on your Spidey sense.

[lunaCH 972]

6 hours ago, keith2011 said:

+44 800 161 5173 watch out.

https://www.shouldianswer.co.uk/phone-number/08001615173

https://180info.co.uk/number/08001615173

[keith2011 2,571]

2 hours ago, lunaCH said:

https://www.shouldianswer.co.uk/phone-number/08001615173

https://180info.co.uk/number/08001615173

Worrying that only 10 out of the 25 from the first link rated the number as negative.

[kiplette 8,675]

One of my oldies got the 'grandchild' call a week ago. She is very keen to catch them with the police, so was explaining how she had laid her trap, whilst one of the others who literally does not listen to a word anyone else says and is Always Right was busy telling her she was an idiot and you should just put the phone down. There is always one.

 

Sadly, we have Herbstferien and it will be ages before she gets to tell the outcome of her story.

[RedMidge 6,638]

I watched an NDR reportage ages ago- grandson call to elderly woman. She told caller to ring her back as she was busy. Then called her son to ask if Grandson was in Mexico?! Son was a policeman , and they did set up a sting- she arranged with caller to meet him at store.The "Grandson" said his "friend" would meet her to get the gift cards needed. Smart Granny!

[kiplette 8,675]

Oh that's brilliant. Smart Granny indeed.

[john g. 37,683]

1 hour ago, RedMidge said:

I watched an NDR reportage ages ago- grandson call to elderly woman. She told caller to ring her back as she was busy. Then called her son to ask if Grandson was in Mexico?! Son was a policeman , and they did set up a sting- she arranged with caller to meet him at store.The "Grandson" said his "friend" would meet her to get the gift cards needed. Smart Granny!

Nice one? What happened to the scammer? 

[RedMidge 6,638]

21 minutes ago, john g. said:

Nice one? What happened to the scammer? 

Ah- the "Scammer" was the "friend"! Not so smart

[robinson100 12,792]

Hey! Microsoft just called me!

"are you speaking English?"

"yes dear, but I`m not interested in your rubbish"

"Clunk" She put the phone down!