First of all, before I go on, any idiot knows that Microsoft is the company and Microsoft Windows is the product. But not this one. This is a special kind of idiot, he is twice as stupid and says he works for 'Microsoft Windows'.
This 2x idiot, this Fonejacker rip-off, this stinking piece of garbage, is nothing more than a scammer, a con artist and a thief. Do not mistake him for a hacker either. Hacking requires skill and intelligence.This is nothing more than a petty criminal, who wants your hard earned cash.
When this low-life calls, he usually begins like this at top speed:
"Hello, my name is [some foreign name that he is counting out you not being able to pronounce or remember], I call from Microsoft Windows. We have reports from your computer that is contains virus and would like to connect to you and fix free of charge."
- Since when did Microsoft phone it's home users? Short answer: They don't!
- Since when did Microsoft scan home PCs and have live alerts sent to their support centers? They don't!
- Since when did Microsoft do anything for free? Enough said!
THEY WANT ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER!
In reality, what they are doing is called data-mining; more commonly known as thievery! They are looking for passwords, bank details, credit card information for shopping sites, eBay & PayPal etc and maybe even your emails. From these they can commit copious amounts of fraud, identity theft and hit your credit limits and savings accounts. They can even access your email contacts and mark them as future potential targets: People like these ruin lives.
THEY RELY ON YOU GIVING THEM ACCESS!
The fun doesn't stop there though. Once these parasites have had access to your computer once, they can access it over and over again without your knowledge, until the malware is completely removed from the system. They could gather information from your computer for long periods of time before they even decide to use it. Then one day BAM!
To those in the business of computer support, all of the above is plainly obvious and malware is a well known annoyance, treated with contempt and a format command. For general users and technophobes (no digs intended) a phone call like this could scare the wits out of people enough to allow these degenerate losers to get what they are after.
If you get one of these phone calls. Hang up and report it as soon as possible!
My Grandfather got two of these calls. Both times, he rather sternly told the man on the other end to go away and that his Grandson (me) and ONLY his Grandson administers his computer, and would be checking with him (me).
If you are not computer minded, don't listen to these people, ASK SOMEONE YOU TRUST! Someone in the know. Do not believe the lies this man tells you.
Or you can have some fun. This is IT Nightmares. I don't usually blog about things like this unless there's a bit of entertainment. So here are a few other tried and tested ways for you get a little satisfaction over these b@stards without your computer or private data being at risk.
1. You could do what what one guy did when he had eight of these phone calls over the course of three days.
Swear loudly at them, insult them, threaten them, let out a torrent of abuse and then hang up. It doesn't achieve much, but on the the plus side it is very therapeutic, and makes you feel much better, and hopefully shakes the scumbag up a little. I have had success using this method with other cold callers. They rarely ring again, if they do, just repeat the process. They may be thick, but they catch on eventually.
2. Play along:
This was fun I have to admit. I pretended I was poor, dumb, Joe User. I was totally shocked that my beloved computer may have a virus and terribly upset that my precious files were at risk. I immediately agreed to allow the guys to connect and fix it for me.
So I followed his instructions:
"Turn on computer" he told me | I switched it off and unplugged my router for good measure.
"Now open your browser please and go to http://www.######.com". This was a legitimate software site for a real remote computer administration client. | I clackerty clacked nice and loud on the keyboard for his benefit, asking lots of stupid 'how to' questions a long the way.
"Now download program and install please, yes." | More clacking and a little humming for effect.
"Now run program yes." | This was where the fun begins.
I sit back in my chair, my feet up on the desk as I browse the evening TV guide, giving him the odd um, ah and yup etc, as he grins down the phone at my stupidity at letting him in to my system. He was probably rubbing his hands together as he tried to connect.
"I will now connect" He tells me. (Good Luck with that mate.)
"I'm sorry, it not connecting. Can you make sure software is started." (Nope.)
"It is running" I tell him as I flick through the movie section. (Oh, Die Hard 4 is on tonight.)
"I still can't connect...." he whines on. He gets me to turn my firewall off, disable any antivirus software, reinstall the remote software, and numerous other pointless tasks. I give him a few more clackerty clacks just in case, asking him a few more stupid questions along the way, with a couple of verses of "I'm not good with computers, I am so glad you rang to help me", as I listen to him getting frustrated on the phone. He is huffing and puffing, he is so close to getting at my music collection, yet so far.
He asks me to download another remote client.
"How do I do that?" I ask.
"Go to http://www.######.com and click 'download now'." He says. He is getting a little impatient by now.
"How?" I ask.
"Like last time?"
"Last time?" I say in a confused voice. Dumb mode well and truly on.
"You downloaded software before, yes?" he asks me.
"No, when?" I reply.
"Before..."
"Oh, no I couldn't so I put the phone near the computer, I thought you could connect they way instead." I tell him, trying not to chuckle.
"This not work. You need to use software, please download." The guy is seriously not happy now and is struggling not to snap at me.
"Urrmm, OK. How? I am not good with computers you know."
"You download from Internet. Go to http://www...."
"The Internet?" I asked him in confused voice.
"Yes!" He answers.
"You mean the World Wide Web?" I ask.
"Yes."
"You mean the Information Super Highway?"
"Yes."
"I can't" I tell him.
"Why is that Sir?" (Yes the cheeky little git called me Sir.)
"Because I don't have the Internet... I hear it's full of losers, hackers, and thieving dickheads like you" I tell him. I heard a shocked "Oh..." and the phone went dead. Over 25 minutes I had that idiot on the phone; a personal record:
3. Fight back: This was my personal favorite and successfully stopped the idiot from phoning me back again. Short but sweet.
"Hello, my name is [some foreign name that he is counting out you not being able to pronounce or remember], I call from Microsoft Windows. We have reports from your computer that is contains virus and would like to connect to you and fix free of charge."
"Oh excellent, thank you very much for calling, I am so happy you rang."
"That's alright sir, its my job." (Don't make me laugh, you haven't done a days work in your life).
(In a very polite voice). "Yes, I am very glad you called, because I now have your name, phone number and location as this call is being monitored by the phone company and the police. They should be kicking your door down in approximately five minutes. You'll be famous by lunchtime. Have a nice day you robbing, parasitic, worthless piece of s#!t."
Would love to know where the hell these little blighters got my number. But it's OK, cause I have theirs.
If you get any of these calls:
- Report them with as much information as possible (times, dates, duration etc), call your phone company, call the police.
- NEVER and IT Nightmares means NEVER let them access your private computer.
- NEVER give out ANY personal details or passwords.
- Make sure you have the latest Operating System service packs and Patches installed on your computer.
- Make sure you have a secure firewall and it is functioning.
- Check you have the latest anti-virus/anti-spyware installed and that it is up to date and switched on.
- Make your friends and family aware of this scam to help reduce its victims.
- If in any doubt, speak to someone you trust, someone who is in the know.
For useful information on specific cold callers information try: http://whocallsme.com/
This is funny! Thanks for the information in such an entertaining format!
ReplyDeleteKathy
Thank you for reading, people like these really make me angry, the more other computers user know about them, the less chance they have of succeeding.
ReplyDelete