I received an odd telephone call this morning. The caller with an Indian voice, who claimed to be from the “Technical Department of Windows”, tried to tell me that I had downloaded some malware from the internet on to my computer. When I asked how she knew this, the caller became confused, and as the line was poor, I took the opportunity to hang up. Ten seconds later the phone rang again, the same caller again apologising for having been cut off and once again telling me that there was a problem with my computer. So for a second time I asked how she knew, again she became confused, but this time handed me on to a male colleague who ignored my question and got on with the script. He asked me if I could see my computer, which I said I could, next he asked if I could see the “My Computer” icon. At this point, I considered playing along to see where this was going, but two things stopped me, first I wasn’t going to be able to follow his instructions (as I am using Ubuntu Linux, not MS Windows), and two I had better things to do with my day. Therefore, I hung up once again and have had no further calls. I tried ringing 1471 but as they were phoning from abroad the number was unavailable, so I had nothing to report to Consumer Direct’s “Report a Scam” service.
This afternoon I found myself still thinking about the call, I was intrigued to know how common this sort of thing is, so I did a quick Google search and I found there are plenty of hits showing that this is a regular problem. Obviously, Microsoft would never make such a phone call, you have to phone them to get support, not the other way around. Either way, their advice on dealing with scams is pretty thin. The best advice dealing with these scams comes from the Digital Toast blog, which also has an entertaining collection of videos of people winding up the scammers. Also, the Guardian technology editor, Charles Arthur, makes some interesting comments about who might be behind these scams. If you have received a call recently, maybe you would like to leave a comment.
Update
In the years since this post was originally written, this scam has changed to include the “Technical Department of BT” and “Virgin Media Technical Department”. The simple fact is that no “Technical Department” cold calls customers to tell them that their computers are in some way infected with a virus. These calls are scams, please don’t fall for them.
Oh, and just is case you were wondering if Microsoft knows about this scam, well, yes they were told about it in March 2010, it is just that they can’t be bothered to do anything about it…
Addendum: It would appear that Microsoft has finally woken up and realised there is a problem, and this is their official advice. Please note that the scammers are now also claiming to be from: Windows Service Centre, Windows Help Desk, Microsoft Tech Support, Microsoft Support, Windows Technical Care, Windows Technical Department Support Group or Microsoft Research and Development Team (Microsoft R & D Team). So please take care.
Addendum: There have been a number of attempts to comment on this blog saying that the fraudster making these calls are legitimate, the latest came from:
Author: luckysharma (IP: 115.115.103.248, 115.115.103.248.static-kolkata.tcl.net.in)
E-mail: luckysharma420@gmail.com
Comment: this is genuine company…ok
Please note, these calls are entirely fraudulent, do not allow these people to access your computer.
Addendum: There has been one high-profile arrest and conviction but, sadly, there are plenty more still active. Please take care.
Addendum: I have had a number of people asking if there is a way of stopping these calls (see comments below), well, there are call blocking devices available on the market which can be effective. You also need Caller ID on your phone line, this may be an extra cost depending on your phone provider. Some phone providers may not supply Caller ID for international calls and so you need to think about just who you want to block, to avoid blocking legitimate calls, i.e. family members and friends living abroad, or people calling from switchboards where the number is withheld (personally this last one is a risk I would take). If anyone has experience of using such call blocking devices they would like to share, please feel free to comment below.
Addendum: This scam is now being replaced by a broadband scam, the scammers claim to be calling from BT (I am not using BT Broadband) and threaten to cut off your broadband connection if you don’t do what they ask. Don’t fall for it, just hang up.
The most recent numbers to call me are below, beware these are all scammers:
- 01702354369
- 01753886279
- 013113670232 (this is worrying because it looks like a local number to where I am)
- 0031627789951
- 0049300229105318
- 01264322256 this is an Amazon account scam, it is not from Amazon, don’t fall for it
- 01204430305
- 02392463764
- 01224732823
- 02476337166
- 01226340637
- 01702618132 another BT broadband scam (I am not with BT)
- 02890587967
- 01481201721
- 01782258898
- 01313670252 (another one that looks like local number to where I am, this time it is a loft insulation scam)
- 01530 224539 another BT broadband scam (I am not with BT)
- 01903238950 another BT broadband scam (I am still not with BT)
- 0013186499214 this is actually using a fake number to avoid being found on reverse lookup, never answer a number being with 0013
- 001386497262 see above about 0013 numbers, they are coming thick and fast this morning
- 01313671777
- 01986807479 another Microsoft scammer
- 004316267332
- 07522637755 this one as a scam call about National Insurance numbers
- 07852649921
- 07442070861
- 07734068962
- 07736808571
- 0033766562863
- 01356667414 Another computer scammer
- 01264300278 this one is a warranty scam
- 01487801982
- 0015871725235
- 0015871725235
- 01918149764 Another Microsoft scammer
- 01316696815 Amazon Prime subscription fraud (I don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription, nor does Amazon have my landline number)
- 07985171514 this scammer claims to be from BT Openreach, don’t fall for it, just hang up.
- 0046101020226
- 00919875179594
- 01223933893
- 01491676822
- 0122392843
- 00918015745600
- 00346 98570571 banking scammers
- 00918013552427 Scammers claiming to be from Bank security, don’t fall for it, just hang up.
- 01157789785
- 02032381713 this is an Amazon account scam, it is not from Amazon, don’t fall for it
All of these numbers have been used by scammers, don’t trust anyone calling from these phone numbers.
If you are unlucky enough to be caught out by any of these scams, report it to Action Fraud online or by calling 0300 123 2040.
Finally some banks are starting to take this issue seriously and are encouraging people to call 159 if they get an unsolicited phone call from someone asking for money. If you think someone is trying to trick you into handing over money or personal details…
…Stop, hang up and call 159 to speak directly to your bank.
Tuesday, 26th, June 2018 at 08:39
I’ve been called by Jenny, she just said “Microsoft technical department” and I instantly hanged up x))
Sunday, 4th, February 2018 at 16:23
I also have been recently getting phone calls from Windows saying I’ve been downloading illegal stuff onto my computer and all that stuff. But I haven’t
Monday, 5th, March 2018 at 06:29
I’ve been receiving these calls regularly for the past few years. Reckon I get at least one per month. Had one again today. He was very determined and insisted that I should turn on my computer and allow him to “fix” the problems that “had been identified”. I asked how they had been identified. Not very forthcoming, “someone had advised them of the malware I had downloaded”. I spent some time raising questions of identity, motives, scams, charges and the possibility he might install malware.. He insisted he was genuine, only wanted to help me and that I should enable him to access my computer immediately. I said I needed to do some checks on his organisation first and declined.
Friday, 2nd, February 2018 at 13:16
I am from the west coast of Ireland. The call came in with an Irish number but the caller was Indian and in a call centre. She said she was from the technical department of Windows and I ended the call. Yesterday I received a call from “0061” prefix with the same message. I asked the Indian where he was from. He said Dublin. I ended the call.
Tuesday, 22nd, August 2017 at 16:29
Received a call this morning from Peter, Technical Department of WIndows, 800.124.7210. Had to give it to me twice because he was off a number. Asked for supervisor’s name? He asked why? Said he was supervisor. Asked if he had someone over him, said a manager, gave name of Alex Martin.
Then I ended the call.
Tuesday, 25th, July 2017 at 18:59
I get four calls a day, sometimes with a number on caller ID (a local number so I answer) and sometimes it says Private Number or Number Unavailable and I don’t answer those). Anyway, there is no way to stop them, I’ve had these calls for 3 years — so today I’m buying one of those sport horns (looks like a spray can) and next time those little *@(*&^@$0 call me, I’m pressing the button right next to the receiver. Hope that helps them get the message because I’ve asked them politely, rudely, pissed off to remove my number from their files but the calls continue. I’m like the groundskeeper in the movie Caddy Shack where every waking hour, I’m trying to think of how I can get rid of the pesky calls. Gosh, I HATE THEM —
Thursday, 6th, July 2017 at 16:53
My mom received a v/m from an Officer Peter Williams with Microsoft Tech center saying that they were receiving error messages from her computer and if she didn’t call them back immediately they would block and shut down her ip address. The phone connection was poor and hard to understand which is why she had me to listen to it. Just wanted everyone to know that they are still trying to use this scam currently.
Thursday, 6th, July 2017 at 17:02
Thanks for your comment
Thursday, 15th, June 2017 at 06:14
We received a call that was very static-y about our Microsoft 365 expiring. As it happens, we had a problem with the credit card that we do the renewals on and could not get on our credit card account. We got that straightened out and then called the number they gave in their message (800-611-2416). They had us do the same, connecting them to one of our computers. The guy worked for awhile then started asking questions such as how many computers do we have, are they business or personal, how much did we pay for each computer, what do we do on them, etc. We got upset, told them it was none of their business and to get off our computer. When they didn’t, we shut down the computer and hung up. The computer does not come on now so tomorrow it goes to the shop and I hope we can recover it. Also hope he did not get too much info from the computer. The timing was just too perfect and it seemed legitimate. Bad on us.
Tuesday, 13th, June 2017 at 19:18
Had a call this morning Tuesday 13th June at around 11.30 hrs from “Max johnson”! from “windows tech division! threatened to shut down my commputor if i didn’t comply with his requests as he said someone had hacked my “account” and was using it for illegal activity! gave me a phone number of 02036300338. not going to ring it in case it is a high rate number and is part of the scam? they say they are going to ring back tomorrow morning….wonder if they will.Thanks for this site as it has confirmed my suspicions and good to share our experiences
Monday, 1st, May 2017 at 10:44
I often think these scammers are employees of Microsoft. Seeing as Microsoft are not really interested in dealing with these people.
Wednesday, 29th, March 2017 at 22:15
I receive these calls from time to time. I tell them to let me sit down at my computer and I will be right with them. Then I let them rot waiting for me to pick up again. Petty and childish I know but there is not much going on in my life.
Wednesday, 16th, November 2016 at 08:10
I live in Sweden and I got a phone call this morning form a swedish number, claiming that they are from Windows Technical Department, UK. They said my computer has an online infection (common in Sweden and Denmark, as they said!!) and they could show me the problem and help me. I told them the laptop I use is not a personal one and they were asking all the time when I will have access to my personal computer…they passed my call to three different persons (all with an indian accent) and finally they asked my email to send me more information (that was the moment I hang up the call)
Saturday, 29th, October 2016 at 15:53
I got a call from “Nancy” from “Windows Support” today. I knew it was bogus because it had the sound of a boiler room call center in the background. She was obviously a foreigner with limited communication skills. I had a hard time understanding her and she had a hard time comprehending my simple responses of “Yeah” to her questions about being the owner of the computer. She passed me off to someone called “Max” with only slightly better English skills. He ended up terminating the call. This was the first time I got this call. After reading this blog I can expect more calls like this one. What I have to decide is if I want to play along for a while or just hang up.
Friday, 8th, April 2016 at 15:24
I am getting calls from these people every day, and sometimes up to 6 calls per day. I have told them to leave me alone and take me off the call list, and a few days later I start getting calls again. Try calling the 800 phone number on weekends and you will get a different company name.
Wednesday, 6th, April 2016 at 10:37
I had another of these calls at 04:20 this morning from 0223 441 122. They really are an nuisance, sadly the authorities seem to have no interest in trying to shut down these fraudsters. The only solution left to most people is to use call blocking and black list these numbers.
Tuesday, 29th, March 2016 at 14:06
The address and phone number the scammers gave me was
340 south lemon avenue
walnut creek california
91789
1-925 300 1132
Tuesday, 29th, March 2016 at 14:04
The most recent manifestation is that after I called ATT and allowed the fellow to hear me ask ATT about the supposed corporate number he gave me at the supposed corporate address (see below, he threatened to “send a message to deactivate your computer” and then contact the “cops to come and arrest you”, and then called me a stupid lady. It would have been fun to get into a shouting match with him but I have a heart condition and I did not want to raise my heart rate in a non-aerobic activity.
Does Microsoft really not care about this scamming, and putting some effort into shutting down the frightening access that these criminals have to personal information about us (albeit filled with inaccuracies, such as misspelling our street name)? If they really don’t care, that just reinforces Microsoft’s lousy image.
The persistence of this scam indicates that the scammmers are sometimes – just often enough – getting what they seek.
Sunday, 6th, March 2016 at 20:37
I got a call from 855-539-4917. i didn’t answer but the message said, “4914. His this is an emergency call to notify you that the license key of your Microsoft Windows is expired. To renew license key please call 1-855-539-4914.” I have a brand new computer with Windows 10. I’m pretty sure this is bogus. Not calling them back.
Sunday, 10th, January 2016 at 16:41
Just this a.m. got a call from “microsoft support”. Caller id showed a local lumber yard and local number. When he stated who he was, I told him he was not. He immediately got arrogant, wanted to argue and called me an idiot. I told him he was the idiot. He asked how was that? I told him my caller id showed a local business, and they did not sell or deal in computers, so that made him the idiot for not even using a proper false id. I did not tell him that it was a lumber yard. With that he became silent and I told him to have a good day and hung up.
Tuesday, 5th, January 2016 at 10:17
I just had a call from ‘Windows Technical Department’. Again it was a heavily accented (Indian / Pakistani??)lady. She proceeded to tell me that my computer had been infected whilst browsing by a Spirrus (??) or some other virus. Since I had recently purchased Office365 and an extremely helpful Microsoft engineer (on my request) from India (I’m in the UK) had spend almost a day installing Windows 10 and office 365, I thought it could be genuine, so I went along with it for a whilst. She proceeded to tell my supposed computer ID – a long ~34 number/letter combination. I have checked my computer it doesn’t seem to tally. I told her I had lots on today (true) and that I would call her back. No way she was giving me her number despite my repeated asking, but she did give her name ‘ Nancy Martin’ (hmm really….) and kept asking me for a convenient time to call me back. I said I just didn’t know and started to ask her more questions about exactly who she worked for. At this point she hung up! I tried 1471 but of course the number was withheld. Like others here I hate these scams. No only does it waste all of our time, it discredits those genuine Indian / Pakistani Microsoft engineers, or worse if they manage to hack your computer for bank details etc. I wish we could stop them. Thank for starting this Blog – it at least puts the information out there.
Tuesday, 5th, January 2016 at 11:34
Thanks for your comments, I agree wholeheartedly that these scam calls discredits those genuine Indian / Pakistani Microsoft engineers.
Microsoft does not make unsolicited calls, so beware of anyone claimed that they do.
Wednesday, 16th, December 2015 at 14:13
I get these quite often from a private number. I tell them I don’t have a computer and they simply hang up immediately.
As for keeping them on the line and playing them: your added minutes on the phone may just save a poor old dear receiving the next call and being scammed. Play along and have a little fun at their expense
Wednesday, 23rd, December 2015 at 13:35
I work for Microsoft and they will never call you. This is all fraudulent trying to get access to your computer and either scan it for content or set you up with a nonsense contract and get your credit card. Please tell all your friends we will not call you for issues with your computer. just make sure it stays up to date. Check here for guidance from MS for windows 7 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/updating-computer#1TC=windows-7
If you have Windows 10 you will be updated automatically or by your company if you are using their computer.
Tuesday, 15th, December 2015 at 21:11
I received a call today from the technical department at windows telling me they had been receiving a lot of messages pertaining to errors on my pc (caller had heavy Indian/Pakistani accent). I’ve received calls like this in the past but just blew them off as scams but I had been having a lot of errors. I put him on hold and looked up calls from tech dept windows and found this site. The call came from 823 568 7880. I returned to the call and asked if I could call him back and he hesitated. He would not give me a number but said he would call me back. I know now how to deal with these calls. Thanks.
Sunday, 22nd, November 2015 at 11:58
When you get comments like this:
You’ve got to wonder how dim the scammers think we all are. This guy claims to be legitimate and working in Vagas, but the comment is posted from an IP address located in Chikhli, Gujarat, India.
Thursday, 12th, November 2015 at 11:50
I still cant believe there are people who have actually fallen for this
police advice is:-
if the number shows on your display take this down, quite possibly a 020 number, (foreign call centres use a UK redirect number)
If not ask for a number to call back, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES give an financial, bank name etc details.
try to get as many details as possible, not giving any details will make them hang up.
Report everything to http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
0300 123 2040, you will be given a case number. the police will then have the number taken out of use
I have reported these calls in the past with updates that one ring was broken up. so it does work
Saturday, 7th, November 2015 at 18:18
I receive regular calls from these people with Indian accents claiming to be from Windows technical department. I usually tell them that I would be very grateful if they would stroll on over to the Ganges River and defecate. That usually leaves them speechless, at which point I hang up.
Tuesday, 6th, October 2015 at 18:20
Wife was cold-called yesterday while I was out. She spent 40 mins on the phone to an Indian sounding man who persuaded her to let him access her pc. I came home just in time to get the phone and was talking to an Indian sounding woman. She said she was from Microsoft and that our computer was going to be shut down due to viruses as our certificate had expired. I realised it was a con and gave her a few choice words before hanging up and restarting the pc. The pc would not work as it needed a different password to boot up. I restarted and entered safe mode which rebooted the pc as normal. I will take it in to pc world to get fixed asap.
An Indian sounding guy then called today to ask about the payment I made yesterday (i didn’t make a payment). Obviously, he would then tell me that the payment didn’t go through and then he would expect me to give him my bank details. I hung up so he never got the chance. I will report this to police fraud tomorrow when phone lines open.
Please tell all you know about this con.
Wednesday, 30th, September 2015 at 12:18
I just said to them ‘Windows don’t ring round their customers. That would mean ringing billions of people.’He told me my computer was being hacked, so I said ‘Oh yes, just like you want to do!’
When I said ‘What makes you think I’ve got a computer?’ he apologised and hung up!
Monday, 28th, September 2015 at 07:34
I am emailing you to let you know that if I do not receive a copy of the telephone conversation that I had with ANGELA WOOD ID No = 2146 on the 07/09/2015 informing me that I would be receiving a refund of £129.00 because of your company being in difficulties. Please do not insult me by denying this. You took another £129.00 pounds on the 08/09.2015 from my credit card when you told m,e that my first payment of £129.00 was for life.
After my telephone call to you {RECORDED] you said you would send me a copy. If I do not receive this copy or a refund of £129.00 within SEVEN days I will be contacting my Solicitor to act for me.
My complaint to you will not go away < believe me it will not. I have a lot of people who can assist me IE Ombudsman, Media, Police, Fraud Squad. I am a pensioner and you are bad people for doing this thing to me. You have taken the food out of my mouth
Monday, 28th, September 2015 at 08:34
Sadly people are suffering from the actions of the fraudsters, all I can do is warn people about these fraudulent phone calls. When will our governments take action?
Thursday, 24th, September 2015 at 20:34
Yesterday my mother called me se said there was a virus and a man from windows was working on taking it off here computer.
I tolled here to put here computer off. Se said that she could trust him he had send here a photo and phonenumber
(Peter williams, i think his id is stolen from his linkedin page)
I tolled here to trust me and put it out imidiatly. She did.
I tolled here to not turn it on again untill windows was compleatly reinstalld, (every virusscanner only finds old virusses a brand new virus will not be found so a compleat reinstall is the safest way)
I tolled here to call here bank and block everything.
From my home I changed here mail pasword.
Lets hope this was enouph to stop anything they were doing. Its now 24h later and they never called again after the first time.
Casper
Monday, 14th, September 2015 at 22:26
Same deal here. I have had daily calls from these creeps and I usally use some profanity and hang up. Today I had a few minutes so I went along, nicely, with the scam. I don’t have a Windows computer any more so I had to try to remember stuff. I kept answering his questions wrong – “What do you see on your screen now?”, “a small bird”, “no, no, no, no. Press the Windows key and the R key same time”, “Ctrl, Windows, R?”, “no, no, no, no.Windows R both”, “Okay, I did it”, “What do you see?”, “nothing”, You get the drift. I could bear it no longer so I told him to look on his list under “stupid” and call some of those. After I hung up it occurred to me that I had let this dipshit waste several minutes of my time and I probably belonged on the stupid list for that alone. Oh, well. It was more fun than reddit.
Tuesday, 1st, September 2015 at 14:17
This morning I received my third phone call from the tech dept. telling me my computer has been sending them messages that my computer has a been.
The man had an Indian accent. I told him that I just had my computer updated and fix. Also told him that is was a scam. He got a little hot. Then I told him to stop calling , as I was talking he tried to talk over him. I then said don’t call again and that I was on the do not call list.
He kept talking so I hung up.
He called at 8:00 am in the morning.
Friday, 28th, August 2015 at 18:50
I had the call today whilst I was at my elderly mother’s house. I am not young myself. I played along for as long as possible saying I did not have a problem with windows because I had double glazing and I needed to find my glasses and my computer.
Eventually when the young man asked me what it said on the key next to the ctrl key I said. Oh yes I can just about make it out with my glasses It says ‘none of your f***ing business’. and I hung up. A very irate young man ran back a minute later and my brother answered. He said he could not repeat what was being said.
Oh dear. Do you think I upset the young man?
Friday, 14th, August 2015 at 22:11
I got one of these today. When I said “this is clearly a scam, remove me from your call list, I’m going to report this.” He replied “you’ll have to find me first, you f*** with me, I’ll f*** with you.”
I’m aware that since the call came in as “anonymous” and “private number” I have no real options for reporting this, but if anyone has suggestions I’d gladly take them.
Tuesday, 25th, August 2015 at 14:35
This ‘Windows Dept.’ seems to either use an off the shelf phishing webpage that offers a free iphone or ipad to aquire your name adress and phone, they then phone bomb you until they can be convinced your smarter than they are. That page installs tracking cookies that soak up clock cycles to create the illusion of a virus that ‘they’ will ‘remove’ if you allow TOTAL REMOTE access to your PCs, file system, whereupon they sabotage your system wholesale to extend their ‘WORK’ (and charges if your naive enough to fall for it) ^^
To recover performance clear cookies, disable them and only re-allow on a per-site TRUST basis, eg BLUE CHIP co’s only !! They may also phone random ppl, but i doubt the hit rate success of that method, NEVER ALLOW REMOTE ACCESS except for TRUSTED USERS. Never download .EXE or .BAT files be careful out there.
Wednesday, 26th, August 2015 at 21:44
I got a call today from ,I think, the same company. He told me that if I didn’t do what he said he would keep calling and he did 5 times. He was very threatening.
Wednesday, 12th, August 2015 at 16:51
I’ve gotten three of these calls in the past month and they get very upset when you ask to be taken off the call list or talk to a manager. I was nicer to the gentleman who called this morning: Thomas Wilson, 1-888-882-7891. The phone number he gave me to “call back”, though, is for the Honor Health Compliance Hotline, not Windows IT Department. HA!
Wednesday, 29th, July 2015 at 13:57
Got the call a few minutes ago from an Indian guy claiming to be from the US. He said that my Windows license had been identified in a cyber criminal activity and need to be deactivated, then threatened to file charges against me.
Monday, 27th, July 2015 at 16:25
Was phone by Peter Williams from windows microsoft.they got R4567 equals $350 from my credit card dept which i reported. All indian accent. He worked on my pc online and got all my credentials i suppose but very convincing. I phone Microsoft windows Head office in Cape Town and was told to immediately disconnect my pc as it was a scam
Saturday, 18th, July 2015 at 23:11
Got a call this morning, man said all the normal “your computer has sent us an urgent message…” I replied that “don’t you think this scam would work better if you called someone who HAS a computer. Also, I am on a do not call list and would appreciate you adhering to it.” He responded with asking me if I have ever watched the movie Insidious, I asked him why he was now talking about a movie. He got angry and asked again if I had watched the movie, I said no to which he said I had better watch it and then I would understand. I told him to quit trying to scam me and then he asked for my husband. I said “WHY?? He doesn’t have a computer!!” He got frustrated and said “fine” and hung up.
Tuesday, 25th, August 2015 at 14:44
Not only do they have a WINDOWS DEPT, but they have a subsidury ‘SURVEY DEPT’ also. There seems to be an large scale organised crime franchise here ^^ omg they’re daft as brushes IMHO :)) Phishing with a hook, line and sinker.
I have been a software enginner for over 25yrs, I REALLY have been around since they were in diapers :)) I was playing with software since i was 9yrs old (circa 1979) theres nothing new to me.
Tuesday, 14th, July 2015 at 16:56
Toronto, Canada 14 July 2015
I got a call from Windows Help Desk that their office have been picking up many messages from my installation; errors and intruders need to be eliminated;
phone number they gave does not work from Canada (1-888-727-4205)
Scam?
Tuesday, 14th, July 2015 at 17:00
It is definitely a scam, MS Windows doesn’t phone home.
Tuesday, 14th, July 2015 at 16:50
July 14th, 2015
I was called yesterday by Windows Technical Dept (from Brooklyn). Richard Jennings (person who called) and Austin Brown(was named as their manager; but on e-mail I got named Allotted Microsoft Technician);
phone number: 1-888-727-4205, cannot be called from Toronto, Canada
help.windowdesk@outlook.com and
windowshelp75@gmail.com
What have I done if I let them go thro my computer?
Any help?
Tuesday, 14th, July 2015 at 16:55
The e-mail address are probably fake, these people are just looking to plant malicious software on your computer don’t trust them.
Friday, 3rd, July 2015 at 00:40
I have been receiving many calls from “Windows Technical Support” periodically for about four years now. Every person had an Indian accent except one which was Chinese who said that he was with the real company. The others have been faking his company name. Also, do not fall for IRS scammers who are very convincing. The IRS site warns that they will never call or threaten anyone about additional taxes owed, only write. 3-way call them to your local police dept, as the scammer will say they are on their way to your home.
Anyway I just spoke with an ATT Tech Specialist about this issue. She said that since scammers use a special device to provide Caller ID with fake US telephone #’s there wasn’t much they could do at ATT, even a *57 trace.
However, a law is about to be passed by Congress to prohibit any device that provides a fake Caller ID. Robocalls (pre-recorded ads) will also be illegal. The goal is to stop all harrassing calls, and at least find out who they are and report them to the Dept. of Commerce if out of the country. Contact your Congressman to support this new law. They can be slow.
Meanwhile when these fakes call I just tell them I must get the home PC person who is working outside, and just leave my phone on hold or off-hook until the caller hangs up.
Good luck!
Wednesday, 1st, July 2015 at 16:43
I just received a call from the “Windows Tech Dept.” stating my computer had many viruses. The male caller had an Indian accent and said he was calling from California. He wanted the ID and password from my computer so he could help me. I asked him for a phone number of the Windows Tech Dept. so I could call back. He refused and finally hung up.
Monday, 15th, June 2015 at 13:08
I’ve yet to get one of these phone calls..It’s sad really as I really want one just to put these people in their place. I’ve been in computing for the last 10 years, so I like to think of my self as pretty clued up.
The terrifying thing is how many people probably end up with viruses and falling victim to scams left, right and center…
Thursday, 25th, June 2015 at 13:34
It’s terrifying when you think just how many people must fall for this kind of scam over the phone given that they’ll rope in several people to make is seem genuine.
If no-one fell for the trap then this scam would have died out a long time ago, but in this day and age there are still quite a number of people who simply aren’t technically minded.
Thursday, 11th, June 2015 at 09:47
I just had a call from a lady with an Indian accent claiming to be from windows technical department. 9.30am – I’m in my office. I knew it was a scam immediately so I decided to play along whilst making myself a cup of tea. She wanted to show me what the problem was so I went along with the first request which was to press the windows key and tap “R”. She asked me what did I see. I told her I saw a box. She asked me if anything was written in the box. I said yes. She asked me to delete what was in the box and type in EVENTVWR I told her I had done so (I hadn’t). She asked me what I saw next I told her I could see the following F.U.C.K Y.O.U I decided to ask her what she thought the problem might be? She made some confused mumbling sounds so I Decided to tell her again. It says F.U.C.K Y.O.U Do you think I might have a virus of some sort?? At that point she hung up. Not sure why!!!!
Thursday, 21st, May 2015 at 17:51
Call me STUPID IDIOT!! But I really need your help. I just found out that I’ve been scammed. T.T
I’ve received calls this morning from ‘Windows Certified Technicians UHT Dept.’ telling me that my computer has been infected and showing me in Event Viewer the Errors and Warnings.
I’ve had no idea about this kind of scam and I do have a little knowledge about softwares. My instinct told me that it might be a scam but the scammers words were so convincing and since they’re already at the stage wherein I cannot anymore access my computer, I’ve panicked and gave them informations they’ve been asking and charged me the Registration Silver Plan amounting to CHF173.29 which is payable after 7 days. And they’ve send me in my email the Invoice which I have to print, sign, write today’s date and put ‘Services Received’, scan and send it back to them. I’ve also given my MasterCard Info, which has no remaining balance.
What should I do? Please help me. I’m so dead! T.T Your suggestions will highly be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Thursday, 21st, May 2015 at 18:07
The first thing would be to phone tell your credit card company what has happened and get them to cancel any payments. Then find a reputable local computer shop and get them to sort out your computer.
Friday, 15th, May 2015 at 13:47
I have just been called by Windows Technical Department London. I asked for their telephone number and was given
890 2080 264091
Friday, 8th, May 2015 at 18:28
Just had a call from ‘Microsoft Technical Dept – Subcontractor…Microaccess something’ saying that my computer had downloaded too many files and that Microsoft would shutdown the computer if I continued. The caller (caller ID on my phone screen was 5666) had a bad Indian accent. He then asked me to start looking at my computer files starting with the ‘Microsoft key + letter R’. It opened the DOS window…then cmd…Then I hung up the phone. He tried to call back twice and I did not answer… He did not leave a message…needless to say.
This happened May 8th 2015 at about 1pm.
Hope this helps,
Louis
Thursday, 23rd, April 2015 at 04:44
4/22/2015:
They have been calling me in Arizona. East Indian calling themselves American-type names. One guy tried to pass off as a relative of mine!
The first time around telephone number they gave me was 845-262-3348. I reported them immediately to the Attorney General’s office.
I have been keeping logs when they call. If you hear from The Windows Technical Department, call Attorney General in your state. Call the authorities! You will be protecting someone else too.
This last time I told “my newly found relative” (ha, ha) that I reported him to the Attorney General’s office. Line disconnected immediately. Are we surprised?
Saturday, 14th, March 2015 at 16:31
I had this call, and being retired with nothing else to do, I went along with the caller. I played hard of hearing, typing incorrectly, anything I could do to take up his time, keeping him from scamming someone else. At the 35 minute mark, he began to get irritated and said he thought I was wasting his time. I said of course I was. He then flew into a rage telling me what he would do to my grandson, of which I have none. Saying I thought he liked boys, I also told him I was recording the call and would be sending it to the FBI. He then screamed something I could not understand and hung up. Chalk up another win for the good guys!
Friday, 27th, February 2015 at 14:53
I have just had a call from an indian woman advising that somebody was trying to hack into my computer, I asked for her tel. no. and she proceeded to put me onto her manager who gave me 02081444201 she wanted me to give her a number that was entered onto my computer I asked her if she sent it to me she should have it. I have called the number and left a message to advise I know its a scam and I will be contacting the police
Saturday, 21st, February 2015 at 21:46
I’ve been getting calls from a guy with an Indian accent and this same scam. Most of the time it’s “Windows Technical Support”, or “The technical support department at Windows”, once it was “the Windows Corporation” calling. This is all the same guy. More than once I’ve told him I use a Mac (which I do, BTW), and was assured this didn’t matter! Different calls have included “you’ve already paid for this support, so please let us help you” and one variation (clearly the same voice) in which they were trying to get information so they could send me a refund.
Saturday, 21st, February 2015 at 15:20
I just got that same call, and chastised the caller for calling me at 8am, when I was still sleeping. He went on with his script and I asked for a number to call back…he continued with the script, and I interrupted him saying, “Look dude, you’re talking to a cop.” Suddenly the phone was disconnected.
Had to look it up just for grins, and can see my suspicions were valid. Spidey senses still working.
Saturday, 7th, February 2015 at 15:16
Just got a call like this at work with my elderly patient. Same Indian accent lady wanting me to log on and download what she was telling me. I asked her name and ID # I got Susanna and #8005. Really? I told her let me check her credentials and hung up. No return call yet lol
Monday, 8th, December 2014 at 12:24
They’ve been calling non stop and each time they tried to fool us but this one time I got on the phone and literary played along. I did what they told me to do. They told me its about an issue regarding invisible junk mail and I should press the Windows icon button and the letter R ( as they explained it with would romeo haha” as soon as I said yes I did that they asked and what do you see on your computer ? I started to dramatically explain how everything went black and how all my folders and icons are gone ..the background as well. It’s all blank I said.. they kinda freaked out due the intensity I confronted them about . I kept yelling what did you do ? What did you do with my computer and they reached me from one man to another anandach one of them was either a supervisor or a technical engineer but I kept telling that they crashed my computer and that I’m calling the police. Suddenly this one guy got really scared and begged tons of times to not do this but I kept saying that I have the ID and that they will get a report on the police as of right now since I’m recording the entire conversation. He Didn’t stopped begging to not do this and that he is sorry ( he repeated himself twenty times) my last words were you should be because now the police is coming. Before I busted out in laughter I hang up. They are ridiculous. Do not trust Amy calls like that and do scare them they can’t do anything about it.
Thursday, 20th, November 2014 at 10:00
Received a call at 730am after receiving several all week. I have told them I do not have a computer but they insist on ringing me. I know this is a scam as my computer is not mine but from work!!!
They are so pushy and persistent that even I started to believe them.
JUST KEEP PUTTING THE PHONE DOWN
Monday, 20th, October 2014 at 08:51
Just received one of these calls (8.45 am)- Indian woman who I could not understand so she got an Indian guy to call me back. He sounded very plausible with call centre noises in the background and gave a reasonable excuse as to why the number he was calling from (09517 420857) could not be called back – he said he was from Windows Technical Desk. I’ve suggested he called back when I was less busy. Upon investigation I now see this is a s cam.
Friday, 10th, October 2014 at 12:27
10/10/2014 just received a call, I am located in France but am english, from an asian woman with a strong accent and not a good grasp of english so I offered to speak in french, thinking it was a french commercial caller but she said she couldn’t speak french. She said she was from Windows maintenance department and wanted me to go to my computer and follow her instructions as my computer had been sending signals and I needed help to correct the problem!!! I asked her name and where was she calling from, Elisha from London City was her reply. I asked for her phone number, she said “I cant do that,please go to your computer”, I said no, sorry but I am not doing that and I closed the call, no further calls but I googled as I wanted to check and I see, as I thought, I am one of many to receive this sort of scam call. In this present twisted world we have to keep well awake. . .
Friday, 10th, October 2014 at 16:57
Hello there, just got the same call, they woke me up telling me to go to he computer, I was half asleep they said they would call back in an hour which they did but during that time I found all this info on this scam, they were quite rude, I wasted their time for a while talking and asking questions, and I just hung up, there was no way I would turn my computer on, yes we are living in a scary world
Thanks for all the comments
Mike in Dallas
Wednesday, 15th, October 2014 at 17:19
Hi there,
I just received one of these call. I told them to give me my licence number and he spouted of a long number and I told him he was wrong. He persisted in telling me I didn’t know the number! I told him Microsoft windows wouldn’t have my number and they wouldn’t call. He didn’t really like my comments!
Saturday, 15th, November 2014 at 12:46
i have had them ringing me with the same asked where they got my number and that said from windows. blow my top and he said was a stupid cow i told him to f… off and was going to report him. 5 phone calls hoping that the last . it should be stopped
Wednesday, 1st, October 2014 at 00:41
Received a call from someone with an Indian accent stating he was from Windows Technical Support. I asked for his phone number so I could call him back. He indicated his number is 866-336-1885 and his name is Kyle Jarvis (not even close to an Indian name). Also asked for his security ID and he gave me 0101ENE042. I called from a different phone and low and behold he answered stating he was from Windows Support. Not sure he’s legitimate but claimed I have a virus on one of my computers. Strange my computers are working just fine. ugh!!
Wednesday, 1st, October 2014 at 09:10
These calls are a scam, they are just phoning people at random using numbers they have harvested from telephone directories. They have no access to your computer, unless you follow their instructions and download remote access software to allow them access. Don’t do it.
If you are worried that your computer might have a virus, scan it with a legitimate virus checker from a reputable security company.
Monday, 22nd, September 2014 at 15:54
I just received phone call from an East Indian man telling me he was calling from Windows 35. I asked him “Do you what time it is?” He said yes mam it is morning. It was 7:06 am. He said my computer has downloaded a virus and it would keep getting worse each day, but he could tell me how to fix it and could I go in front of my computer. I told him I didn’t believe he was from windows and argued he was. I asked him what my name was and he said my name. I then told him I hadn’t been downloading anything and there was no way I had a virus on my computer and also if there was a problem I would have gotten a message from Webroot. He asked how would you get a message? I said ON MY COMPUTER!
He then just kept asking me if I could be in front of my computer right now and I said no. He said can you or can’t you be in front of your computer right now and I said no I can’t and hung up. The number was 956-702-8570 Laredo, TX.
Thursday, 4th, September 2014 at 10:45
I have just had a call from a whithheld number from ‘Technical Support of your computer, m’am’ (that’s what the guy said LoL). The guy spoke in an Indian accent and interestingly enough he did not know my name, nor was he bothered about my name, just whether I have a computer or a laptop with Windows OS. So, I played along for a while, but before typing anything he wanted me to type I said
OK, before we start, could I please have your company name and company registration number in the UK or England.
He could not answer that question. The call was ended when I asked to speak to his manager 🙂
What a surprise!
Wednesday, 3rd, September 2014 at 15:16
I received a phone call couple of days back from them (Technical Department for Windows). I played along and did whatever she asked. Phone no, Name, License id everything she say’s matches. Then she said they need access to my computer and asked me to go to a site, I said something like IE is displaying error – “Page not found” or “No Internet connection..”. She asked are you connected to internet (I am not even in front of my machine), I said I only connect to interent when I go to Starbucks. But somehow I convince her that I will call her when I am at Starbucks next time and she gave her number – 480-376-8907. By the way her accent is Indian (I am an Indian too).
Saturday, 23rd, August 2014 at 10:59
After two days of running them around, I finally told them I would buy an iPad because of all these viruses and ditch my old pc. They were upset and old me that these viruses also attacked the iPad. Put the phone down.
Thursday, 14th, August 2014 at 15:50
1530 on 14th August ’14 received phone call from Windows Technical Department London. When I showed doubt the caller put me on to Royston his senior supervisor who gave his number as 02081441477 and after much time trying to persuade me to switch on my computer (I had just turned it off!) asked me to call him back. Both voices were male, Indian type and polite and understanding! I have not called them and do not intend to do so after reading these blogs. Thank you for posting them.
Tuesday, 5th, August 2014 at 14:36
8/5/14 9am Received a call from unknown 4 digit number on cid. Male Indian accent, said name was . Mike something calling from Windows Technical Support. Claimed he was calling in regards to my Windows computer and that each time I went on line I was vulnerable to spying and was downloading malware onto all my systems. Asked me to go to computer. I told him I was busy and would call him back. He persisted in asking why I was to busy. I said it was personal. He gave me a non working number with 207 area code.
If he calls back, I plan on having my boyfriend from Calcutta give him some sweet talk!!!
Friday, 25th, July 2014 at 11:48
This is pretty amasing, I had my first call last year some time and not knowing this lot, gave them access to my computer. Eventually when I realised it was a money making scam said that I will get local advice under which a message came onto my screen that my computer will crash in a psecific amount of days. Amasingly it did…. I believe it must be some virus that they import (if that is possible) or purely co-incidence. Yesterday and today I have had 4 calls of a similar nature and once you tell them you are not intereted they jut put the phone down. I even asked the one person what country he is calling from and he simply put the phone down. For ure they are not gunna get acces again but their call are a real pain in the butt!!!!
Tuesday, 22nd, July 2014 at 01:39
I received a phone call twice on my cell phone (THEY ARE PERSISTANT).
Says he is from the IT department @ MicrosoFt. Since the # came up UNKNOWN I asked him for HIS phone # (long pause).
This is the # he gave me***BUT I WOULD NOT CALL IT… *** 818-666-4018***
TOLD ME IS NAME IS James – (Heavy Indian Accent) Again, he is calling from the IT department @ Microsoft.
He asked me if I am aware that my Microsoft account has had several attempted hacking
Wanted me to login to my computer. LOL. – “RED FLAG”!
I told him if he knows enough INFO to call me he should call me on my home phone # . then he asked me for my home phone #.
I HUNG UP.
I am familiar with logme in. nice try moron!
I ONLY WISH I COULD POST THIS ON ANOTHER WEBSITE TO WARN OTHERS.?
Friday, 18th, July 2014 at 15:36
Been getting these calls on my home/office phone for a week now. The last one got out of hand. He asked me if I remembered him. I of course said, “No, and stop calling this number.” He called me a liar and an intense screaming match started. Basically, if you’ve seen Punch Drunk Love, it was like Sandler’s phone call with Phillip Seymour Hoffman with few threats of actual violence.
Saturday, 19th, July 2014 at 00:41
Have rec’d 2 of these this week. Both times I’ve just walked around the house acting as if I was following their directions. When they asked “What do you see?” I replied, “I see you in jail and do you know what they do to you at night in jail?” I told the first guy he needs to get up and walk out, that he spent all that money and effort to get to the US and he’s going to end up in jail, with other men. For a long time.” The first guy became very quiet. The second guy said some terrible obscene things, and I said “That’s what they’re going to make you do in jail”
So tired of scammers.
Thursday, 17th, July 2014 at 15:49
LOL. I just got one this morning. I’m a web developer and I asked if they work for Microsoft. It went downhill from there. Too funny.
Saturday, 12th, July 2014 at 11:09
Yep just had another string of these calls. They’ve been going on for years. I just interrupt them and tell them firmly that everyone in this part of the world is aware of their scam and hang up. My wife just hangs up. Hello? silence… hang up.
Saturday, 5th, July 2014 at 15:15
I get about one call a week…usually a male Indian…though today it was a female from the “Technical Dept. of Windows.” The “Windows” designation is always used. I curtailed the call 10 seconds in and tell them to put me on their DNC list…which I know doesn’t exist. I just hang up, because like most point out, you can’t understand them. I’m in FL. I’m to the point I tell them to “f— off”…since they’re wasting my time and I never asked for their call. I never confirm/deny any requests (even simple ones) over the phone…though somehow they have my first name.
Thursday, 26th, June 2014 at 18:23
Was able to block this number for 90 days on my phone. Hopefully will stop the midnight calls! Very tired of them calling. When I tried to return the call to see who it was it came up as a non-working number.
Thursday, 26th, June 2014 at 18:14
Ditto. Have been getting phone calls from the same scam at all hours of day and night. Refuse to answer and finally they called at midnight and got me out of bed. Went on line to find out who this is. Thanks for all the info. Hanging up doesn’t stop them from calling back.
Friday, 20th, June 2014 at 00:34
I just had this call a few minutes ago. A male called my home phone number. He was very heavily accented, perhaps Arabian or Indian. I could not understand him because of how thick his accent was so unfortunately I missed who he claimed to be calling from (company name) but I was able to catch that his name was “Alex”.
There was not very much that he said that I could understand but I asked him what this was about and he said that he was calling about my Windows 7 computer (I don’t know if this is a generic thing that they use or not) and I asked again what it was about.
He said that they were “receiving” something (I again could not understand him well enough to be able to say what they were supposed to have been ‘receiving’) from my Windows 7 computer.
He proceeded to continue to say a few more things that I did not understand because of his accent. The only part that was clear was that he had said something about my computer crashing at any moment and then asked if I was aware of this.
I said that I was not aware.
He then asked if I was sitting in front of my computer so that he could assist me with fixing the problem or ????? (I do not know what the or was. As I’ve mentioned a few times previously, his accent was very thick.)
When he was finished speaking, I told him “You know what, I actually don’t need help.” He seemed to be confused by that, saying “Oh?” and he said something else too but I couldn’t understand. I hung up and then went straight to Facebook to alert my friends and family, then took to Google to see if I could find the name of the company or his name specifically, involved in any of the scams so that I could add detail to my Facebook warning and so far this is the first article I have found!
It FELT like a scam though. I have never known any American, Canadian, or even British computer company to call you if something is going on with your computer, usually you have to call them.
Just in case anyone is wondering, I am from California, USA.
Friday, 30th, May 2014 at 20:41
I just received this call (I’m in Nevada, USA) and came in to my computer afterwards to search for scams or info under the name “Windows Technical Department.” Grateful to find plenty of info right here.
A “Peter Watson” with broken English and terminology that was slightly off was calling me. In the background I could hear the call center with a lot of noise, including someone calling, “Hello?! Hello!? HELLO!?!?!?”
“Peter” kept repeating that he was calling from Windows Tech Dept. and when I asked if he worked at Microsoft he replied that of course Microsoft couldn’t call me themselves, so they had their department call me. “We are calling each and every Windows customer who are experiencing problems..” I listened for awhile because I actually have been experiencing problems, but haven’t called anyone about it; then I told him I couldn’t access computer because I was picking up my children from school (he didn’t seem to understand this and kept asking me to find a button on my computer.) Eventually I hung up.
I sure hope folks aren’t taken in by this four-plus-year-old scam.
Tuesday, 27th, May 2014 at 21:41
I received a call today too from “Technical Department of Windows 35” and it was a male with a heavy Indian accent too. The number he called from was 989-683-2639. He told me that my computer was infected with a virus and that he was going to help me get rid of it. I told him that all my computers were clean and that I took care of them and that he probably had the wrong number.
He said,
“no sir, we have the right number. Your name is Brian and you live at 22…(gave me an address, cant remember it), and your number is ********** ”
I told him,
“Ok now I know you REALLY have the wrong number. First of all my name is not Brian, no one with the name of Brian even lives here. Second, that is not even my address, I don’t even live in the city you mentioned, and third the number you just gave isn’t the one youre calling, you’re off by one number.”
He then insisted it was the right number because the “license ID” they had was to my computer. So then I asked where he was calling from again, and I did a google search right away (I was already on my laptop when he called) and saw a bunch of complaints so I knew this was a scam. Plus I’m very good with my computers so I knew it was BS. But I told him
“All right how do you know your license id matches mine”. Just to see where he would take me.
He then gave me instructions on how to check it. He took me to command prompt and gave me a command to type . It was something “ass..” I cant remember it. Then he asked if the third to last line matched the license id he gave me (00C04FD7D062), I told him no (even though it did). He kept telling me which line to look at and I kept saying yeah it doesn’t match. Then I told him if I could ask him a question. He got excited thinking it was about what he was telling me to do but I asked him if it this was a scam because I just googled “Technical Department of Windows 35” and the word scam pops up everywhere. He told me that it absolutely wasn’t and that the people that were saying it was probably had bad experience and that there were always 2 sides to a story. I told him that I appreciated him looking out for my computers but I didn’t need his help because I probably knew more about my computers than he did. Then he said I was going to regret not getting help because my computer was eventually going to die and be worhtless. I told him I was ok with that. THEN THE FUNNIEST PART was when he said that he was going to send my “license Id” to the “technical department of windows” so they can shut my computer down and stop all activity on it. I knew he didn’t have the knowledge and power to do that so I told him to go ahead and do that, then he hung up.
My computer still works perfectly fine. 🙂
Tuesday, 27th, May 2014 at 05:16
I got the call today. First, I couldn’t quite understand him. Second, after I figured out that he said WINDOWS TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT… I said my windows look fine! He said, “no, windows on the computer.” I said, “I don’t have windows on the computer, but there is a screen.”
Monday, 26th, May 2014 at 19:06
Yes this did just happen. What in the world haha. It was hilarious because of how obvious it was. I too, played along with the call pretending to do what they were asking. I told him, “yes we have been experiencing some issues and thank you for taking the initiative.” He then told me to press the four flags key (windows key) follow by the letter R. I knew what this would bring up so I pulled it up and they told me to enter a code. The code was “eventvwr”. Obviously I did not type this in. I kept telling them an error popped up when trying to type it in. They said repeat what we said back. I kept repeating it with one letter off so they started yelling at me in their Indian accents. He then told me I would be connected to a supervisor where I proceeded to do the same thing, switching one letter around. It was a cute attempt for whoever these people are.
Monday, 26th, May 2014 at 19:07
Also. The Indian man told me his name was “Jack Matthew”. …..hahahahahaha this had me almost in tears.
Thursday, 22nd, May 2014 at 04:14
just got another one – I knew it was a scam and got no where with the foreign speaking person. Let the machine pick up all calls.
Thursday, 8th, May 2014 at 18:35
I played along with the last call. He passed on to a “supervisor” who proceeded to try to get access to my computer. I played the part of someone who doesn’t know much about computers for awhile. Finally he told me to press the 4 flag windows logo and “R”. I just pretended to do it (didn’t even have my computer turned on) and told him nothing happened. He had me try it 2 or 3 more times. I asked if I needed to take my computer into a shop to be fixed. He said to load my browser and type http://www.connectpc.me I said nothing happened and asked “Aren’t you connected to my computer?” He said he wasn’t. So I reminded him that he said they were receiving critical error messages from my computer on their server so couldn’t they access it from the server? He hung up.
Usually I talk to them long enough for them to feel comfortable and not hang up right away. Then I quickly tell them “Jesus said that a thief will not make it into the gates of heaven.” At this point they hang up but at least they’ve heard the truth.
Saturday, 17th, May 2014 at 15:53
May 16 2014 – I got a call from these clowns this AM to my home in Maine USA. I strung them along for a while – I kept asking for the name of their company and “Is this a Microsoft company?”
Tuesday, 6th, May 2014 at 04:31
Hi, I too received a phone call today supposedly from windows support from West Virginia; I played along for a while since I was aware that this was probably a scam up until the point when they said that they needed to accsess my computer and conecnet it with theirs.
both men had very strong accents which seem to be Hindi or Pakistani.
I just one to recommend everyone to make sure to keep updating your computer with the lateset viris protection. Lets all work together to stop these criminals!Take care.
Wednesday, 30th, April 2014 at 10:41
They have now called me four times. The first time they said that they were representing “Knowhow” saying that the license on my new laptop had expired and for £244 they can issue a new license and stop malware from getting onto my computer.
The second time was 12 March 2014, this time they said the they were asked by Virgin Media and the Virgin Media had noticed a problem with my computer and had asked them to contact me to sort it out, and again they asked for £244, I told them that I couldn’t afford that, they came back saying that they can do it for £166 I told them again that I couldn’t afford that, they cam back again and said that they could do it for half that price, I again told them that I couldn’t afford it, then they said well how much can you afford. Alarm bells started ringing, but by this time they had got onto my computer and were working on it, I told them to stop and get off my computer but they kept trying to get me to pay something, anything. I finally got them off my computer and thought that that would be the last of it,
Yesterday 29 April 2014 they phoned me again, this time they said that they were working for Windows technical department and that Windows had again noticed a problem with my computer and wanted to get onto my computer again, I told that that I didn’t have time at that moment because I was going out in a few minutes, they said that they would call me back in half an hour, I said no because I didn’t know what time I would be back home, so I asked them for the name of the company and their phone number and I would phone them back when I got home. They wouldn’t tell me. More alarm bells.
They called me again this morning 30 April 2014 at 10am again saying that they were from Windows, I told them again that I was due to go out and again they said that they would call back in half an hour, again I said no because I would be out for most of the day, again I asked for their the name of the company and their phone number, again they refused to give it to me, but I did manage to get the reps name which was Lisa, which could be anyone’s name. They said that they will call me back tomorrow 1 May 2014, can’t wait.
I have reported these attempts of fraud to the police on the last two occasions, and I will be calling them again today to update them.
Monday, 28th, April 2014 at 22:25
I just got a call from them a few minutes ago. Came up showing private name/number on my caller ID today but a few days ago when they called it showed as Shared Exchange DM & My mom also said that shes seen it come up as Los Angles, CA. Anyways for the call I got today they had actually specifically asked for me. How they got my name I have no clue but I told them to please hold. I just happened to be at my comp and had itunes open so when I told the guy to hold I picked a song hit play & jacked up the volume on my comp & in itunes. We have tried telling them in the past that we are on the no call list but we still keep getting calls and when we ask them which windows computer since we have 4-5 working computers in our house between desktops & laptops they are talking about they cant tell us that
Monday, 28th, April 2014 at 23:03
All they have is your name and phone number, which has been listed in a public directory at sometime. The rest is just fishing, they have no idea of what computers you have, so just tell them you have a Mac and see what happens… 😉
Wednesday, 23rd, April 2014 at 11:15
I’ve just received a phone call from supposedly Windows Technical department, I ask for Address and company phone number etc..he said 21 Elbar Street! I asked him, is that company related to Microsoft or not! no answer and closed the phone…
Friday, 18th, April 2014 at 08:06
Just got a call a few minutes ago. I asked him where he was from and he replied that he was working from a Windows office in Melbourne. Idiot should have known that Good Friday is a public holiday.
Wednesday, 16th, April 2014 at 00:37
Received several calls throughout the day with no caller ID and for most, no one said anything, but this evening a Indian/Pakistani voiced male said he was “Frank” the computer “tech” calling about the computer running “Windows”. When I asked which computer, he replied the computer running “Windows” when I, again, asked which computer, his reply was “the Windows, Windows, Windows, Windows computer. Do you have more than one? When I indicated I did and asked that these calls cease, he said “I will call everyday.” When I threatened calling the FCC, he replied “Fine, you want to talk you can talk all day.”
Tuesday, 8th, April 2014 at 06:47
I’m in Australia and have just had a call from Nicole Anderson (why do so many Indians have anglo names?) at this number 0872001191. I’ve had a few calls this week, have tried various responses, but really can’t be bothered to do more than tell them to sod off.
I did tell one caller that I knew it was a scam-she got most indignant & told me that it was not them, and that the police had arrested the scammers.
Tuesday, 8th, April 2014 at 08:01
There has been one high profile arrest but, sadly, there are plenty more still active. Please take care.
Monday, 7th, April 2014 at 15:27
Hi
Had one from a VERY RUDE Jessica (Indian accent) on Friday 4th April and again today on Friday she was calling from England and today she was from USA (windows technical centre) she objected to all my questions and enquiries and became more and more rude, her command of English swear words and insults was very good and knew how best to insult. Her number came up as 09999100564 and when I asked for her boss she said she was the manager and owner and told me to F— off and left me in peace, I do not think I will hear from her again.
Friday, 4th, April 2014 at 00:49
I just received the same call a few minutes ago. When I told the worker, sounds like from India, that I will call him back because I am going to call Microsoft and check. He said that they are a partner of Microsoft and Microsoft did not tell to call but they push these calls to the Technical Main Dept of Microsoft. The claimed they get my information from Microsoft yet, he had the incorrect operating system. This is sketchy and I would not allow these people on my system. Such a scam!!. I am in the software technical software business and will never calls customers like this but if there is a bug, we will push it out via updates. The number provided was 201-588-3343 but the actual number that showed on my caller id was for John Kendal 347-753-9068
Thursday, 3rd, April 2014 at 20:02
I, just received this same call again today, would not give any information, asked what state he was in, company name, phone number to call back etc. number on caller ID is 989-621-5106 says MT Pleasant Mi. I have informed local police and have had that number blocked from my phone.
Tuesday, 1st, April 2014 at 12:28
I get these calls in Belgium about every other day (they don’t give up). If I have the time I have a bit of fun; but when it’s 7.00 a.m. when they ring they tend to learn a few new English words. However, they are definitely raising their game. After I’d strung this morning’s call along for about ten minutes, I was handed over to a Supervisor (“Peter Jackson” – honestly). He was a new breed and I’m sure could be very convincing if this was your first instruction to this scam. I don’t think is going to go away, but it is going to get more professional as they learn to be less naive in their calls. Be careful.
Saturday, 29th, March 2014 at 17:40
March 2014,
I received several calls this month from an Indian sounding man who said he was with the Windows Technical Dept. He wanted me to type in eventvwr into my computer to “fix”. He said his name was Chris Rogers. We asked for an employee number and he said ch02312 and gave the number 1-302-261-9242. He was a total scam, very scary. Be on the watch for such calls.
Sunday, 16th, March 2014 at 21:10
hi i full with them and the clean my credit and the said the are calling from Washington and all of them its Indian i call 3 time and talk to them that’s the phone number 12024554912 steel working and the well answer the calls
Wednesday, 12th, March 2014 at 18:32
A guy named Pattrick called me saying that he’s calling me from Technical Department of Windows Operating system and claimed about the problems in my computer. After showing the EVENTVWR he took access of my computer and had done a scan of my computer and for fixing the problem he asked for $279. When I asked him about the company name then the guy told me that he belongs to India from South End PC Solution. After knowing all the truths I hung the call.
Thursday, 13th, March 2014 at 18:45
Got same calls one from NY 212-789-4564 and one from Saxton Lank A 302-365-6856
Monday, 10th, March 2014 at 08:30
Just received a call from an Indian woman, claiming to be from “Windows 35 Tech Support” same story, malicious data blah b;ah. its is 9:30pm and I received such a call? immediately was sceptical so told her not to bother and hung up.
Friday, 7th, March 2014 at 09:40
Well – it is now hitting New Zealand. Got a phone call at 10:00pm tonight – from the “Certified Windows Technical Company” to tell me that my computer was dowmloading malware and..” bad things” as we speak. I have had this exact phone call before and asked him a few routine question… Where exactly are you calling from..” I have told you sir – the OFFICIAL Windows Technical Support Company”…. Where are you ? ” Our GLOBAL support centre in London”..( now I have just spent 9 years living and working in London) ..so..I asked .OK So EXACTLY WHERE in London? His response! Brilliant ” IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS SIR!!!” So I called him a dickhead and told him I was running Ubantu/ Linux environment and would never use Microsoft because they funded the Nazi Party in 1934 ( Both lies by the way…) and he just came back straight and said that I must have “errorly installed windows which was downloading viruses..” …Then told him I am an IT Ethical Hacker that works in Internet and DNS security for NZ Government Agencies ( Lies of course but what the hell right? ) .. To which he said ” Sir this is not your business!!! You MUST follow my instructions NOW to stop your blah blah blah”. I asked how he knew that my machine was downloading malicious malware ( like is there some other kind???)and he said it was showing on his “traffic report”!!! So Long story short, I called him a scamming CUNT. The phone went silent for about 3 seconds then he hung up on ME!!! HA HA HA!! I Win I think!! 🙂
Wednesday, 19th, February 2014 at 01:18
Received a call from Indian accented male who claimed to be from windows technical department. He stated I had a virus infecting my computer. His call back # was 543-21. Since I was at work I told him to call back at 8pm. I called my tech dept at work who stated this is a scam. When they called back I asked for a their phone # he gave the following 209 753-4599. When I called the party answered windows technical dept.
Saturday, 1st, March 2014 at 15:41
I just hung up on the woman who called today. I have blocked two numbers on my phone, but now they call with “private caller” showing up on caller ID. I did get the name “windows technical dept.” today, which is how I found this page. It is highly annoying. If you hang up, they call back and get ugly. I would ignore calls that say private caller as an ID, except I have an ill family member and sometimes doctors will use that to conceal their home phone numbers.
Tuesday, 11th, February 2014 at 16:47
Just received this call at the Tax Company I work for. As soon as he said Tech-knee-cul department of Windows, I hung up on him.
Thursday, 30th, January 2014 at 10:36
Just had one. My phone said International and i was going to ignore it. I did that the other day and luckily the guy started to leave me a message. He was a genuine person wanting me to do some consultancy work for him, so I am glad i got him. This time i answered and it was good old technical and Maintenance Department of Windows Operating System. Usually “international” means “waste of time”
Thursday, 30th, January 2014 at 10:12
Still happening – just got a call , was going to launch a virtual machine and let him connect , but was too busy – in the end he called me a a$$hole and asked me if I knew that ! Can nothing be done to block all calls from India – i don’t need them !
Sunday, 26th, January 2014 at 22:33
I’ve been in this new house three months and have received 3 of these calls so far.Last one gave me his address as:
8 South Rd 69
3 Oscar St
Australian
The phone number was bogus as well.
Friday, 24th, January 2014 at 12:33
Got a call this morning from Windows 35 Technical Support at 6:47 EST. They were calling from New Zealand. Caller ID says 326-172-0000.
Monday, 20th, January 2014 at 11:24
Just had a phone call from Paul Victor from Safenoid IT Solutions, telephone number 0203 278 9902.
Paul was a nice Indian speaking chap who informed me that he was part of the Windows Technical Support Group. They are based in London. He did give me his address which was 25 Collvile Square Gardens in London.
He proceeded to tell me that hackers were trying to get in to my system and he had identified this. I asked him what the weather was like to which he replied 2 Degrees Celsius and then hung up….
I was very upset as was just starting to make a new friend and have a nice chat with Paul 🙂
You have got to hand it to them, they never give up…..
safenoid.com is registered through godaddy.com to Poras Singh Rajput. Wonder if they have any issues with hackers??
Monday, 20th, January 2014 at 10:44
just had a phone call, I said if I can have your name and phone number and I will phone back if this is genuine. he hung up. Please be aware of this.
Monday, 13th, January 2014 at 11:00
Be aware that the fraud has started again. I have had 9 calls in a week and am running out of expletives to use
Friday, 27th, December 2013 at 14:53
I just spent an entertaining half an hour stringing these guys along and winding them up. Asking for their company’s head office address really stumped them. An address in London UK is not going to have a 5 number zip code for a start and you’d expect the address to be the same from each person. One guy got so wound up he was yelling down the phone, then I could hear him saying to himself, ‘Calm down, calm down, stay calm, stay calm’ The second one told me I was ‘a very unpleasant person’. Really, if these guys are genuine they really need to work on their customer service skills. Why they didn’t give up after the first couple of minutes baffles me. Anyway I had better finish quickly as apparently my computer ‘will be blocked in two hours and no-one will ever be able to use that computer again’ and the time is nearly up.
Saturday, 4th, January 2014 at 07:37
I received the same call today from an Indian woman. I knew something was up when she could not tell me what the technical errors were that was supposed to have been reported. I even have the telephone number from which they called. 004034343113
Friday, 13th, December 2013 at 08:44
They gave the number 3152151158 (315) 215-1158 and email windows.microsoft@virtual.com
They stole $464 Western Union using my father’s identity today. I am putting every effort to identify and prosecute them. Local Police, Western Union, Visa, The bank, The Department of Justice, The Federal Trade Commission, FBI, LogMeIn Rescue, and virtual.com are all investigating, and I am following up with the cases. They will regret this.
Friday, 13th, December 2013 at 13:34
just had the same call 13/12/2013.Windows Tec dept. 16 Hanover London. Didn’t fall for the scam. google the address its a massive con. I’m going to call local papers, make people aware
Wednesday, 4th, December 2013 at 16:09
Received a phone call from a man today with an Indian accent, which i could not understand. supposedly, he was from main department of microsoft in san francisco, california. he told me that my computer was sending their office messages and that my computer was infected with malware and he needed my computer iD. I hung up on him one time and then he called back. he kept going on that my computer was sending messages and that he needed to access my computer. i asked to speak to his supervisor. some other man also with an indian accent was put on the phone but i couldn’t get anywhere with him either. the other guy came back to the phone and he told me that he was going to deactivate my windows license. no way when windows was installed on my computer when i purchased it. i am so frustrated and upset over this phone call. the first guy finally hung up, calling me a f****** idiot.
Wednesday, 4th, December 2013 at 16:50
I have also found that they can become abusive if you question them. Fortunately the only thing they really know about you is your name in the phone book, sadly there is no easy way to block their calls.
Friday, 15th, November 2013 at 07:28
I received a call from these guys earlier today,Indian voice, from windows technical dept. He couldn’t answer how he got my information but kept repeating the same thing. I said call later. Same Indian voice called later 4 times back to back from 1253429c454. I asked questions on how they got my information again no answer just repeated same thing. I said do not call me back and they didn’t.
Monday, 22nd, June 2015 at 20:47
I have been scammed by these people. I was not computer savvy enough to know this was a scam. They managed to get $300 out of me AND my bank account info. Needless to say, I figured it out, closed all my bank accounts and opened new ones, changed all my user id’s and passwords, and took my laptop into Geek Squad and had my hard drive wiped. My bank disputed the charge and I got my money back. Then I had to change all my on-line accounts and monthly deductions. Long story short, they continue to call me at least twice a month trying to get into my computer. I keep telling them I WILL NOT give them access, I am not interested, know it’s a scam, and to stop calling me. They always hang up, but continue to call. I have had calls from “James”, “Alex”, “Mike” and a few others. Getting sick of these calls. It does come up on caller ID as Private, but I have also been called via Skype. So look out one and all.
Thursday, 14th, November 2013 at 09:38
Just received a phone call – usual indian accent from “Windows Technical Department”. He had my name and address which concerned me. I have had these in the past and they happened to catch me at home (every day there is a blank message on my answer machine – probably them). I said which company do you work for and he said “Windows Technical Department and gave me an address in London(!) as though that should make me feel better. I said that is not a company name, let me look you up on the internet and then I found this page and started to read out the comments (why not it is there money and I had some spare time). Amazingly he just stayed on and as I was getting bored I just told him that I build my own PCs I know everything I need to know about them and he should put the phone down (he didn’t so I did). The number that came up on my caller ID was:
01800180200
Tuesday, 12th, November 2013 at 17:30
I received a call this morning telling me they were from Microsoft Internet Support and that I was downloading infected sites and that they needed me to get in front of my computer so they could correct the problem. I told them I was not interested and hung up the phone. They did not call back. What puzzles me is that they knew my name. The caller did have an Indian accent. I figured it was a scam, because it made no sense for Microsoft to contact me about infections on my computers. That is what antivirus programs are for. Microsoft could care less if I had computer problems. It amazes me how people spend their time trying to access other people’s personal information. Finally, I could hear other people in the background talking on the phone.
Tuesday, 5th, November 2013 at 13:23
Has anyone wonder what will happen is you play along with a Microsoft ‘tech support’ scam? Read this and find out, it is not nice.
Wednesday, 2nd, October 2013 at 11:32
I get sometimes 4 calls a day!
Sure it is a scam and I am trying to gather intelligence on the scammers. I take names and email addresses. I even got a telephone number for their London office (02085331503).
Add whatever you can here. I intend to track them down and bring prosecutions.
Friday, 12th, July 2013 at 00:45
I got that same kind of call. Hard to understand his accent. I told him I have no problem with my computer. He said that I can’t see that someone is hacking into my computer & he was going to fix it. I said, No your Not. He said he would call later when I’m at my computer. Thanks you all for letting me know I’m not the only one & that its a scam.
Wednesday, 10th, July 2013 at 09:31
I also got a call from ‘ Windows Maintenance’ yesterday saying that things were not right with my Windows system and that they wanted to put in a ‘ blocker’ to prevent infection of the system . The man – Indian accent – was very insistent and kept talking for 15 minutes . I asked him to send me an email to explain what he wanted to do – he said it was against their regulations and hung up .
Tuesday, 9th, July 2013 at 11:37
I just received a similar call supposedly from “Windows Technical Department” with all sorts of threats as to what could happen if I did not follow their instructions. They gave me a number so as I could check on their authenticity, 08082802030. As I pretty computer literate I knew that microsoft do not call in this way so, of course I did not do what they asked. Someone less knowledgeable could be easily fooled as thy were very plausible apart from the very heavy Indian accents and the clearly false British names.
Thursday, 4th, July 2013 at 17:20
First received one of these calls about two years but stopped when we got to the request “run” their software. Indian caller is plausible – I’m intermediate skill level so shudder to think how many people get conned. Three more calls in the last two weeks. All from Tech Dept Windows Op System – in California, I was told. First two callers put the phone down when I mentioned their scam, the third one listened almost apologetically to my rant while still insisting no scam.
Monday, 8th, July 2013 at 17:27
Yes, first call today. Claimed they were from Windows Technical support saying they needed to access my computer. Immediately said Windows would not contact by phone. Sounded as though the Lady caller was Indian and the call was from abroad but was unable to get the number on calling 1471 here in the UK. I said this was a fraudulent call and put the phone down.
Thursday, 27th, June 2013 at 19:45
I have been getting these calls for a couple years now. They went on for a while then stopped for many months. But in the last month or 2 have started back up again and I get them nearly every day. Each and every time I tell them not to call back. Most of the time they have asked for my husband but this last time they asked for me. They tried to confirm that I was the ‘registered user’ yet I do not (nor have I ever) registered a computer in MY name. I told them this and that I knew it was a scam of some sort.
When it first happened I called my local police department to see if they knew about this and if it was any kind of serious threat or issue and they said not that they were aware of and there wasn’t currently anything they could do. I guess the best thing to do is try to get my phone number added to a ‘do not call’ list for marketing and hope that it stops the calls 🙁
Saturday, 22nd, June 2013 at 16:00
Had a phone call this afternoon from Kevin who said he was from Windows Technical Dept. he gave me a phone number to ring and told me the address was 16 Hanover Street. I am an OAP and he really frightened me, saying that my computer would crash at any time and told me to switch on my computer and go to ammyy.com which I did but then I really got worried and refused to go any further until I checked things out. He gave me a phone number 02081441094 but when I phoned no one answered. he kept on saying that he could hack into my computer at any time, at which moment I refused to go any further and told him that my husband would deal with it later. I just hope I have not let him into any information.
Thursday, 20th, June 2013 at 09:04
I have had four to date. Just had one five minutes ago. The first one claimed to be from internet computer. The second could not speak English at all. Just kept saying “From Computer internet” in an heavy African accent.the third my brother picked up and unloaded with every curse word he knows. the last one sounded quite serious. Also the first Indian to call.
Thursday, 20th, June 2013 at 09:16
Sounds like the scam is spreading and others are jumping on the bandwagon.
Friday, 14th, June 2013 at 08:02
I received one yesterday (13.6.2013), obviously a spate of them at the moment. Very heavy Indian accent and I could barely understand him. I am always very suspicious with anything like this and told him I would not co-operate. I told him to email me and I would show my son who is in IT. The email said it was from Windows help desk and this is the contents:
Hi mam,
This the windows help desk informing you that the laptop that you are using with the computer license I.d 888CDA60-FCOA-11CF-8FOF-00CC4FD7D062 has been generating error and warming reports to the Microsoft servers.
Our Technician tried you calling and he will help you out by guiding on the phone call to show all the problems, because this problem need to be fixed urgently otherwise it will damage the operating system of yours.
Regards
Ethane Parker
He called me back half hour later (yes VERY persistant!), I told him I would not deal with him until I had spoken with my son. He said he would call back tomorrow, I told him not to bother. Thank you all for your comments which confirm my suspicions. I will now put this on Facebook and be extrememly rude to him if he calls today!!
Wednesday, 12th, June 2013 at 21:03
I just received a call from Mike Roger with Windows Tech Support telling me my computer has been sending in error reports which means I have a trojan virus. He asked me to go to the start button on my computer. At that time I told him I couldn’t reach my computer from this phone. He then wanted my cell number. I asked for his number. He told me I must call him back it is very important so that no one gets into my computer and steals my passwords etc. Very heavy indian accent and supposed phone number 845-666-1019 no extension, but windows id number 4042. I assume a scammer!
Tuesday, 11th, June 2013 at 15:55
Thanks to you all. In my 60’s not very computer literate and received the very same phone call. Asked him to ring back later which gave me time to check and find this page. This is one computer he won’t be getting into!
Saturday, 1st, June 2013 at 04:41
I received a call this evening from PC Richards “Tech Support” asking me about the computer I recently purchased. He was Indian with a heavy thick accent too. He claimed my computer has malware and viruses and he was going to guide me through a process to get rid of them. I questioned him further and he stated that he was with Microsoft wondow support. So I said OH your from Microsoft too? and he said yes. to which I asked him why he said he was from pc richards and he was annoyed with me and very persistant and almost rude pushy about it. I kep telling him i was not interested cuz it was a scam and he was going to get into my computer and he said he was going to show me some tricks that no one knows about to get rid of the ‘new’ viruses that system would never recognize. After going back and forth and he was telling me to go to my computer now..I said no and he was clearly getting nowhere. He became even more persistant..I told him no and hung up on him. He kept going back and forth telling me he was from pc richards then microsoft windows. He clearly did not have my name or personal information AND the number he called from was a skype number.. 478 001 5580. BEWARE! They are persistant, you cn’t hardly understand him with a very very thick indian accent and borderline rude even.
Wednesday, 4th, December 2013 at 16:13
borderline rude…the guy who called me, Peter Hammill, called me a f****** idiot and then hung up on me!
Saturday, 1st, June 2013 at 00:41
Received a call from Windows Tech Dept. on Fri. the 24th of May. Dumb me let them on my computer and 1 hr. after they were finished my credit card co. called about a charge that was made that looked suspicious and of course it was. We cancelled the card so fortunately no harm was done. Now tonight the 30th, I got another call from them. This time I got the name of the guy, phone number to call him back and the # that the call came in on. If anyone is investigating and need the number I would be happy to give it to you.
Thursday, 30th, May 2013 at 22:36
I just received a phone call from them a few minutes ago. I played dumb and told them they would have to wait and talk to my son. They supposedly are calling back later this evening. Thanks for all the comments above.
Wednesday, 29th, May 2013 at 10:45
This morning I received the same call (I live in Spain). The funny thing is that I use ubuntu, not windows, but it seemed like he didn’t care much about this…
Thanks for share this “phone-scam” and greetings from Seville!
Wednesday, 29th, May 2013 at 11:38
I am an Ubuntu user too… 😉
Friday, 24th, May 2013 at 09:11
I got three times the same call, I live in Holland.
When i answers the first call I knew it was scam. In Holland there is a program who warned people.
Thursday, 9th, May 2013 at 09:09
I have had three calls so far from “windows tech support” and they all work the same. Some inaudible indian guy tells me that my computer is infected and asks me to turn it on. He transfers me to someone else who speaks better English who directs me to inspect my file system. Once I am “in the place” he transfers me to a senior tech advisor from “windows” who will help me fix my problem. I go along with it (as slowly as I can to waste their time) and at the point of the sting I ask the man on the phone for his microsoft employee ID. I tell him that I am a software developer for MS and for security reasons I will need his MS ID before I continue… Click! Phone hangs up.
Friday, 10th, May 2013 at 20:12
Just received same call from same Indian who finally got irate as I was asking too many question regarding his credentials.
I recently had my computer reloaded by Dell because of some loading issues with Windows 8. I thought this might have been one of them since I was with them for over 20 hours. I went along until I got to a page that he wanted me to download this program that was suppose to show me what malware etc was there and what it was going to take to get rid of it. I asked if it was going to cost me? He said not if it was a minor problem. This after he told me I had a major problem to get me to this point. I told him I would call Dell, Microsoft, and my Antivirus company first. He became very agrivated, started talking very fast and hung up.
Monday, 13th, May 2013 at 20:06
My caller claimed to be from PC Research in Arizona although my caller ID read “Massachusetts.” It was hard to understand him and I tried to tell him I didn’t need his services. He continued to go on as if it was a matter of national security. Although I told him I was hanging up on him, I could still hear him pleading with me to see my computer.
Wednesday, 15th, May 2013 at 20:06
I’m not as quick as the rest of you. I received a call from an Indian-accented man yesterday claiming to be from the “WINDOWS TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT” telling me I had multiple issues with my computer and that they were receiving error messages indicating my computer was infected. When I hesitated, they went on to explain that my computer was sending error messages and haven’t I noticed it having problems? Well the catch was, and why I fell to the scam, was my computer DID have a major problem month ago when an automatic Windows update wiped out some of my software. After nearly 10 hours of phone interaction with the software companies and MICROSOFT, I got the problem resolved, I thought. So when they called me, I was vulnerable. ANd though I protested that I doubted their authenticity, He took me a website supposedly for some Onetechguys with the phone number I was supposed to call back if I had questions authorized by Microsoft (Obviously a bogus site as I couldn’t find it later)I STUPIDLY went along with their guise. Which they supposedly showed me that I had over 5k of error messages sent all dated and looking very authentic. Then took remote access to my computer and told me my antivirus (NORTON) and some other malware software I use had been reset to being off in the code of the program, even though they showed active and up to date on my screen icons. He ran around all over the computer and then took me to a website that supposedly guarantees all my software and clean up of my computer purchased at a price (nearly $700/lifetime subscription). I (and I regret I got sucked in this far because I have no idea what they may have put on my system) said NO. I was unemployed (which he repeated with an intonation of disbelief) and I couldn’t afford even the $139/year subscription. He hung up. I reloaded virus updates and reran everything to find no issues. I could not find the 5K error messages theoretically on my history somewhere that he showed me. SO obviously the remote access replaces your screen with their preprogrammed crap. However now I’m worried they may have something on my machine.
My mother got the same call. She told them she doesn’t own a computer which was true. they hung up.
Today I got another call saying the same thing. I told them I had already gotten a call and they did a bunch of stuff on my computer and I couldn’t verify afterwards what they showed me. He hung up.
I hope it is only a scam to get you to buy expensive non-existent software coverage and not a virus they are loading onto your computer, but I feel foolish for having fallen to it. Had I not have had trouble recently and had talked to a Microsoft tech recently (initiated by me) I wouldn’t have been so vulnerable. SO BEWARE. HANG UP.
Thursday, 2nd, May 2013 at 12:47
when that guy called me i tried to play along, he told to to hit windowskey-R and type in eventvwr, off course i just played along so didnt do it but when i asked how he got my number as i never gave it to MS he hang up.^^
Saturday, 27th, April 2013 at 11:04
Hi, I have just had the same type of phone call, from an Indian woman, said 93.8% of my computer software was corrupted and that Windows had provided my details to help me sort out the problem. Wanted me to open up a box to show she has my Windows ID. When I challenged and said I couldn’t verify who she was and wanted her number and I would call her after investigating she gave me this number 0151 324 1545.
Beware of these scammers.
Thursday, 18th, April 2013 at 23:06
Received call today. Gentleman with Indian accent would not give me a proper company name or a call back number. I said without this information I could not continue a conversation. He said my information was being broadcasted across the internet. Sorry Charlie. How you would know me, my computer use and then cannot provide any details on who you are…but the scare tactic does have some sway.
Thursday, 18th, April 2013 at 13:22
Ive been getting these calls since last yeah and they are becoming every week now.
it is always the same Indian woman who calls me. when i say that my computer has been unplugged for about a year and a half she becomes confused and reads her lines again .
i become so angry today that i had ago at her and she tried doing her lines again!
i told her to stop ringing me and put the phone down.
i think next time im going to ask a few questions any ideas?
Thursday, 18th, April 2013 at 15:55
Thanks her for phoning and tell her that you have been keeping her on the line while your friend who works in the Fraud Department has been carrying out a trace, then that your friend had gathered all the details they need and will be getting in touch, once they have the arrest warrant… 😉
Wednesday, 17th, April 2013 at 13:44
Maybe the tellows App can help you.
I got spam calls again and again, now it is very helpful to see who is calling me and how other people rate the trustworthy of the number.
See here: http://blog.tellows.co.uk/2013/04/tellows-iphone-app/
Wednesday, 28th, November 2012 at 21:57
I just received a phone call from an Indian man named Steven Parker who claims he works for ”Windows technical department.” He told me that there were malicious files being downloaded to my computer without my knowledge. My husband works with computers and when I told him that we have a anti virus software he said that does not work. Then he gave me a ”computer number” and told me to go to my computer and when I refused he became very angry, and I told him I know nothing of computers he gave me his phone number to call back. 1-229-518-1202.
Tuesday, 27th, November 2012 at 04:30
Just got my 10th one for this year. SO sick of them. I just tell them I don’t have a computer and that they are lying to me… they hang up. Number comes up at 000. Maybe I just tell them I have an apple, so they must be lying! lol
Friday, 16th, November 2012 at 10:48
A woman from “Windows technical department” woke me up this morning calling from 009999100157 and told me my computer was sending error messages, and was “heavily infected”.
There was a mambo jambo about a CLSID and some files, and she asked me to got to my computer – which I of course refused.
When asking for the name of the files and where it’s residing on my computer she told me I was waisting her time, and hung up.
I tried to browse for the location of the phone number with no success but it’s probably India that has country code +091.
Friday, 26th, October 2012 at 19:35
I just recieved a call from someone named Mike Green ( he sounded like he was from overseas) yeah Mike Green! He said he was from Microsoft windows dept. and I had a trojan virus in my computer and he will tell me how to fix it. I began asking questions, how did u get my #, I dont download anything I am not familiar with. I use this computer strictly thru my works VPN. He started getting frustrated with me as I told him I dont have time for this, and please email me. He claimed they dont do that type of thing… HUH??? and will give me my computer #s for verification to him being with Microsoft. I said; I dont have time for this so give me your callback #, he rattled off a 888 # and said you need to call by 7pm. I am glad I went online to research this call.
Wednesday, 31st, October 2012 at 11:54
I’ve just had a call like this. (I can’t really remember the conversation, but it went like this)
“Hello Sir, I’m calling from Windows Technical Department. We have reports that your computer has some errors, are you aware of this issue?”
(At this point, I’m pretty much confident it’s some kind of scam)
Me: Ermm, no. Sorry, I’m not bothered.
“..you’re not bothered about your computer?”
Me: No, my computer’s fine, thanks. Bye. (I hang up)
I feel sorry for the poor souls who fall victim to whatever scam these people are carrying out. Some people won’t be as computer savvy and will just trust these guys who claim to be part of the windows/microsoft company.
ps. The guy had an indian-sounding accent.
Thursday, 4th, October 2012 at 15:04
As of September 2012 they were still going at it. I got a phone call 9/18 from a Chinese or East Asian sounding man claiming to be from “Windows Technical Department” informing me that they had detected viruses on my computer. Since I was home teleworking through secure VPN on my laptop and I know every last one of the tech guys from my job (oh and also am not an idiot) I said that I had no idea how they could possibly know that. At which point he repeated his script “I am calling from Windows Technical Department. How are you?” I strung him along for fun for a minute and then said “yeah I’m done” and hung up. 5 seconds later he called back again. “Hello I am calling from Windows Technical Department. How are you?” and I said “Tired of phishing scams”. He hung up quite quickly.
The good news is, it looks like the Technical Department has finally been caught – http://www.zdnet.com/regulators-smash-global-phone-tech-support-scam-operation-7000005195/
Thursday, 4th, October 2012 at 15:21
I have notice a small drop in the number searches looking for information on the “Technical Department of Windows”, but this scam seems to be on going, sadly.
Thursday, 4th, October 2012 at 16:19
Well that article was from yesterday, so they probably got caught only recently.
Thursday, 4th, October 2012 at 19:16
Then again we haven’t over turned all the rocks these slimy creatures hid under http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/377401/tech-support-scam-busts-a-drop-in-the-ocean
Friday, 28th, September 2012 at 19:31
Got probably the 1000 call from these guys today, I’ve tried threatening them, telling them Im going to find them and hurt them if they don’t stop calling me etc… this time I played along, asked him what his address was he gave me this 333. S, Grand Ave in Los Angeles, Ca. He said he was from Windows Technical department of course, he said to press the windows logo and the R key at the same time which brings up the Run window and to type eventvwr which I did, he showed me how to pull up all kinds of warnings and errors then wanted me to sign into http://www.logmein123.com which may have compromised my computer as Log Me In is a site that allows people to control your computer, I told this idiot that I was an advanced computer user and that what he was saying was bullshit and that what he was doing was illegal and he hung up.
I hope this helps someone!
Friday, 28th, September 2012 at 18:09
Yes I have the same problem several times a week. with thick accent,and the same story as others have in this page…….
Wednesday, 26th, September 2012 at 01:57
Just got the a call on my cell phone exactly as stated above. I told the female caller with an Indian accent that I knew how to clean up malware and spyware on my computer. She transferred me to a “supervisor”. The man, also with an Indian accent, stated that I needed to turn on my computer so I could watch as he cleaned up the malware. I asked if he was trying to sell me something. He became defensive and said “Who told you I am a salesman?” I said “No one, I simply asked”. Then I said I would take my computer in to the IT department at my business and have them work on it. He hung up on me.
Wednesday, 26th, September 2012 at 19:01
“John” worked so hard to disguise his East Indian accent calling from the “Windows Technical Department”. I couldn’t contain myself and started to laugh as I asked “what’s your company name? … you’ve got to be kidding”. That’s when John hung up.
Thursday, 27th, September 2012 at 18:54
Just got a call this morning as describe above. The Indian guy had called me a week ago but I told him I need to consult with my husband first. Today, the guy gave me a registration # as reassurance when I indicated I was worried about a scam and warned me my Window’s liecense would be cancelled if I declined. I then asked him to speak with my son (a Computer Science Major), who politely told him we were not interested and disconnected when the guy kept persisting. Calling back, the guy demanded to know why we were refusing. When my son told him he thought the offer was bogus and BS-several times- he finally ended the call by telling my son to F-off MFer! I can’t believe these people can’t be stopped amd that they are still out there!
Tuesday, 25th, September 2012 at 20:37
Wow I can’t believe so many people are getting this call. I have had 2 such calls today from a man with an Indian accent. First time he called he said his name was Jay from Microsoft technical department and he could see where my computer had many very harmful viruses and malware being downloaded to my computer. He asked for me by name calling on my cell phone. This is very concerning. He kept telling me to turn on my computer which is already on. I told him I was sick and could not today. He called again later saying his name was Dave. He insisted I turn on my computer and authorize him to remove these viruses. I work in a call center as a computer tech so I knew he was full of bull. I am in the US in Texas getting these calls. It is a shame that people do fall for these scams.
Friday, 21st, September 2012 at 16:19
I just received the same call and knew about the scam as I heard about it on the radio just yesterday. They must be calling in my area code. I asked for a call back number and they provided 800 359 3702 which goes thru a few what seems to be call forwards and then turns to fast busy. I will inform Phone Busters of the RCMP
Tuesday, 18th, September 2012 at 19:06
I’m in Missouri, U.S.
I got a call similar to all those above. The caller said his name was Jim, had an indian accent, and was calling from the technical department of my computer….. I cut him off after that and said I don’t think so and hung up.
I custom built my computer which is was the first red flag. So none of the computer companies; HP, Compaq, Apple, etc. would have a reason to call me since I don’t own any brand name computers.
Of course another red flag was I knew that Microsoft, or really any other software company, would not be calling for any reason. So why would this bunch be calling if they were from them or another software company.
The final red flag was what caller id pulled up, a 6 digit number – 51-0006. No phone number in the US has a 6 digit number. And when googling that number nothing came up.
So I knew these people were likely up to no good.
Tuesday, 18th, September 2012 at 17:20
I have recieved a call just few minutes ago simliar to your discription, a man with a Indian accent. The number on my caller ID was +40300110518 and I Asked him to give me your number so I can call you back this afternoon he gave me (516) 628- 9428. I didn’t make a call yet…
Friday, 14th, September 2012 at 00:35
I receive a call from these people about 3 times a month for the past year. I’ve dealt with them different ways each time…hanging up on them, laughing at them, cursing them out, claiming I don’t own a computer, and telling them I own a Mac.
Today’s call was great though. For whatever reason I decided to ask to speak with his supervisor (with sarcasm). He told me he was the supervisor. I told him to remove me from their calling list (not that I believe they would ever do that). He persisted in continuing with his script, but I continued to control the conversation.
I guess I must have truly annoyed him because he ended up finishing the call by saying, “F**k off, f**k off” and then hung up.
That type of language does not offend me in the least, and I can dish it out just as well. But man, it was WEIRD hearing that with the Indian accent! LOL
Wednesday, 12th, September 2012 at 04:32
I was just phoned as well by an indian guy who said he was from windows 35 tech support…Name of Sam… asked for his phone number to verify..said he was in Adelaide..south of Australia …rang 0872001191 and an indian man named Allen answered????? I didnt bother returning .. too sus… he was getting all worked up…thank goodness for google..
Friday, 7th, September 2012 at 15:26
We just receved a similar call. Caller ‘Eddie Arthur’ said he was from the Windows Technical Department, and claimed our computer had shown up on multiple virus/malware reports for a while. He was unable to describe how he knew other than to say MS installs something on all computers that send out these reports. I requested the company phone number, which as suspected went to an unaware resident. Eddie called back 2x.
We’re in Canada.
Wednesday, 12th, September 2012 at 04:34
exactly what they said to me
Thursday, 6th, September 2012 at 17:36
I live in Malta and the last 3 days, I received the same calls! When I asked them for information, they hang up. They keep on trying……..and they are indeed people with an Indian accent. I’m so fed up of it, that I told them during their last call that I report them at the police and that they are after them right now…….of course they hang up and hopefully that was the last call from them.
Thursday, 30th, August 2012 at 04:36
I literally just got off the phone with these people! I explained that I don’t own a computer (my fiancee does) so their information must be wrong and that I didn’t believe what he was saying and then he responded with “I don’t believe that you don’t own a computer”.. I asked to speak to his supervisor and he hung up. I can’t believe that there is so much of this scam happening and nobody can do anything about it!
Wednesday, 29th, August 2012 at 13:43
Hi, now a smiliar message from the Netherlands.
today, my wife got a similar call on our fixed phone number (so not on our mobile number) claiming to be from “Windows Technical Department”. My wife asked who they were calling and they mentioned my wife’s surname. My wife asked where they were calling from and they replied the US. They hung up when my wife asked why they were calling her.
so watch out, everyone!
Wednesday, 29th, August 2012 at 11:50
I got one of these calls this morning.
Caller: “I’m calling about your computer.
Me: ‘What about my computer??’
“Caller”: ‘I’m from the technical department of windows’
Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAH…….really?’
Caller hung up.
Saturday, 25th, August 2012 at 14:02
I’ve been receiving same calls recently. Person with strong Indian accent, in my case called Rebecca, from “Technical Department at Windows in Manchester”,
Me: ‘what’s that – what’s the name of your company?’
“Rebecca”: ‘Windows’
Me: hmm – ‘how did you get my details’ –
R: ‘we have all your details ma’am’ –
Me: ‘what’s my name’
R: ‘it starts with a J’,
Me: ‘what’s my surname’ –
R: ‘we don’t have that’
Nor will you get it…..
A complete scam – asking me to turn my computer on (it was already on) so they could remove malware and spyware which is corrupting my computer. I asked for their telephone number, she started with ‘618 812 ‘ then phone went dead. I dialled 1471 and got 00253 820 308, but can’t return a call to that number
Have reported to action fraud – http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ – suggest you do to.
Thursday, 23rd, August 2012 at 00:59
I had one of these calls. I had fun with it. Asked him to speak with the computer expert in the house and put my 4-year old son on the phone who asked him if he saw Toy Story lately and asked how old he was? Yeah, they hung up. 😉
Saturday, 18th, August 2012 at 10:13
I’m in Australia & I get these bloody calls every day & sometimes the phone rings & there’s nobody there! But the technical dept even Know my name & the wife, I gave one bloke an earful one day & Said I’d jam it up his bum, I hung up & he rang back wanting to confirm that I would do this!
Sunday, 12th, August 2012 at 19:46
The phone rang 8-10 times every 30 minutes – “Out Of Area” it was. I don’t answer the phone normally, the wife does and she’s out of town. I finally answered and there were supposed tech issues, etc. I asked what company it was, and the guy said, “Windows.” Yeah right. Told him off. I answered the next call, someone different from Windows. He said they detected issues with my PC. I told him I didn’t have a computer. He hung up… Idiots.
Friday, 10th, August 2012 at 12:22
Thanks a lot for these information, Kim!
I had a call a few minutes ago and two of them yesterday.
When they called first their caller id was shown:
00907919924290
(The next time it was not shown… maybe they made a fault? ;))
For all German-speaking people I published a blog post on my blog:
http://www.h-d-c.de/blog/?p=127
Thanks again and best,
Eric
Friday, 10th, August 2012 at 09:11
I’m from switzerland. This morning I recieved the third such phonecall. My mom recieved about two or so. All were from windows technical department. I always asked them which of ma computers they were talking about. This confused them so much they hung up…
Friday, 10th, August 2012 at 03:26
I am in Sydney Australia and have just received a similar call from a gentleman with an Indian accent telling me he was from the Windows 35 technical department and that a lot of viruses had been reported coming from my computer. He wanted me to press the windows key and then R which I refused to do. He then gave me a long number which he said was my computer’s ID number. I eventually told him that I would not do anything he asked and that I was sure this was a scam and hung up.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 13:53
Calls from “Windows Technical Department” are a scam.
REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR LOCAL POLICE AS CYBER-CRIME; they can ruin your computer and access your personal data.
If you live in UK, use either (2) or (1) & (2) below (e.g. go to both sites if you want the reassurance that you’re on a genuine police site), or juts go straight to (2) the Action Fraud website.
1) http://www.met.police.uk/pceu/cyber_crime.html then click the link that says Action Fraud in the middle of the page, which takes you to…
2) http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
MY STORY:
An Indian-sounding woman called ‘Iris’ phoned today claiming their systems had detected a virus on my Windows computer (I don’t own one). I strung them along a while to see what would happen. Basically they will ask you to access your PC’s operating system and make it associate with some malwear they plan to upload. Eventually i let on that I knew it was a scam & suggested she gets a job that doesn’t involve scamming and stealing. I was then passed to the “Senior Manager” “Andy Roberts”, who went to great lengths to assure me of the legitimacy of their “independent” company, claiming to be a service provider independent of Microsoft (yet somehow implying that they work with MS support), but that they “have our own service and support”. When I confronted him with how he new about the virus on my windows computer when i don’t even have one, he thought for a long time then hung up.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:04
You can also call the police Action Fraud line on 0300 123 2040
Consumer Direct’s Report A Scam line is not defunct.
Wednesday, 8th, August 2012 at 17:06
oh wow, i just finished my second call with one “justin obama”, and during the call i found this site, after i told him i was in trouble and needed help burring my dead wife (joking ofcourse) he handed to the chief superivisor who refused to give his name he asked me if “inlight of the circumstances would i like to save my computer from shuting down?”, thats how you have fun guys
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 13:56
Hope you reported the bastards after you had that fun 😉
You can do it here: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Juts think if all 10 or so of us on this blog alone reported it, the police might be able to DO soemthing about it!
Monday, 6th, August 2012 at 23:53
Wow i can believe that so many people have had this experience too.
Well i recieved the phone call at about 1:30. Well when i answered some indian dude spoke saying that my computer is full of viruses and asked me to turn on my computer and so i did. as i was doing this i asked where he was calling he said he was from windows tech deparment. well i said to myself ,”well okay lets see where this gos”. so then he told me to open up the start button and to open “run”. he told me to type in cmd and it brought a window with a whole mess of numbers and letters. he told me those are all viruses. the thing that made me laugh is when he told me to read to him what the window said at the bottom and right when i tell him he says,”ohh god”. lol he tried to seem like he was all worried .well anyways he asked me to download aa_V3.exe which i
stupidly did and he attempted to sell me some security program. right there i asked
questions like contact information his name, phone number , how do i know if this is real. he completely ignored my questions and just replied in ways like,” sir you computer in very high risk”
and other bullpoop like that. so after the
1 hour talk we had he had finally just asked if i wanted the program and i said no. at that point he just hung up.
well from reading all these post that was probably a scam. now i got to find a way to get rid of that aa_V3.exe program. if anyone knows how please tell me.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:00
So sorry they actually got you to download it. I don’t know who to remove it, but please please report it to the cops Action Fraud line here:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
or call them on 0300 123 2040
Good luck with removing it.
Monday, 6th, August 2012 at 13:56
I was at my parents this morning and they received the identical call. (Male not female this time)
Fortunately I my son is a computer engineer and I have always been interested in computers myself so I took over the phone call. (The Indian called himself Sam Wilson btw lol)
I let him talk for a while to the point where he asked if I was near the computer and could I turn it on.. (A very bad move if it’s downloading malware!) I then replied that no I was not going to turn my step-father’s computer on and besides if there was a problem then I will get my son to look at it as he was an expert in that field.
Exit one very worried Indian gentleman with a very doubtful name.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:07
Yeah, mine was “Andy Roberts”…that well-known traditional Indian name!
Please please take a minute to REPORT IT to the cops Action Fraud line below
or CALL them on 0300 123 2040
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Saturday, 4th, August 2012 at 22:15
Thanks for this post!!! You saved me. I just got off the phone now with the “Windows Technical Center” guy with such a thick Indian accent I could barely understand him. I suspected it was a scam, too, so when he told me to turn on my computer (which was already on), I put him on hold to Google for scams and found this page. After I read your post, I said “Not interested, thank you,” and promptly hung up. Thank you!!
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:08
Glad you escaped it, but please please take a minute to REPORT IT to the cops Action Fraud line below
or CALL them on 0300 123 2040
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Friday, 3rd, August 2012 at 11:13
I got one of these calls this morning “Poul Smith Tecnical department of Windows”. Scam!
Friday, 3rd, August 2012 at 05:02
HAPPENING IN AUSTRALIA TOO I have recieved this call twice now in the last 2 days, once from anne, once from rose, both have indian accents….they both said they were from microsoft technical department.they put on the hard sell that i have errors that are corrupting my system, yellow triangles and and red errors, as they telling me how bad this is for my system i was clicking on the errors to see that the errors are basically startup errors that i guessed were harmless and normal problems every system gets….once they asked me to let them remotely access my system so they could d/l a program to fix the errors i started telling them microsoft wouldnt do this, they offered me a phone number to comfirm who they were which i dont think microsoft would do either…so yeah i ended up telling them they were full of crap and hanging up…i pity anyone that doesnt have the basic knowledge in system security (pensioners and newbies to computers)that gets these calls because they put on a hard sell and are semi convincing…..microsoft should send out official warnings to all users that they dont use this approach to contact users.
Wednesday, 1st, August 2012 at 18:04
I received an International call from a man with an Indian voice saying he was from “Windows Technical Department” he gave his phone number as 02081334233.
I could hear children in the background.I have not rang back.
Saturday, 28th, July 2012 at 11:05
Have been receiving these types of calls for the past week or so. I did get a number 001-234-567891. Doesn’t look like a valid number but this is what shows up on my phone. The man said that he was from Windows Technical Department and had an Indian accent. He told me that there is an emergency problem with my computer and that I better get on line right away to correct it. I knew then that it was a scam and hung up.
Monday, 23rd, July 2012 at 17:12
Simply hang up on these people or tell them you don’t use Windows as you own a Mac – they soon hang up on you!
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:11
Good advice – but then please also REPORT IT TO THE POLICE PEOPLE!!
If you live in the UK i can save you some hunting around, its:
Action Fraud line below
or CALL them on 0300 123 2040
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:14
Thank you for your contribution Jay, I think we have all got the message now.
Thursday, 19th, July 2012 at 17:45
I am so tired of these guys. I have been getting calls from them for about a year. They have really gotten bad lately. They called me seven times Tuesday. I had nine calls yesterday and already two calls this morning. I keep telling them to remove me from their call list that I don’t run windows and they just hang up on me. Someone needs to stop this!
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:15
Hi Shawndee, have you reported it to the police? ONLY way ‘somebody’ is gonna stop it is if WE keep reporting it 🙂
It’s a simple numbers game: the more reports the cops get, the more likely they are to attach some resources to the problem. I guess you live in the US? Once you find the right police link, will you share it? I’m sooo sick of these guys too.
Friday, 13th, July 2012 at 17:22
i received a call today from a alex foster with a Indian accent speaking about the same things i see in all these comments. I say if this is a scam we should do something about this! he was trying to have me buy a anti virus software because i had to many errors on my computer and my firewall was expired but the funny thing about the story is that i was on my girlfriends laptop and i don’t own a computer so how is it that they called me about the computer? how did they even get my number? he kept insisting for me to give him access to the computer for he can check the problem for me again but i refused and he seemed frustrated but told me if i can get the money that he will call me back so i asked for a number and told him i will call him when i have the money but i was thinking ahead but going along with it. so i have the number and he thinks i’m going to call him to have him take the money for this anti virus but i figure there should be a way to track him and his little scam but not sure how to go about it yet! so if you have any ideas or anything you think i should do let me know please…
Friday, 13th, July 2012 at 17:30
It was just chance that you were using a lap top at the time, I have had a phone call from these people when I have been staying with my parents who don’t have a computer! Also the first time I received one of these calls I knew immediately they were lying as I don’t use MS Windows, so there was no way they could have been “getting signals” from my computer. Where do they get your phone number? Well there are nation & international phone directories for sale on internet, they just phone as many people as they can in the hope of finding a victim they can con, please don’t fall for it.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:19
Hi Jesus, well spotted. The only action we can all take is to inform the police fraud department. Please call yours. if you’re in the UK details below. If not, please find out and share so others can report it too!!
Action Fraud line:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
CALL them on 0300 123 2040 (UK number)
Tuesday, 10th, July 2012 at 16:46
Had this same issue this week.. After telling her that I was feeling uneasy about the call and would rather go to a certified Microsoft store to fix the problem she proceeded to tell me that these stores are filled with unqualified technitions that would put more malware on my computer. Then she decided to aggressively tell me that I am offending her by questioning her integrity.
I told her I had no money to pay for anything and that I would call her on the number she had provided me with (a random number in Sydney Australia) .
I didn’t call her back and did not hear from her again.
Friday, 20th, July 2012 at 19:36
Short answer: Just hang up
If you’ve got time to waste, then getting these guys to call you back at convenient times can be amusing!
At 1st I told them that I didn’t understand how my computer was sending messages when it was turned off! They said that that was proof of the problems I was having!
Having heard of scams like this, I tried to see just how far they’re willing to go to see if you’re a potential mug or some threat to them!
As I am disabled & mainly use my neighbour’s computer for online shopping & he uses my wireless broadband, we share the fun!
Putting off availability for several occasions, some guy presented himself as the team manager!
As my neighbour was looking for his mail at the time, we agreed to start the procedure (that leads to them asking for access to your computer! DO NOT ALLOW THEM!)
When they wanted to make sure they had me hooked, they even said that I’d get a FREE copy of WINDOWS 8!
Hey everybody, give me access to your computers & I’ll give you as much money as I can fraudulently obtain!
Still, sounding like I might part with some money, I asked them to send a mail to a dummy address I’d created which I gave my neighbour’s details (he agreed) & sure enough, I got no mail from them, but he got a call saying they could fix the problems that were causing them to receive error reports!
Seems like they might be improving their techniques, don’t get caught! If you do need help from Microsoft, use the available online help & they will call you from a UK number if necessary
Friday, 20th, July 2012 at 19:52
A quick search finds a Microsoft answer: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-security/phone-call-from-windows-technical-support/ee79d597-f55b-445f-912f-1ffa930475ab
Monday, 9th, July 2012 at 17:51
Hi there I’ve been experiencing calls of this nature for the last 3 weeks from both male and female English speaking Asians.
I very wary of such contacts being made from huge corporates like the Windows technical depts – they would normally only respond to a call from the user.
Each time I have challenged the caller with needing to know more information before I would comply with their requests they have simply rung off. Today I became embroiled in a slaging match with this supposed employee of Windows who proceeded to call me a stupid bloody old british man!! My response was to let him know how old I was (64) and what I’d do with his telephone and computer if he cared to call on me??
Can’t think that any authentic on line technical department would condone that sort of customer relationship?
Monday, 9th, July 2012 at 17:55
It is just a scam, if they feel they are not getting anywhere then they can get abusive, the best thing to do is just put the phone down.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:21
James, please, please help stop it by reporting it:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
or if in UK call 0300 123 2040
Friday, 6th, July 2012 at 06:08
I was called by an Asian-sounding lady from the “Windows Technical Department”saying that my computer had generated “error messages” whilst online. Strangely, she knew my name and, obviously, my phone number. I am an Englishman currently in France yet the caller spoke only English! How could she know that the subscriber on my French number was English? It seems to me that the information could only have come from my broadband/phone supplier ‘Free.com’. When I pointed out that I do not use the Windows operating system, she apologised and said that there had been a mistake.I have recently contacted Free.com to resolve hardware problems.
Friday, 6th, July 2012 at 09:04
Paul, these calls are being made to people across the world, they didn’t know that you are English, they merely hope that the person they are calling can speak English. This is a scam work by phone very large number of people at random in the hope of finding a victim, when they do find a victim will exploit them all they can. This is why it is important that people know about this scam.
Monday, 2nd, July 2012 at 10:49
Hello,
Today a Asian man called me and said he is from the Windows Department. I told him that: How can I trust you? So he explains the whole situation what is wrong with my computer and that he works for the Windows Department. I ask him his name but he give not his name so I tought it can be a scam. When he told me to do something against the virus I didn’t do that and let him speak the whole time. After the instructions I ask him some guestions and he hung up the phone. After that stranhe call I decided to do some research on the internet and found this website. We must do something about this untrustfull Asian man. Also I am going to send a mailt to windows of this strange man.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:24
HI Jeff,
Microsoft (Windows) won’t do anything, you need to report it to your county’s police fraud department.
Please do take the time to report it! The more reports they get, the more likely they are to target them.
Sunday, 17th, June 2012 at 16:31
The Technical Department of Windows called me a few days ago (June 14/2012). I also asked how he knew my computer had malware and he acted like he didn’t understand my dumb question. I asked if he was from Microsoft. First he deflected the comment and then said No. I played along… I asked his phone number. After much confusion, he gave me: 315-277-2288. He then sent me to his website where a photo showed about 5 people sitting in a line looking at computers. Only one Indian man sat in the middle. I asked his name, and how to spell it. After much fumbling, he said his name was James Thomson. I asked him to spell Thomson, which took some time. I didn’t realize that “James Thomson” was an Indian name (ha, ha). I asked where his company was located–he said Brooklyn, NY. I asked what this free service was going to cost me. He said Nothing. I said, But on your website it says this is a subscription. He pretended that I had lost my mind. Then he said in order to fix my computer problems, I had to download a file that would help us communicate better. It had an .exe ending. I told him I would not download an .exe file from an unknown source. He insisted it was safe and would not harm my computer. At which point I was exhausted and needed a Lindsey Lohan nap, and said goodbye. Please don’t call paramedics.
Monday, 16th, July 2012 at 19:05
LOL Lindsay Lohan nap and dont call the paramedics. But Yeah some guy names “Jeff Parker” with an Indian accent called me today too. I didnt think it was a scam at first cuz he was so nice, but I knew better. haha
Thursday, 14th, June 2012 at 22:31
I almost fell for it this evening. A lady said she was from the “windows technical department”. I said I’d paid £100 a month ago to have my “warranty renewed”and she claimed this was aftersales support. I said I wasn’t going to part with any more money and she got all defensive. Bit more spiel about all the infections on my computer, leading me to filling in a form to give them, yes, some money! I hung up … these are really horrible people, DON’T WASTE A MINUTE OF YOUR LIFE ON THEM!!!!!
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:26
Hi Anita,
Horrible experience. Did you report it? if in UK please do, it’s easy!
REPORT ONLINE:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
REPORT BY PHONE:
0300 123 2040
Tuesday, 12th, June 2012 at 14:54
I think they may be using VOIP, so not costing them anything, and no number to get. Perhaps the VOIP people like Skype could do something about tracking them and blocking/prosecuting.
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:32
I wonder whether they work from home. Several posts have mentioned different phone numbers, including one with kids in the background. Mine gave me a phone number that actually worked (I called it back, but probably too soon because they actually answered it “Windows Technical Department”. It was 020 3239 7020.
Tuesday, 12th, June 2012 at 14:52
I’ve had around six of these over the space of a few weeks. They always say they are calling from Microsft’s Technical Department, are always Indians [if you know the accent it’s obvious] and sounds like there are a number of operations going on, with different scripts. The last one hung up when I asked for his telephone number; they are always hidden so 1471 doesn’t work. They try to get you to delete Windows files ‘that are corrupted’, and if you fall for that I don’t know what happens as I’ve never got further without calling their bluff.
Tuesday, 12th, June 2012 at 14:22
After a few of these calls I like to pick a random swear word (my fav at the mo starts with an F and ends with Off) and count how many times i can say it before they hang up. If you want to play along then my record is 11
Monday, 16th, July 2012 at 19:07
HAHAHAHAHA nice! If they call back maybe ill try to beat it 😉
Thursday, 9th, August 2012 at 14:35
Nice one 🙂
please do report it to the police, it’s easy!
REPORT ONLINE:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
REPORT BY PHONE (UK):
0300 123 2040
Friday, 8th, June 2012 at 11:27
I just received a phone call from an Indian claiming to be from the Windows Technical department.
DO NOT ANSWER THESE KIND OF CALLS!! IMMEDIATELY HANG UP!!
This obviously is a scam and totally non-genuine. I couldn’t get a number from where they were calling from, as it shows as withheld on the LCD. This is the second time I’ve had a call from them.
Thursday, 7th, June 2012 at 20:11
Got my 5 call this week, filed complaint with FTC blocked number what more can we do ?
Tuesday, 5th, June 2012 at 17:27
Just got a calls from these idiots. Actually the 4th call in 2 days. starting to get really annoyed by it. I did confuse him by telling him my computer has never been connected to the internet. made him stammer for a few minutes.
Friday, 1st, June 2012 at 17:53
Just got a call from these idiots too. He claimed to be John and had an Indian accent. The phone number that he gave was 855-263-0068.
Don’t fall for this scam!
Friday, 1st, June 2012 at 10:04
just had a call from an Indian lady called Anna from Windows Tech dept saying turn on your computer as major virus. Hung up but she rang back I asked for website and fone disconnected. I later Rang the number given 02 90372906 and Wilson answered and said company was UK company UTH help support centre and this was Sydney call centre. He wanted my number but I refused and hung up so if anyone wants to bombard them with calls go for it
Wednesday, 30th, May 2012 at 19:36
Yep, It is worldwide alright; and I bet this is just one of hundreds of blog sites about these obnoxious folks. Received 4 calls in the last 2 weeks; all variations on the same theme. My computer is going to crash; it is in dire danger! Yeah, right…and which technical support group are you with??? I’ve got an ongoing list of company phone numbers, company names, their names, their supervisors’ names, company locations, employee IDs AND IT’S ALL BOGUS! All callers have had varying degrees of Asian Indian accents with Anglo names; I am waiting for John Doe! I just try and keep them talking and explaining to see how deep the whole gets and to get them mad before I end the call! My location in Pennsylvania USA.
Friday, 25th, May 2012 at 17:42
They called me at 5:50 in the morning!!!! And apparently I am powerless to make the calls stop. I have blocked all anonymous numbers, but the number they use to get through is useless. I can block individual numbers, but there are so many listed here that it is hopeless. This is wrong!!!
Thursday, 24th, May 2012 at 23:25
We received the same call today. An Indian guy by the name of Peter Watson, employee ID 786 (i am sure that’s not his real name). He gave me their phone number as 1-520-720-0725. I cannot believe how confident they sound, trying hard to convince you that it is a legitimate call. I wish authorities are able to reach them and jail them for LIFE.
Wednesday, 16th, May 2012 at 20:00
Sadly my 83 year old mum has just been caught by this scam .. a foreign woman phoned her up from the ‘Windows Technical Department’ telling her, that a virus had infected her computer. She was asked to pay £140 to get it sorted out. She managed to whittle it down to £50, then gave both her visa debit card and Barclay credit card details … Not only that, she also agreed to down load some software, to allow their tech guy to solve the problem from his end !!! .. We have now got a PC with an unknown and unwanted software program on it, giving the scammers access to her pc, personal details, bank details etc., …. I phoned the company and pretended to believe them .. their details are as follows …
Tele : 020 302 61927 the address they gve, google shows as a 3 bed semi in London… 4 Cardinal Place Central London SW1 1NX My mum is not computer literate, she believed everyword this woman told her … She now cannot use her PC until it is sorted out. She is very distressed … DONT LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU
Tuesday, 12th, June 2012 at 14:26
Sorry to hear about your mum being taken in by this scam, I would have thought something would have been done by now as this has been going on for years. If you are near southampton UK then I would be happy to wipe and reinstall her PC for free if she hasnt got it done already. It wouldn’t take long and u can look over my shoulder to see how to do it if you want in case of any future problems.
Wednesday, 16th, May 2012 at 18:56
yeah i jus recieved a call from these stupid scammers jus now, my father winded them up by asking them who they work for and asked if they could give their informartion but they refused by making an excuse up, and actually we don’t evn use our computer so i dunno how it was possible for them to say all that crap cuz how would they evne know.I am asian myself so i started talking to them in urdu then they cut it off.lol !
Saturday, 12th, May 2012 at 10:43
I got this call aswell, again, indian accent, he told me to turn my PC on and said there were some problems and some stuff are downloaded and malware blah blah blah, he kept changing subjects and did not answer my question about who he is. If anyone get’s this phonecall, be careful
Thursday, 10th, May 2012 at 00:31
I just got the call….twice… very pushy witha sn indian accent. I asked how they got my name, said a friend….I asked if it was Raja… they said yes, it was. Well, I told them Raja is my cat and thet they were scamming me. They called back and said I had no “mind” and that my was infected. It is working just fine.
Monday, 7th, May 2012 at 21:58
Same story. I’m in San Francisco, so this is really a global scam. Someone with an English name speaking English with a heavy accent, called to warn me that my computer has been taken over by hackers and is infected with the dll virus and that my anti-virus program doesn’t work. While he was talking, I looked up the number he gave me and found that other people have gotten similar calls from the same number..
The first really obvious giveaway was that the phone number he told me he was calling from (a US number) was recited in a cadence that was obvious that the person speaking didn’t live here.
When I told him that I think they are scamming people, he told me that I could just let my computer crash and then he hung up.
Monday, 7th, May 2012 at 14:12
I received a call today also saying they was from windows tech dept another indian! telling me i had a infection on my computer and carried on babbling on i said your lying your not from windows give me your number and i’ll call back. he tried to change the subject and asked how i could know that he wasn’t from windows as of course he was from windows i replied i’m on MAC. he gave me a number 01204413868 i haven’t called it yet as i thought i’d check up on the computer first. so thanks for all these comments!
Saturday, 28th, April 2012 at 20:43
I have downloaded and been using Microsoft Security Essential (free from Microsoft)and been using it as my virus protection for the last 3 years. Knock on wood, I haven’t had any problems since. I used to have Norton, but did have problems. hopefully, what these people (Windows Technical Department) say about my computer being infected with some malware is not correct, and will keep enjoying my free Microsoft security Essential. But it is scary that people can find my phone number and have the excact 36 digit ID of my computer.
Sunday, 29th, April 2012 at 19:33
The 36 digit number you describe is not the ID number of your computer, it is common to all copies of Microsoft Windows, this is part of the scam to make you think they are genuine. They have your name and phone number from an international telephone directory, and that is all they know about you. When the ask you go to http://www.join.me this is so that they can directly access you computer by using remote access software, but they can only do this if you give them permission to do so. Once they have this access they are able to take full control of your computer and do what every they like with it. This is very dangerous. If someone cold calls you and ask to install any form of sharing software do not do it.
Saturday, 28th, April 2012 at 20:36
Yes, I got a call today too. I asked who they were, They said they are with Windows Technical department. They also gave a call back number 971 217 9510. when I called they answered and said they are the windows technical department. They even guided me to type some thing in the Run windows of my start button. Then guided me to type some commands in the DOSS window, which I did. Then some numbers appeared which according to them was my computer id number. When they told the number which was like a 36 digit number, it was correct and much what I was reading on my screen. so they had that right. Don’t know how they accessed it. Then they wanted my to go to “www.join.me” which is a monitor sharing site. They said they wanted to fix a malware on my computer which would wipe out all data on my computer. At that point I did not go any further.
Tuesday, 24th, April 2012 at 11:09
Just had a similar call myself from the ”Windows Tech Dept” She said my computer had some problems that was making it slow, I insisted that my computer was ok and I didnt want anything ‘fixed’ she continued with her script she wanted me to run something called ‘serverw’ I told her I was not running any such thing and I certainly was not going giving her my computer ID which is what she was after or so she said. I really hope these calls dont continue, pity Windows/Microsoft doesnt make people aware of this problem seen as its going on so long and clearly so many peolpe have got these calls.. I am from Ireland so its def an worldwide problem. I am def gonna wind them up if they call again!
Tuesday, 24th, April 2012 at 11:12
To judge by the number of visits to this blog post, it is definitely a world wide problem and the number of calls is on the increase.
Tuesday, 24th, April 2012 at 09:27
Hi, got my 1st call yesterday. I live in France. The scammer calling me was Kevin Parker, Windows Tech. Support from London, no 0203606 …. I was careful, telling the Indian sounding guy it all sounded fishy and I’d call my husband who’s a computer architect. Having read all your comments, I just hope it’s not the 1st call of many to come!
Thursday, 6th, September 2012 at 14:57
Got a call a few minutes ago from an Ibdian guy called Kevin Parker too. He said he was from Windows tech support or something like that and that they had received intel that malicious software was on my PC.
I asked him several times what this software would do but he had no answer.
He was telling what to do on my PC so I continued stringing him along but I had no PC with me. I asked him his name and he told me, I then asked which country he was in and he hung up.
Friday, 20th, April 2012 at 21:22
I have received these calls also. They are persistent. I listened just to see how far they would go and what the fees would be, knowing they would be ridiculous. You have to alert everyone to this scam! Kay
Friday, 20th, April 2012 at 17:10
same thing, they called from “windows technical support”. I asked very amused from which company they called. she told me, “windows is a company, right?”… i answered “no, microsoft is one, windows is their product”…. she hang up right away and i was laughing….
spam Spam sPam spAm spaM – try to speak with them really longe making questions, so they at least will have a heavy phone inquiry!
Friday, 20th, April 2012 at 15:48
just been called by a very indian rex anderson from princes street in london he hung up as soon as i said i was a police officer haha
Monday, 16th, July 2012 at 19:13
hahahahah
Friday, 20th, April 2012 at 00:31
Just got a call from them myself.
Wednesday, 18th, April 2012 at 14:10
I’ve had the same thing happen repeatedly. They rang again today – twice I tell them the person they want isn’t available. When I entered into a discussion with the Technical Support they said that they got my details from Microsoft’s head office and i asked how? They said when we bought the computer and registered the details. When i told them we were given our computer and never registered anything and how I thought it was a scam they hung up. Funny how my computer which was due for Imminent Collapse several weeks ago is still fully functioning!
Tuesday, 17th, April 2012 at 15:17
April 17/12
Just received a phone call from the “Technical Dept” from Windows From a Kevin Parker gave me a phone # 1-647-288-1790 telling me that Windows has been having some problems and wanted me to go to my computer and turn it on. I did not have to go into the internet just needed to turn my computer on. I had just received a phone call last week about a “scam” so i was very hesitant to go any farther. Told him I would call him back and then searched the internet until I found this site. Thanks for the comments. I will not go any farther.
Saturday, 14th, April 2012 at 14:30
I also recieved a call from a woman, with an indian accent, this morning. She was claiming to be calling from windows technical service. She told me that I did not need to go on line to fix the problem it was all done off line. Since I was already on the computer I asked for her phone number and if I called back would I reach windows tech support. She gave me the number 424-649-7998. As I was asking where she was calling from I was looking up area codes. She claimed that they were located in New York city…but the area code was for Los Angeles.
HMMMMM
Monday, 9th, April 2012 at 17:20
I have been getting calls from these Indian guys for a few weeks now, when I asked for his name, he told me his name is Andy Smith,and I can’t even understand his English. I asked to speak to his supervisor, when I asked for his name; he gave me his name as Roy Mcroy with his ID numbers. Basically they just want me to turn on my computer and guide me through how to fix some problems. I hung up on him. I got another call today with a guy speaks fluent English and told me I had nine problems on my computer and I asked him how did he get me number? He replied from their data base. I told him I don’t even register my window software and I don’t want to do anything on my computer, he said good bye and hung up. I hope these guys don’t call again.
Friday, 6th, April 2012 at 22:53
Just got the call, and immediately did a search on Google for “phone call from the technical department at Windows”. I basically told the guy, I don’t even have a computer than runs Windows. Bye.
Monday, 26th, March 2012 at 12:28
Annoying is an understatement. I have just received about 6 calls in quick succession. Everytime I hang up, the guy calls back and rambles on about my computer being infected with viruses. So the fourth time round I put my 3 year old daughter on and put the phone on speaker. She says ‘heyo’ (clearly a child’s voice), and he asks ‘Are you the main user of the computer?’ She says: ‘Yes’. He says: ‘I want you to go to the front of your computer’, at which point I take the phone and hang up…. And he calls right back again! This time I just hang up immediately without a word. And yet again, he calls. As I’m expecting an international call, I have to pick up for fear of missing an important call. But who should it be? So this time I raise my voice telling him not to call again… It’s been about 20 minutes and he hasn’t called back! THANK GOD!!!
I’ve been receiving these calls for about 2 years now, but always just hang up midway. Let’s see how long it will take for them to call again! *sigh*
Tuesday, 20th, March 2012 at 06:59
I just received a call from “Windows Technical Dept”, it sounded dodgy so I told him to call back as I was making tea for my kids. He had an Indian accent in a very noisy call centre. I then found this webpage so when he calls back can tell him to go away. I’ve had some trouble with my computer lately so thought for a minute they were ringing to help me, so I can see how people might fall for the scam, especially if you’re not that experienced with computers. My call display showed a private number and I’m in Australia so it’s really a world wide scam.
Tuesday, 20th, March 2012 at 08:40
To judge from the traffic to this post this is a world wide scam, I am seeing an increasing number of hit from all over the world. Take care, don’t give access to your computer to someone who just phones you up out of the blue.
Thursday, 15th, March 2012 at 09:51
Thanks guys, could have had a problem had I not check this site out. They called my mum today and as she is computer illiterate asked them to call back and speak with me. In the meantime she was in a terrible state. They talk the talk! I asked for a number to call him back on he gave me 02032860682. BTW I am based in France! Are they expanding? “Daniel” is supposedly based in Victoria Street, London.
Saturday, 9th, June 2012 at 21:53
Midwest USA here. I also received call from “Technical Department of Windows” saying my computer had been sending them messages for the last 2 days saying it was running slow.
Told them that was pretty funny since I had not had the computer on for the last 2 days. He said “oh” and hung up.
Monday, 5th, March 2012 at 14:38
Got a call from “Crystal” phoning from 012102490540 saying they were from the “windows technical departement” saying there was an “error tracking tool” pushing out error messages on our computers.
Strong Indian accent.
Felt very uncomfortable so I hung up on her. Really very dodgy. How do you report this?
Monday, 5th, March 2012 at 15:06
If the call is from inwith the UK you can report it to Ofcom (http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2009/07/malicious-or-nuisance-calls/). However many of these calls are from numbers outwitht the UK and therein lays the problem, there doesn’t seem to be any one you can report them to.
Saturday, 3rd, March 2012 at 00:46
I recieved the same call this morning from the same indian mofos telling me they are from windows. They tried to sell me a new “Firewall liscence”. He said he would help me get rid of the problem on my computer but it ended up corrupted. Now i have to reformat the computer. Im sure they were able to access all the files on my computer. I am furious. Something should be done about this.
Thursday, 1st, March 2012 at 23:52
I just got a call from some Indian guy who says he works for Windows Technical Support. I asked him for his telephone number which he said was 505-715-6911 but my caller ID registered another number which was 213-271-1590. I knew it was a scam from the beginning because I have never received a call from anyone from Microsoft. The scam artist wanted me to go to the Run menu and type the letters: eventvwr. He said that my computer is running slow, and my computer was sending messages to his department. What a bunch of bullshit! Anyway, I told him that I do not care that my computer is running slow and said goodbye.
Monday, 13th, February 2012 at 15:18
i recieve call from this company very regually dispite being on the TPS register.after trying to make them understand what i was saying, or asking any question and just being hung up on, ive resorted to just screaming down the phone they will soo get the message and take my number off their list and have a very bad ear ache.
Monday, 23rd, January 2012 at 20:24
i just got a call from “computer technical department” the guy started talking and i interrupted him and told him to remove me from his callin list. he asked me why and i replied bacause i said so, he got quiet and i asked if he had done it yet, he said no. i asked to speak to his supervisor and he hung up…i hope they removed me from the list lmao…next time they call it will be my entertainment cuz i think i’m gonna mess with them lol!
Wednesday, 11th, January 2012 at 17:25
I’ve been getting calls from these guys for about 6 months now. Averaging about 2-3 calls per week. In the past I’ve just hung up. I’m getting so sick of them that I’ve started telling them to take my number off their list. In Canada, it’t the law that they have to stop calling once there has been a verbal request to take the number off the list. After that it’s considered harasment. Now, when they call, I just tell them that they are breaking the law and I’m calling the RCMP and they hang up pretty fast. I just have to get around to calling the good ol’ RCMP ;). Actually, the RCMP does have a telephone scam buster dept and I’ll just report to that. Grrr. These guys are annoying.
Friday, 6th, January 2012 at 12:53
Just had one of these calls. The third in the last couple of years. In each case I ask for clrafication of the company name and get the same as everyone else here excpet this time it was without a mention of Windows! What annoys me more than the calls is where do they get my phone number from, is it just pot luck or do they really have access to my computer and contact information!?? He got a rough time today, at least it made me feel better!! :-))
Wednesday, 18th, January 2012 at 11:07
These phone calls are just scams. It is quite easy to get list of phone numbers and they are just phoning on spec. They do not have any access to your computer before making the call, they are just hoping to persuade con you to give them access.
Tuesday, 13th, December 2011 at 14:28
Just got a call from ”Windows Technical Dept.” from their London office. A woman with a eastern european accent spoke to me then passed on to her supervisor – english accent. They said I my PC was infected and etc etc etc….Was not convinced so I played along. After several attempts of trying to work with their instructions regarding ”Event Viewer”, they advised me that they would be passing my details to one of their techs and advised me of their charges ranging from 50-100 euros. Still not convinced, after 20 mins of conversation, they hung-up. Did my research and yes it is part of a scam. So guys, watch your backs if you get a call from the erm ”Windows Technical Dept / operations dept”. And the number they called me from was 0301932500
Saturday, 26th, November 2011 at 11:06
I had one of these calls this morning. I hung up immediately. after 15 minutes i rang the number and the asian sounding person answered. i wanted to know what he wanted and when he asked for my name i hung up. he said they are computer techical support. the number is 00 44 2081334576. i hope they catch the B…
Wednesday, 16th, November 2011 at 18:46
Folks, the same thing happen to me and my wife, this guy Alias Daniel Smith With indian accent windows technical dept from berkshire, we let him to run our computer in the end/ is a bogus wants 100 pounds ,ashamed to these kind living species. In this new modern world of technology nobody is safe now.Evil hackers, phone hackers. This is an chronic organised crime syndicate that govt should take actions immediately. hope our computer is out of rats!
Wednesday, 16th, November 2011 at 11:35
Got a call this morning the second this week. When I asked for the company name I was repeatedly told “Windows Technical Dept” I then asked for their phone number, all the while the Indian guy was trying to run through his script, in the end he hung up. 1471 gave unidentifiable network.
Friday, 4th, November 2011 at 20:06
My Mom has been receiving calls now for some time but I keep on telling her not to speak to these guys (she is almost 80 and can get a little confused occasionally). She is under strict instructions to give them my mobile number. A guy claiming to be Christian Lamb, Senior Manager of Microsoft Windows Technical department with a telephone number of 001 201 844 6490 called her. She called me and I called him. Eventually I got hold of him, he confirmed he had been speaking to someone and gave me both my mothers telephone numbers. Told him I couldnot do anything with the computer right now to stall him. He said not a problem, he would send details to my series id code on my computer of what I should do. Thoughtout the whole of my conversation, I kept on repeating to him that the call was being listerned to by the Police and that they had taped the call – he seemed undeterred. Time will tell but I am sure it is a scam!
Thursday, 3rd, November 2011 at 13:39
We keep receiving calls from these people and when asked for their name and number. The name I was given was Kevin Brown (definitely not the person I was speaking to!)and number I was given is 020 881 99827. at the time of the call it was answered as I said I needed to verify who they were – ansaphone now.
Wednesday, 2nd, November 2011 at 13:09
I received one of these “computer technical department” calls today, from a gentleman with a very strong South Asian accent.
A few seconds into his script I interrupted him and told him that I wasn’t as gullible as he clearly needed me to be .. and then hung up on him.
He called right back and told me to “f**k off”. Minor victory that I got so far under his skin that he felt it worthwhile wasting yet another international call to London, solely in order to vent his spleen 🙂
Wednesday, 2nd, November 2011 at 12:36
Seeing as the authorities are ignoring this situation how about some poetic justice. Are there any people out there capable of hacking their site that wouldn’t mind shutting these guys down for a while. I’d do it myself but don’t know the first thing about hacking. These guys need to be stopped!
Wednesday, 30th, November 2011 at 12:02
Just had a phone call calling themselves “PC Technical Department” the guy said he was phoning on behalf of my ISP but when I asked him he was my ISP he couldn’t tell me, so funny, just keep these guys on the phone as long as you can priceless.
Wednesday, 2nd, November 2011 at 10:45
Had yet another call from an Indian sounding person, saying my Windows Operating System was showing faults which were reported to them. Keep talking from script and not listening until I said: ‘Are you listening! I do not use Windows!!’ Answer was that they must have been given the wrong telephone number, but had my name, telephone number and address! Based in UK. Thanks for info on this site!
Wednesday, 2nd, November 2011 at 11:00
I was wondering how long before other fraudsters would get in on this scam. It certainly started in India where there are plenty of people with the technical skills to take advantage of those people they can con into downloading the remote access software on to the victims computer and give full admin access. The best advice is not trust anyone who cold calls you telling you that there is a problem with your computer. If you are worried about your computer get someone you know and trust to take a look at it.
Monday, 31st, October 2011 at 12:28
just had a call from an Indian sounding chap (very bad call line), he told me they were in Oxfordshire – Global H Solutions Windows Tech Support Dept- told me i could call back on 0800 0148414 ?
Saturday, 29th, October 2011 at 01:26
i was called by a jamaican woman today and in spite of the fact that my answering machine was on, the idiot kept saying halo? halo? halo? then breathing into my phone, so i picked up. what? and she wanted my parents and i said not home, then she said what time will they be home? i said who is this? she said windows technicals support. i said there must be some mistake, i dont have a technical problem.
she said sometimes you get pop up windows.
i said what are you selling?
she said i am technical support for windows, i said tell you what, dont ever call here again. and i hung up.
Friday, 28th, October 2011 at 11:32
Has had yet another of these stupid phonecalls off these scammers!!!!!Ive had enough now this is my 5th call from them!My number should be not available to public etc as im ex directory so dont quite understand how they keep coming up with my number!!!!I do just make out to go along with the phonecall for about 20mins and then reply saying does it make any difference if i told u my laptop is a mac haha phone goes straight down!!!
Saturday, 22nd, October 2011 at 15:21
Blow a whistle down the phone. That will get rid of them.
Saturday, 15th, October 2011 at 18:11
(from Canada) I have received this call first about two weeks ago, then again today and like you I googled it and found your post. the first call I “pretended to go thew his game, and then pretended to be really confused and asked him to call back when my hubby got home. With this call, the same Indian-accented man, I told him i didn’t own a computer, and he said “are you sure”… I giggled and said “I think I’d know if I had a computer or not”, then he asked if I had a laptop… to which I stated “What part of “I DON’T HAVE A COMPUTER” did you not understand?” he then quickly hung up. I am contemplation calling the police but I’m not sure what they can do.
Friday, 14th, October 2011 at 11:40
thanks for putting those key words microsoft tech department cause i found yuor message and my mother had just got a phonecall at home from these indian scammers and their phone number 0261004030 we all need to stick together to fight these germs from scamming people thanks haeps kim
Tuesday, 18th, October 2011 at 06:08
I just got a call and got this exact same number. it was from Lucy watson and when I asked for the abn she gave me 137, then changed it to 1338. shouldn’t an abn be longer than that?
Friday, 7th, October 2011 at 10:14
My my, they are busy. Also just received a call (Adelaide). Thanks for this site! Saves me a lot of time. We got a telephone number to call in Sydney: 0280057806. Indian sounding man, couldn’t answer questions, it’s all mentioned in the posts above. Let’s all stay alert and warn each other for scammers like this!
Wednesday, 21st, September 2011 at 18:18
Thanks…informative. Got a call from them today. I live in Canada. Their first problem was to call me the “Mrs” and used my husbands name. And really Windows department. I inquire and asked more questions about his creditials, he couldn’t answer so he never finished his script and hung up. I sure hope that people will not fall for this.
Wednesday, 21st, September 2011 at 13:28
Me too, I had previously told them I use a Mac and don’t want their calls, this time I let them talk to me for longer trying to find out how they got my number. I got the first guy, then the ‘apple’ lady, then the supervisor!! I held them up! Told them I would not do anything until I had researched it, thank goodness I did. great website, thanks
Tuesday, 20th, September 2011 at 11:04
Just had ‘The call’, Googled whilst he was talking and thank goodness I found this site – Thank you 🙂
Thursday, 1st, September 2011 at 12:48
I had a call from Windows Computer Technical Department twice.
He warned me about infection on my computer, sad, that it is more threaten, then virus, and asked me open computer and follow his instruction in order to clean my computer.
So I am only user, I told him: “Let me consulting my son, he is professional man, and after call me back in 15 minutes”.
The man named Ryan and gave me Phone # 18015120605
He never called me back.
Wednesday, 24th, August 2011 at 13:39
BTW, thanks for this thread. Very useful.
Wednesday, 24th, August 2011 at 13:38
Just had my call from these guys (I’m in UK). My wife took the call and was going to hang up but I took it over. The guy said again that he was from Windows Technical so I asked straight out, are you Microsoft. He eventually admitted he wasn’t and quoted another company name but I couldn’t understand him. Also tried 1471, to no avail.
My sister in Adelaide (Australia) got scammed by these guys. Had my brother-in-law run some command which brought up loads of errors, probably quite normal ones, but he was worried about it, gave them access to his computer and then paid some huge amount (>$100) for them to ‘clean’ out the errors. Really p***ed off by this scam.
Tuesday, 23rd, August 2011 at 10:54
I just received a call too. He took me through the “run” button process thing to “prove” to me that he knew that my computer had issues by letting me see the errors and warnings in the list. he asked me how many I had and when I said about 50, he kept saying “Oh my God” which I thought was quite an odd thing to say, and not something that a technical person would say.
I probed him several times and explained that i couldn’t see why I should do what he’s asking me to do without knowing who he was. He said he called from Microsoft Windows technical department. He kept saying “listen to me Maam”. I told him that I didn’t like the way he patronised me especially as I had not asked for support from anyone, and that I wanted to do some checks on who they were before I gave him any details and that I would call him back once I was satisfied that he was indeed there to help me and not get inside my computer. He quoted my home address which freaked me out. I asked him how he knew my phone number and address (I have only lived here 6 months) and he said that this information came up on their system whenever someone had issues on their computer. I felt very uncomfortable. He took me to the website which was very poor (www.support.me is what he made me type in the run button). When I saw that there was a code to enter, I thought, no way am I letting this rude guy into my machine when I haven’t got a problem in the first place. I said that if I felt that I had an issue with my computer, I would take it off my own back to a technician where I live or make a phone call to Microsoft myself.
When I asked him the name of the company he did stutter a bit and kept saying “Microsoft Windows technical department”. I asked him for the proper company name and said to him, when you tell someone where you work, you say that you work for who exactly? And he gave me that name again. I found that strange too as it doesn’t sound like a company name. If it was Microsoft, it would have just been “Microsoft”. He has given me the postcode of L44 HT1 and a phone number of 0151 324 1484 for me to call back “when my computer crashes” he said. When I did a 1471, the number that called me was withheld!!
Anyway, I certainly won’t be calling them back. And thank you everyone on here for your comments as you have helped me see that my gut feeling was correct!
Tuesday, 16th, August 2011 at 21:38
I’m in Canada and get these calls all the time. 2 already today, maximum 8 in a 24 hour period. Always seems to be a different person, always male, always an Indian accent. Say they’re calling from Dallas or Florida. Depending on my mood I either hang up or try asking them questions. They stick to their script mostly, but I’ve gotten some “answers” out of them. When asked how they got my phone number, they say that Microsoft gets an error report and then give it to the “technical department”. They claim that my phone number is on that report. Eventually, they get agitated and hang up. One time, the guy got so angry that he told me: “change your f***ing phone number if you don’t want to get these phone calls”. I haven’t.
Saturday, 13th, August 2011 at 06:15
I just had my umpteenth call from ‘Windows Technical Department’ girl called ‘Vicky’ I asked to speak to her manager, (all indian sounding),the manager’s name is ‘Mark Miller’, he got angry with me when I asked to be taken off the list they have me on, when I asked where they were based he gave me the address 1 Epping road, North Ryde, Sydney (I live in Western Australia)& a telephone # 0261005594, it’s disconnected, when I googled the address a picture of microsoft comes up! ‘Mark’ was very persistent trying to get me to go through a series of commands, I wrote them down but obviously did not enter them on my pc. I have now reported this to Scamwatch, apparantly tho Microsoft have been aware of this scam for around 2 years, mmmmmm
Thursday, 11th, August 2011 at 08:33
Just got my 4th one of these calls said “Not interested” and hung up.
Am really getting annoyed with these scams.
Tuesday, 9th, August 2011 at 21:57
I live in Sydney NSW and received one such call on my landline phone around 5.40 pm on Monday 8th August 2011. (Robbed me of my Hot Seat relaxation time!) The male caller with a difficult foreign accent was from the “technical department of Windows” and said his name was Max(then gave a surname the same as mine!) I asked who he really is and in what country to which he said the name again and “Australia”. I was said to download things (such as music which I do not.. but he was “just speaking generally”) and that I have a virus (which I did not believe) and he was there to help. Again asked “who are you to help?” he claimed to be a Windows service provider and when asked for his name as a service provider he gave 24x7BCK. I asked how much will it cost and that stymied him completely except of course “it will depend what we find”. Tongue in cheek I asked for a number to phone back if I decided to get help and he gave 1800 774 873 and repeated this. Testing it out later I found I got a different 1800 number with a good Oz accented guy. I explained I was just testing as I had got the number I dialled from a very peculiar incoming unsolicited phone call and was checking up. This guy’s comment (in his fine Oz accent) was “that’s a real worry”. Too right! Just googling now for windows techincal support I get better educated … well at least I was suspicious but one does have better things to do.
Monday, 8th, August 2011 at 05:06
I just received a call from Technical Department Windows saying that they had received many emails from my i.p. address. When I questioned them they hung up. I call another call and when I said I had just googled and found they were a scam. They replied we are not a scam madam. I replied “I do not want to give you my personal information and do not call me again, thank you”. I was just stern not cross and didn’t swear at them – I am posting this in your blog just in case I get any further calls from them. Then I can send to Consumer Direct.
Friday, 5th, August 2011 at 18:11
This date Aug. 5th about 10:00 a.m. I received a call from supposedly Windows Technical Department, stating that I had malicious ware on my computer. I had a hard time understanding the East Inidan accent, so they gave me another person. I asked him how they knew this, they said, that messages were sent to them. I asked for their phone number, name and badge numbe. I told them I had Dell and Microsoft support and that I would not be paying for anything else. He fumbled around trying to figure out something, then disconnected us.
Friday, 5th, August 2011 at 06:28
I’m in Australia and have been getting these for a while now. This time, for a bit of fun, I decided to ask them for their ABN (Australian Business Number) for identification purposes. He gave me a five digit number obviously made up on the spot. I had ABN Search open in front of me in case he gave me something resembling the real thing (I initially thought he was a telemarketer rather than a scammer). He then said he’d get a supervisor who got on the phone and said their ABN is confidential. That really got me laughing give all companies provide their ABN so that other companies can claim GST. I really hope these idiots read this site. If anyone gets an ABN from them, make sure you google ABN Search and plug it in, it’d be fun to see what they come up with.
Losers!
Tuesday, 19th, July 2011 at 12:46
I’m in the UK. I’ve just had a call from “The Techical Department of Windows Computing”. I told him “no thanks”, and he hung up, then found this on a Goggle search. The caller had an Indian accent, and asked for me by name. Reading other blogs, there is a suggestion that these calls may coincide with buying a new computer or using a technical help line. I’ve recently bought a computer from Staples and registered it with them and Microsoft. It may be coincidence, but I’ve never had such a call before – and I haven’t bought a computer for years.
Thursday, 21st, July 2011 at 15:52
I would think it is just a coincidence, I get a large number of hits on this post everyday from all over the world, some even come from Mac users…
Friday, 5th, August 2011 at 16:25
We’ve been having another batch of these calls. Previously we have been subjected to several in Springtime.
The latest didn’t both to block his London UK number and an online search indicates other folk have had calls from same…. 0203 232 7676
I will now revert to our usual unsolicited call…. be polite and ask if they can hold on while I get my father/manager/colleague/great aunt etc…. and then just leave them hanging on and, hopefully, wasting their money.
Wednesday, 13th, July 2011 at 21:25
I live in Canada and these people have been calling for months. In the last week I started getting calls past 9 & 10 at night (I am an early riser and am in bed at this time). I ask a lot of questions, and manage to get them to hang up on me rather than me hanging up on them. The first time my mother answered the phone and asked which computer sent a message (there are several in the house, both pc & Mac). The answer was the “main computer” she asked what company they work for and was hung up on.
I answered the phone at 9:45, irate, and I asked what company the lady worked for. She said it was the windows technical department. Later in the conversation I said, you work for Microsoft, right? And she said no – at which point I told her that this is a scam and she hung up on me. Note, when I complained of them calling so late, the lady said “I don’t know what to tell you, we work 24 hours a day…”
I just got another call, which I answered, and I asked for a number to call the windows technical department back at. He said, the number is…”click.” and hung up on me.
I have caller ID and usually don’t pick up any “unavailable name & no,” but somehow these people need to be gotten to stop – they can’t call at odd hours of the night in an attempt to destroy my place of work (my computer).
This is such B.S.
Wednesday, 6th, July 2011 at 22:25
I live in Canada and work from home in the afternoons. I get a call from “windows support” at least 3 times per week. Other than getting my number unlisted what else can we do? This is insane!!
Friday, 14th, October 2011 at 11:52
ring your telephone supplier and tell them you dont want any unsolicited calls or explain what happened and they can help . i did this for my optus acct and it stopped on my mobile and house phone . i think when you sign up with a supplier someone illegally hands our info on
Saturday, 2nd, July 2011 at 16:57
just received a call too from an guy with indian accent who claimed he works with a company affiliated with windows technical department. he said my computer was infected with virus and was going to crash soon and they were here to help prevent it. he then asked me to go to http://WWW.AMMY.COM (what a dumb site) i played along without actually going to the site.he directed me to click and download a couple of stuff and to run it on my computer. i then provided them a fake 7 digit number which they said should start with 3…… i finally googled windows tech dept and found out that it doesnt exist and that it was a scam, i hung up the phone.
Wednesday, 22nd, June 2011 at 08:59
I’m in Queensland and had one of these calls tonight from an Indian accented man, who subsequently passed me to his ‘supervisor’ when I asked too many questions. His name was Roy Watson – a stange name for another man with an Indian accent. It all sounded too dodgy so my wife started checking details on Google whilst I was still talking with them. We found this site, noted that the above comments were all similar to what I was hearing, so I said I would call them back, which I had no intention of doing but it was a way of getting their number, apparently in Melbourne. Not surprised that they’ve already called me back twice whilst I’ve been typing this! What a pain they are… what part of “not interested” do they not understand?!
Saturday, 18th, June 2011 at 21:19
Got a call this (Saturday) evening from ‘the computer technical department’. I am in Scotland. The Indian voice said that there was a problem with my computer. On their system, my IP address was flashing red! I asked him several times what he was selling but he seemed not to hear. He then guided me on my computer through My Computer > (Rt click)Manage > Event Viewer > Application. This revealed a list of items whose purpose I have no idea. The first column of the list normally showed ‘Information’ but occasionally ‘Error’ or ‘Warning’. He said that I need to get rid of the errors and to this end he wanted to connect to my computer. At this point I said goodbye. I have no idea what they hope to achieve from this. Would anyone actually agree to let them get control of their machine?
However, I must find out what the Event Viewer display is telling me.
Saturday, 18th, June 2011 at 23:17
Unfortunately there are people who have been fooled into letting these fraudsters have control of their computers.
According to Microsoft’s own survey (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2011/06/16/microsoft-wakes-up-to-cold-caller-scam-%E2%80%93-what-took-it-so-long/) “79% of people deceived in this way suffered some sort of financial loss”. The details are even more galling:
* 17% of victims had money taken from their accounts
* 19% reported compromised passwords
* 17% were victims of identity fraud
* 53% suffered subsequent computer problems
* The average amount of money stolen was £543
* The average cost of repairing damage caused to computers was £1,073 — rising to $4,800 (£2,977) in the US
* Only two thirds of the people defrauded were able to recover the stolen money (presumably from their credit-card company), and even then, only an average of 42% of the stolen funds
Sadly Microsoft doesn’t seam to be too interested in doing much about it.
Wednesday, 15th, June 2011 at 11:34
Ugh! I have been receiving these calls about once per evening all week here in Australia. Sometimes there is just a pause and Indian-ish mumble, or there will be an attempt at the scam.
I can’t be bothered playing along anymore.
Monday, 13th, June 2011 at 11:54
Hi,
Thanks very much for setting this up.
I am in the UK, I found you right away on Dogpile searching for ‘Windows Technical Dept.’ after the third call from the ‘Indian voice’ in a couple of months – I asked him for his company’s name or their website, to which the phone went promptly down.
Of course, no 1471 trace.
How could I even consider such a thing might exist!!
Anyway, I hope there will sometime be a way to get at these guys, as if the usual computer problems were not enough!
Ric
Saturday, 11th, June 2011 at 09:45
Had a call this evening from “The Department of Windows” – it’s comical really, do they not realize how suss it sounds. I asked the guy for the Australian Company Number (ACN) of his organisation. He told me he didn’t know but the senior executives of the Department of Windows could look in to it and get back to me about it. Priceless!
Friday, 10th, June 2011 at 19:15
I had one of these calls yesterday. I’m in England. I had a very similar one earlier in the year from a company called ‘Click to Fix’. I phoned Consumer Direct and they referred me to the National Fraud Helpline, because the police were collecting information about this scam. I regularly get calls like this. There’s a tell-tale pause after you say hello, presumably while they transfer the call to India. Today it was the one about compensation claims.
Thursday, 9th, June 2011 at 13:48
Well they just tried the same trick with me. When I told the Idian on the phone that I have worked in I.T. for 31 years and have no intention of letting some twit remotely access my computer EVER, there was a pause. I added that when I track him down, he will regret making this call, the excuses and rambling started so I just hung up. They keep ringing back though. Patrick
Wednesday, 1st, June 2011 at 18:46
i also had one of this call from a person who sounded like an russian he didn’i no how to talk in english .im in uk and i received this call on 21st march of this year and he told me that,i have downloaded som very dangerous file from internet and these are very harmful for my computer and i asked him where he is calling he was only telling me that he was from windows and not even the place where they r situated..so i hung up but after few second they again called but i didn’t answer the call
Wednesday, 1st, June 2011 at 20:23
It is interesting that you say you are in the UK and yet the IP address of the computer you are using is in Bangalore, also that you found this thread by carrying out a search on google.co.in, odd that…
Friday, 20th, May 2011 at 23:33
just tell them that you don’t have a computer, he rang again, and thats what i said,he “oh ok by” so he is obviously fishing
Thursday, 19th, May 2011 at 09:12
I live in New Zealand and I have just had a call from an Indian guy claiming to work for,windows technical department, trying to tell me that i had malicious files on my computer, and that my computer had been sending these files to them. I took not of the department he said he was working for, and typed it into the computer, which led me to this site, I told him to stop bulls—-ing me and never call this number again
Saturday, 14th, May 2011 at 15:21
I live in Canada, just got a new computer the other week and already got this call. They said it came from “Ottawa”, our country’s capital.
I was a little concerned because I got this computer strictly for work. I mean, I work behind a secure remote desktop (SRD) but it was still troublesome.
Glad to know it’s a scam and I haven’t done anything stupid. Thank you for posting this, it’s very reassuring.
Tuesday, 19th, April 2011 at 10:07
I need some help urgently!
I was distracted at the time and just went through with what he was telling me, worried that my sister’s computer had a genuine problem.
Has anyone else gone through with downloading the remote access software? Can I just simply delete the software off the computer or is it a bit too late for that?
I’m hoping someone else was as stupid as me. I’m scared to even turn the computer on.
Tuesday, 19th, April 2011 at 10:13
The best thing would be to disconnect the computer from the internet, remove the remote access software, change the administrator password, and run a virus check to see if there is any other problem software there, before reconnecting the computer to the internet.
Monday, 18th, April 2011 at 20:15
This may help. Please excuse the shorthand.
Just reported similar call to Consumer Direct as follows (sorry for shorthand)- they are three e-mails to other people:
(1) Was called this morning by “Computer Technical Department” (!!!) saying I had malware on my computer and asking me to turn it on. Said they had a list of all I.P. addresses, but when I asked them for mine so that I could check if it was correct, said they were “not authorised” to give it out. They gave a number for returning their call as I said I was in a hurry now: 8082802035; but they forgot to dial 141 when phoning me, so I dialled 1471 and got their number: 0231168735. This is the way I caught them! I told them to get lost and hung up.
If you type this mumber into Google you will be directed to “Who calls me?” and see that it is a scam. The fellow (with an Indian accent) said he was working for “Login for Speed”.
(2) knew of course immediately that it was a scam caller: I just stayed on the line to make him think I was interested and catch him out by getting more information about him. These people have no brains. Imagine calling from the “Computer Technical Department” – as if anyone would be stupid enough to think there was such a thing! When I asked the name of his company, he said “Login for Speed”! When I asked why he thought there was malware on my computer, he said the company had a list of all I.P. addresses (which is rubbish), so I asked him for mine, pretending that I just wanted to check against mine (which I know) to see if he was genuine. I told him he must be stupid as what he said would imply that he had access to everyone’s computer and could examine it for malware. The utter brainlessness of these people! Anyhow, I caught him out. He forgot to conceal his number, which the “Who calls me?” website confirms as a scam. He was “phishing”. He would have talked people through some rubbish to try to get their passwords would then have planted his own malware on their computers. I told him I would report him to Interpol and to the police for fraud, and than I said the conversation was finished and hung up.
I had pretended to be in a hurry and asked if I could have a number to call him back. He gave me 8082802035, which doesn’t exist and which he made up on the spot. I could tell as he obviously didn’t know it! His real number is 0231168735.
(3) The Call Wiki Free Reverse Telephone Directory gives the following information about the number that the scammer gave me (8082802035):
808-280-2035 / 8082802035 / (808) 280-2035 – Report a Call
Technically, the telephone exchange switch is identified as MILNHIADCM1. The phone number 808-280-2035 is assigned to BLUE LICENSES HOLDING, LLC and the actual exchange location is in WAILUKU, HI. Other phone numbers in the 808 area code that also have comments are 808-004-4489, 808-004-5535,808-060-0692, 808-060-0702, 808-060-0832, 808-120-1902, 808-168-3830, 808-178-3073, 808-178-7749and 808-181-0000. The owner of 808-280-2035 can be obtained through a detailed report. As well, the address and number type is also available in a detailed report. Additional Number Variations: 808/280/2035 – 808.280.2035 – 808 280 2035. The description we have for the 808 area code is: Hawaii. Since 808-280-2035 belongs to the 808 area code, we also know that the local time in WAILUKU, HI is 06:19am.
As for the UK number which was used as an intermediary (0231168735), it must be a “forwarding” number but is inaccessible if you try to ring it! Dialling 1471 returns this number but it is not available for calls.
I’d love to catch this so-and-so and throttle him! However, he appears to live in Hawaii (where I have actually been several times)!
Friday, 15th, April 2011 at 15:30
Just had a phone call from the ‘Windows Technical Department’. Spoken to by one Indian man who then passed me on to his supervisor when he began to realise I wasn’t falling for it! The second man would not go off script and kept repeating himself. He directed me with where to look on my computer and I have to say he sounded quite convincing. He then started telling me that he could clear the problem up remotely which is when I really became suspicious. I gave an excuse and arranged for him to call again on Monday so that I had time to research and see if it was a legitimate call. Having read all these posts I can see that it clearly isn’t! Will have fun telling him where to go if he does call back Monday!
Thursday, 7th, April 2011 at 03:13
I had heard through the grapevine that this ‘windows technical support’ rubbish was a scam. I would string them along like other have described but then I just told them I didn’t have a computer and they rudely hung up in my ear. I wonder what the real Windows would have to say about being impersonated by corrupt indians?
Wednesday, 6th, April 2011 at 06:57
I have received about 4 of these calls in the past 3 days. just then i had an indian man who was quite rude to me when i was questioning him. I asked for his employee I.D number and he kept changing the subject and he couldnt give me a number to call to verify either. I thought it sounded way too fishy so i told him not to call me again and hung up. Thought i would have a look in google to see if it was a scam and this site came up. Glad I didnt fall for it!!
Tuesday, 5th, April 2011 at 05:56
I’ve had lots of these calls over the past year. I usually just hangup or if my husband takes the call he enjoys stringing them along till they hang up. Had one yesterday & again today. Told the Indian-sounding guy today I only use my computer on a local network and never on the internet and my other computer is a mac so how could he help me. He just went back to his script. I told him I knew it was a scam and to take me off whatever list they use (as if.) I’ve outsmarted them I think, I’m disconnecting my landline for good and only using mobile. I guess by the sound of other comments I still might get calls but haven’t so far. Fingers crossed.
Wednesday, 30th, March 2011 at 09:12
I just had a call from an Indian sounding voice claiming to be from the “Technical Department of Windows”. I immediately thought it sounded fishy and when I asked his name and the answer was “Robin Watson” I definitely thought it sounded weird. I told him I couldn’t get to my computer right now and got a phone number (which I suspect is bogus) and hung up.
Saturday, 9th, April 2011 at 04:47
Oh my god, just got off the phone to one then, i asked for his phone number to confirm his identity with his boss, he gave me a number which went straight to a message bank and guess what his name was…..Robin Watson! Employee id MZ07…. people be aware!
Tuesday, 18th, October 2011 at 05:55
I just got a call from a Lucy watson. googled windows tech support and this was at top of list. read it and hung up. thanks. thought it was all a bit fishy
Wednesday, 30th, March 2011 at 01:14
I got a same phone call with indian accent yesterday, told me that I have download so many programme from internat and corrupted my computer, when I told how did he know my phone no, he didn’t answer and keep telling me that my computer will crash and my firewall is corrupted and asked me to switch on the computer for checking. I told him, I have computer knowledge more than you so just shut up and told Mr. Bill gates Thank you and hanged up my phone.
Monday, 28th, March 2011 at 08:51
We had recieved a call just earlier simliar to your discription, a man with a Indian accent.
We were unsure if he was ligitimate so we got some of his details. He gave us the address of a d supposed office in South Yarra, Melbourne.
He was telling us we had downloaded too many files and we needed to delete of some. My brother was on the phone and he didnt realise that it sounded a bit dodgy.
We hung up and I looked up windows technical deptarment and it came up with pages of people saying they had been scammed.
So I called the number back asking for their job description and he said they detected when virus’ had infected computers. I asked him how he knew this and he mummbled something then said he would transfer me to his boss. At this point I knew it was a scam so I hung up.
A few minutes later, I recieved another call, from the original caller saying he would tell me more about the virus. I said I knew more about computers and mine is fine but thankyou for is concern.
He sounded a bit shocked so I hung up.
Thursday, 24th, March 2011 at 09:58
I have had so many of these calls. Initially, I would just hang up on them. By about the 10th call over a period of approx. 8 weeks. I asked how they would know that something was wrong with my computer. I got a scripted reply. I then told them the only way a corrupt file was reaching my computer was through them and hung up. Last night 23/03/11 I got another call. This time I asked for a phone number on which I could call them back at a time more convenient. The ph no. is 399883950. The fact that the caller had a strong Indian accent and said her name was Taylor Brown did however provide me with some entertainment.
Thursday, 17th, March 2011 at 14:17
17Mar11 14.10 Just finished taking a call guiding me to the “junk files” on my PC, he knew my PC ID so quite convincing, played along whilst Googleing Windows Tech. Services and having arrived at your site told caller where he could go!! Thanks.
Thursday, 10th, March 2011 at 06:24
I’ve received a few of these phone calls already. The first time i played along. After following his prompts we ended up on a website called ‘logmein’ which is a remote access site allowing anybody in the world to access your computer…. Huge scam! Me and my personal details are safe 🙂
Thursday, 24th, February 2011 at 05:30
I too have had lots of these – starting in October 2010 and received another today February 24th 2011. I am in Queensland Australia. One came through on my mobile phone, and as I had caller ID I could see the number had a 234 prefix – the international code for Nigeria. My callers aren’t Indian,they are African – they cannot speak English at all well, and they read from a script with not a pause for breath. They tell me they “detected corruptions on my computer” and they will “clean my Windows” if only I will sit down and follow their technical instructions……..I have reported these calls to my phone company – but unfortunately unless you get three calls in less than five days, nothing can be done…
Thursday, 10th, March 2011 at 08:48
Thank you for your comment Yvette, this suggest that the scam is spreading. I have also noticed that an increasing number of readers of this post are coming from Australia and New Zealand, which suggests that these countries are increasingly being targeted by these fraudsters. Take care, keep your computer safe.