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Thread: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

  1. #21
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    ... Another still popular scam is domain scamming - companies who phone up someone with a domain name registered for their website and try and convince them that they must have other tlds (org.uk, .com, or whatever) to protect their brand or somesuch - luckily they'll do it all for you...at a hugely inflated price. (and probably lock your IPS tag for a kings ransom)
    and do not be surprised if, having shown concern and the willingness to part with cash if someone else just happens to have recently acquired the domain you were seeking.

  2. #22
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    The one I got a couple of times was that someone else was trying to register a domain with our business name - and that they were "obliged" to offer first dibs to me before processing their registration.

    Quite a clever scam, but it kind of fell down when I ask exactly which domain they were trying to register, who this registrant was, etc.

  3. #23
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    Actually I am surprised that scammers are using the phone. I thought this sort of thing was all done by email these days.
    I'm not at all surprised. When you think about it, it's probably quite a good idea.

    Most people are kinda immune to the email scams these days. You'd really have to be rather stupid to sign up to anything that you got from email, asking you for money, or all your details.

    However, most people have a PC that's connected to the internet these days. Pick a random page in the phone book, and start phoning people. There's not so much thinking time when you're on the phone to someone, and a lot of people know very little about viruses, or how to proect from them. And if you get someone that is knowledgeable about it, you drop the phone call straight away.

    When you get someone purporting to be acting for a respectable (did I really just call Microsoft respectable??) company, telling you that your computer has a virus and they are aware of it because it's sending them messgages, which is a complete fabrication, they're just randomly targetting you, I imagine that a fair number of people will pay first, and think about it later. But if they're offering to take your £50 there and then by reading out your card details, they have the money before you really get a chance to think about it.

    An 8 hour day with 1 sucess an hour is £400 a day, £2000 a week, and £100,000 a year. And I bet that they're aiming for (and wouldn't surprise me if they are achieving) a higher success rate than that....

  4. #24
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by TheTramp View Post
    ...An 8 hour day with 1 sucess an hour is £400 a day, £2000 a week, and £100,000 a year. And I bet that they're aiming for (and wouldn't surprise me if they are achieving) a higher success rate than that....
    A crook has your card details and just withdraws the amount they said they would? Hmm ...

  5. #25
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    Yes, it is FAQ No. 325 - dump your PC in a skip and spend the money on dancing (or shoes).
    I knew someone would have a sensible solution if we waited long enough
    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    Actually I am surprised that scammers are using the phone. I thought this sort of thing was all done by email these days.
    Quote Originally Posted by TheTramp View Post
    I'm not at all surprised. When you think about it, it's probably quite a good idea.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    nope - still happens, people trust others on the phone more often than via the internet.
    They harvest phone numbers with an automatic dialer
    these are machines which generate millions of random phone numbers per hour dial them then put a flag against them if they are answered
    I am sure by now almost everyone has silent calls ie when you answer there is no one on the other end
    Once these are flagged the machine automatically creates a list of live numbers for anyone to purchase mainly cold call companies

    They also have started sending out scams by post i recieved the "you have won millions in some lottery you didnt enter" scam by post the other day so maybe people are starting to see through all the email type scam

  6. #26
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    A crook has your card details and just withdraws the amount they said they would? Hmm ...
    They probably would stick to that amount - it may be a scam, but if they do actually give you something for your money, albeit expensive and not actually required, then its a more thorny legal issue - YOU agreed to it. Lets the scam go on for much longer until they are eventually investigated through official channels like Trading Standards and the like. (like the recent Lapland scam, Trading Standards are on it, but have little power and can't "force" refuns or even closure)

  7. #27
    Registered User martingold's Avatar
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    like the recent Lapland scam, Trading Standards are on it, but have little power and can't "force" refuns or even closure
    You mean father christmas isnt real??

  8. #28
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by martingold View Post
    They harvest phone numbers with an automatic dialer
    these are machines which generate millions of random phone numbers per hour dial them then put a flag against them if they are answered
    Basically War Diallers, we did this in the 80's - so old hat donchaknow But why "random" phone numbers ? Surely "sequential" ?

  9. #29
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by martingold View Post
    They harvest phone numbers with an automatic dialer
    these are machines which generate millions of random phone numbers per hour dial them then put a flag against them if they are answered
    I am sure by now almost everyone has silent calls ie when you answer there is no one on the other end
    Once these are flagged the machine automatically creates a list of live numbers for anyone to purchase mainly cold call companies
    If you do 1471 and there is a number, you can phone BT (in the phone book under nuisance calls) and ask them to block the number from phoning you again. I had to do this at work and you wouldn't believe who was giving us silent phone calls from their marketing department....

    Also there is a number you can phone to take you off the silent calling list. Am sorry but I can't remember what it is, but watchdog might have it

  10. #30
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by jeanie View Post

    Also there is a number you can phone to take you off the silent calling list. Am sorry but I can't remember what it is, but watchdog might have it
    only if they are uk based
    I have telephone preference service which is a free of charge anti cold calling service its done on a list basis ie any uk company who does cold calling type marketing are bound by law not to call the numbers on the list

  11. #31
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by martingold View Post
    only if they are uk based
    I have telephone preference service which is a free of charge anti cold calling service its done on a list basis ie any uk company who does cold calling type marketing are bound by law not to call the numbers on the list
    I registered with TPS after getting fed up with so many cold calls. Still get the very occasional one, and sometimes those ones that are a recording ('Hi you have won...' no idea what else it says as I hang up at that point) but that's all.

  12. #32
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    A crook has your card details and just withdraws the amount they said they would? Hmm ...
    From what I've seen, this company does do what they say they'll do – so, as such, they are not crooks.

    It's just their methods for gaining new customers that is highly unethical.

    And there's not a lot the police, trading standards or BT can do about it.
    Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story

  13. #33
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    Re: Phone call from Microsoft, now not sure what to do.

    Quote Originally Posted by ducasi View Post
    From what I've seen, this company does do what they say they'll do – so, as such, they are not crooks.

    It's just their methods for gaining new customers that is highly unethical.

    And there's not a lot the police, trading standards or BT can do about it.
    As it happens they are crooks as they are using computer babble (the bit about prefetch creating a virus) to try to con non technical people into taking up their services
    This is straight forward fraud not just being unethical

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