Tech support scam

[Tellenta]

I've been getting tons of calls about everything from my natural gas bill to my credit cards in the past three months. All of them are scams in one aspect or another, beyond using them as something to yell at if I'm stressed they are really easy to spot. As in did they call you? If yes it is probably a scam. Do they ask for your account number? Then it is definitely a scam.

[Traxio Nacho]

My Dad had one Indian bloke phone up from MS telling him he had a problem with Windows on his PC my Dad told him he doesn't own a PC bloke hung up pretty quick Few weeks later they phoned again and my mum answered she told them she didn't have a problem with her PC but the washing machine was broken and did he know how to fix that, Indian bloke had a chuckle then hung up don't think they have had a call since.

[Cool09]

You don't have to. Most of these calls start off with 'Hello I'm suchandsuch from your internet service provider' or 'Hello I'm suchandsuch from Microsoftware' and then go onto say 'Our systems show that your computer has virus' on it'. They then get them to open event viewer and claim that the errors shown proves this and that they can fix it by doing remote support.

Exactly this happened to me a few weeks ago when I was home sick... Indian guy tells me something is wrong with my computer, I tell him "not interested" and hang up. He calls back, I tell him to get lost and hang up. Next time I tell him to fuck off and that he should not call me again. He keeps calling back so I waste 1/2 hour of his time following his directions, but very slowly and asking him to repeat everything 3 times. After the "oh no, look at all the errors in the event viewer" thing, he told me to go to support.me, which I didn't type in (pretended I was having trouble typing). So he directed me to "remotedesktop.me" or something equally obvious. Then I told him that I intentionally wasted his time, which was probably worth 10 cents.

[tulip]

If I have a little spare time I'll let them go through their routine and waste as much of their time as possible before they realise I am not in fact following their instructions carefully, nor is the PC even turned on. If you act dumb and feign particular difficulty with their instructions not only can you keep them on the phone for quarter of an hour but it makes them extra keen thinking you're so bad with tech.

[Lana Torrin]

If I have a little spare time I'll let them go through their routine and waste as much of their time as possible before they realise I am not in fact following their instructions carefully, nor is the PC even turned on. If you act dumb and feign particular difficulty with their instructions not only can you keep them on the phone for quarter of an hour but it makes them extra keen thinking you're so bad with tech.

Tried this once. I can't do it.

[Cosmin]

'Hello I'm suchandsuch from your internet service provider' or 'Hello I'm suchandsuch from Microsoftware'

Is it bad I read this in an Indian accent?

[Nu11u5]

Its best to err on the side of caution with these things. But, just pointing out, www.support.me is owned by and redirects to a secured connection with LogMeIn. I don't know anything about the support company your dad was using but their tools are legit (at least that one).

Also, most technical support companies have been considered "scams" at one point or an other. Either they hire incompetent techs, over-charge, make leaps to the most expensive solutions, or their customers don't understand why their computers can't be fixed instantly with magic for practically nothing. Doesn't mean they are all out to defraud you (not criminally at least).

Do your research, and never take an unsolicited offer for technical support on the internet, especially from a god damn web ad. I think we all know this though.

[Zekk Pacus]

It's just a front end for logmein rescue, which is what a lot of support companies use for ad-hoc support. Just bare in mind they won't be phoning you, and you'll be fine.

Sent from a seat on a bus

[firefoxx80]

I usually go to the nearest piece of technology (that isn't a Windows PC) and then try to do the instructions they give.

"Click on the Start bar"
"There's no Start bar, there is a button that says 'start wash'"

[Cosmin]

Its best to err on the side of caution with these things. But, just pointing out, www.support.me is owned by and redirects to a secured connection with LogMeIn. I don't know anything about the support company your dad was using but their tools are legit (at least that one).

Also, most technical support companies have been considered "scams" at one point or an other. Either they hire incompetent techs, over-charge, make leaps to the most expensive solutions, or their customers don't understand why their computers can't be fixed instantly with magic for practically nothing. Doesn't mean they are all out to defraud you (not criminally at least).

Do your research, and never take an unsolicited offer for technical support on the internet, especially from a god damn web ad. I think we all know this though.

Legit tools don't make a business legit.

Also, we all know this, but parents are a different species. You must bear in mind that computers and internet connections weren't as common as today when they grew up and most of their adulthood, so they're mostly incompetent in understanding how they work.

[Liare]

most people dont comprehend why a computer work, or are indeed capable of following common sense when they are involved, it's not that any one generation is less retarded than any other, the retards are everywhere, the older ones are just more obvious.

if they where, Facebook would never have taken off the way it did.

[Cosmin]

It's not that the previous generation is retarded, mate, I wouldn't call my parents retarded (because they aren't, if they were, I'd do it ), it's just that technology took off over the past 20-30 years and it's pretty hard to keep up sometimes - we grew up with it, we feel it. I had a break in IT knowledge for a couple of years and it felt so hard to assimilate all the new stuff that I understood why it's so hard for parents to grasp IT stuffs when they're not working everyday with it

[Glyken Touchon]

We get a call about every 2 weeks.

I tend to ask if they're Microsoft certified (they answer "of course"), and then ask for the certificate number so I can double check it (can this be done?). They normally hang up at that point, although I have had one ranting at me asking why it should matter and what my certificate number is...

Another good ploy is to ask them to repeat the company name, as it probably won't be the same the second time.