Scammers On The Phone

[Sycamore3House]

Just had a phone call from someone sounding like he's from the India direction working for a company claiming that they can see that my computer has a virus and they can see this because my broadband connection is flagging a virus at their end!!!!

I went along with the spiel for about 10 minutes. He was asking me what I could see on my screen and telling me to press buttons on my keyboard etc. telling me that if I gave my card details he could sort it out.

I then told him he was a scammer and still he insisted he was not. I asked for his company name and tel no: 0800 847 8447 company name was Personal Computer Fix.

The thing is my laptop is in my workplace and has not been switched on for about 2 weeks. Also I do not have a broadband connection either at home or at work.

My home phone number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service so these calls are from abroad.
But how many people will fall for this??? I hope no-one.
Anyone else had this???

[Stephen_G]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1239117.html

[bookaholic]

We have spates of this in Gloucestershire. You get phone calls for about a month then it stops. The local paper tends to run a story when someone has been caught out.

[Sparkles62]

I had the same at lunch time today
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1239117.html#answer-7973247

[pompomfairy]

my dad fell for this, i came home from work and he was on his banking detail screen but couldnt remember the password thank god! i asked him what was going on and he said someone from windows was on the phone saying we had a virus and for a fee of £150 they will put an anti virus on the computer that will protect it and some other rubbish, took the phone off him and kindly told the chap on the end of the phone to bugger off and stop scamming people and trying to get money off people that didnt know any better. I had to go over our computer and remove all the software they installed and run loads of check to make sure we didnt have anything left on it to catch us out.

[WyeDyed]

pompomfairy - You may still not be safe. There is "legitimate" software that could have been put on your computer that can be missed by malware checkers.
The only safe thing to do is to wipe and reinstall your hard drive and then change any passwords that you use on there.

[mikey4444]

The TPS is largely ineffective, so don't rely on it stopping calls. I get calls everyday from UK-based companies and I have been registered with the TPS for years. I have made complaints via the TPS website but its a waste of time. Going ex-directory has limited use, as a lot of these nuisance calls are computer-generated, dialling thousands of telephone numbers at a time.

Just put the phone down. Better still, get a answering machine and filter all i/c calls via it. Tell your relatives that you have one and that they might get phoned back.

[mikey4444]

Thanks methyl, but I have done this to little effect. I'm afraid that a lot of the companies that pester us just ignore the TPS because its largely a toothless regulator.

[heathfield]

Methyl...your registration with the TPS continues until you decide to cancel it. My wife answered a cold call the other day and told the caller we were registered with TPS. He told her the same as you've said, namely, that registration lapses after a year. My wife called the TPS to confirm this, and was told she'd been been given incorrect information - TPS registration is continual, and is only cancelled by request.