Hi all, I had a call about 6pm yesterday from a man who… sounding very urgent… said:
“we have detected a virus on the server you use and it means that you could be hacked at any moment. Please go to your computer immediatly and I will talk you through what to do…”
Luckily, although filled with feeling of panic, I said as far as I knew HE could be a hacker and asked him who he worked for. He said the British something-or-other. I hung up and still feeling in a panic, turned my router off.
Very dodgy don’t you think?
If anyone knows about stuff like this, being that I didn’t do as he said, am I safe? Can they somehow hack your computer just by getting you on the phone? (I’m nervous being online now).
Honestly it has really shaken me up!
Beware of this kind of call… he made it sound so urgent I could imagine people falling for it. Very pleased that I didn’t.
bk when i could talk in full sentnces i once kept one of thse scamers on the phone for 90 mins… i was lafing so much i had tears runing down my face you are safe as long as you dint give him acess to your computer vai web, stay safe x Daisy
That sounds very scary! Sounds like some well dodgy scam to me.
My house mate has just said it’s a well known scam. The only was you ISP can monitor your computer is if you give them permission. Run your anti-virus and that will tell you if you have a problem.
Thanks for warning us.
My email was attempted to be hacked last week but my email provider contacted me by email. I just changed all my passwords.
Pat, I am sure you are fine - you gave him the slip. It is once you start telling them stuff that these people get really dangerous - they are expert at then quickly reeling people in, building panic about a ‘threat’ and presenting themselves as your saviour who has come to the rescue in the nick of time and wasn’t that lucky? That’s when people gratefully start handing over their credit card details and PIN numbers.
What bad, bad people these confidence tricksters are.
Yes - You are totally safe. This is nothing more than a scam phone call, so there’s no need to worry about this any further.
Calls like this have been made for a couple of years now, and when they inadvertently speak to someone who has a reasonable understanding of computers and PC networking, they very quickly become flustered and tongue-tied.
Rest assured no professional organisation will try to talk about remedying PC viruses over the phone!
If you ever get a call like that in future, may I respectfully suggest you tell them that you just need to put the phone down for a second …and then simply walk away from the handset and carry on doing whatever they interupted. They’ll soon get bored and hang up!!
It’s a well-known scam (though not known to you, clearly).
Believe it or not, Microsoft (or anyone else) are not continuously monitoring your computer for free, ready to ring up and warn you if anything suspicious or unusual is detected.
When they ring, they are just taking pot-luck you even have a computer - they probably chose the number at random. They CANNOT see your computer, or that there’s anything wrong with it - but yes, you’re quite right that the plan is they will talk you into giving them access!
Some people I know have spun them along for quite a long time, pretending to follow the instructions, and then claiming not to understand, or saying it hasn’t worked, and asking them to repeat all of it! Then finally announced they don’t have a computer, or that they have, but it’s a Mac (instructions will invariably be for a Windows machine).
Treat it exactly the same way you would an e-mail from Nigeria, saying you’ve inherited a lot of money from that distant Nigerian relative you didn’t know you had.
they are sneaky buzzards Pat, I don’t answer withheld numbers but it is posible for them to fake a number now so it looks like its coming from local and its not. mine was a gentlefake from New Delhi who sed he wa s caling from Microsoft. Male cow Crap!
I’ve had this loads of times. Don’t worry they can’t access your computer. What they will try and get you to do is to download remoting software so that they then can access your PC. As long as you don’t do this, your fine.
I’m like DaisyPen, I try and keep them on the phone for as long as possible, as they usually call me from India. It’s hilarious, I pretend that I have a really old PC and that it is continually crashing or I have to go and do something. 90 minutes is very impressive.
I have now got so fed up with cold callers that I’ve changed my number and gone ex-directory. It is bliss. I don’t get any calls now.
when they caled me i knew strauit away it was a scam, so thought, ok if you thnk youre scaming me then you cant be doing to somebody else. they thought i was an old lady, they said type WWW so i typed UU UU UU, siad well you told me to type double U… at one point i got him so anoued he said “for christs sake” and gave me to another handler, they even rang me back when i cut them off bacuse i was lauging so much i was crying. they were so convinced i was going to give them control of my pc an dgive them my bank account details!! my number is ex-dir and i think they have a random number dial as i’m also with TPS. wish they would call back, i need a laugh
Hi Pat, This is definitely some sort of scam - unfortunately it is very common and loads of people I know have been targeted. The best think to do is just ring off and ignore them! Teresa xx
Hi Pat, we get this kind of call often. We always say we dont have a computer and hang up.
These calls…always from a foreign sounding person, with a typically english name…about all sorts of things…always seem to come at very inconvenient times.
When we just start a meal, are on the loo, getting ready for bed etc.
I`ve been playing a game with these callers for a few months and end up enjoying a good titter.
I seem to have been lucky not being targeted up to now.
Yes Poll… I was getting ready for bed (at 6pm… how sad am I). After the call I went back in bedroom and then thought MUST TURN ROUTER OFF in case they could still hack me… and tried to get back into living room on legs that didn’t want to work and felt like jelly.
These people have no idea of the distress they cause… or they probably do and just don’t care.
If I get another I think I’ll keep them talking for a while and then say ‘You need to be aware that you have called a private line of the Metropolitan Police. This call has been successfully traced’. Except of course I’ll never remember to do that…
We get these sometimes so we play along for a while and then when they mention Windows we fall about laughing and point out that we only have Macs. I hand them over to my son as he is a much bigger wind-up merchant than I am. They usually hang up on us …
I get these on a regular basis. A few years ago my husband foolishly got taken in and went through all the steps he was told to do by the caller and at the end of it he had to pay on his debit card. I went ballistic that he could be so stupid. Now when they ring I just put the phone down and I dont get as many calls now
The paying on the debit card isn’t the main sting! (Though you cannot be forced to pay for unsolicited “work” anyway).
The sting is that IF you go through all the steps requested, they are not “fixing” your computer, but gaining control of it, so it can be used for further fraud. Hubby is lucky if the debit card payment was all he lost, because if he does any online banking or anything, they could have had access to the lot. It’s like giving a stranger the keys to your house.
You have had all the answers already.
Yes it was a scam.
Sometimes it comes up if you visit certain websites - even some that look respectable.
If it is a phonecall, then rythmic tapping on the hash key (#…#…#…#…#…) will either provoke a hang-up, or will disrupt their automated phone system.
If is is a pop-up message on your PC, then just shut the browser down immediately. Then check you have good settings on your firewall - you do have an active firewall, don’t you?
Had this ‘windows’ one as well. Both my son and I were trying not to laugh. Both of us know our way round systems and the programme they were trying to was had a virus was one that didn’t even exist on PC’s! He kept them talking for ages and was really getting into a heated debate before they hung up!
Another time, he answered the call and just kept on saying ‘potato’ with different emphasis on each sylable. Quite funny listening to him and you could imagine how flustered the other person was!
Well done Pat. Others have replied with sensible advice, the only addition I will make apart from running anti-virus programmes is to run Rapport which you can download free from the NatWest or Royal Bank of Scotland websites - with it you can protect individual websites as well as your whole system… I get lots of phone calls, mainly from people who want to help sort out PPI claims for me but I just tell them that “it was done last year and anyway I am registered with the Telephone Preference Service so please remove me from their records” and then I hang up without any further words. You cannot allow these companies to upset you or gain any knowledge of your own personal situation (or your computer status in your case).
you are safe as long as you dint give him acess to your computer vai web, stay safe x Daisy
