It's almost certainly a scam. Ignore it.
Hi
Am hoping some of you tech savvy people can give me some advice.
I just got a call from a guy who said he was from a company called Support On Click, apparently the service providers of Micrsoft. He said that everytime I have been using a programme on my computer (ive got Windows XP) and a pop message comes up, it sends a message to them to say there is a problem.
He asked me to do the following thing click Start>Run>type 'Prefetch' and a list of of 42 programmes came up. He said that everytime I went onto these programmes (including AVG,Excel, I-tunes), a seperate file was being created (a virus) and it was being updated every time I used the programme.
He said that he could tell from his computer that we hadn't updated our virus protection, although I told him we had recently downloaded AVG. He said the main reason for this, and the computer running slow (its not that slow!) was because we didn't have a Microsoft warranty.
Our computer is quite old, but has been updated in the last few years so not sure what this means.
He basically said he can get their technicians to update our computer with a four year warranty, which he said was free, but then highlighted that it would be £50 a year registration fee.
Im very wary of someone ringing up with all of this information, and really not sure whether to believe it and do anything? I said I would call him back if we decided to go ahead.
Am hoping someone can shed some light on this, and offer any advice on what they think I should do. As I dont want to pay out £200 for something that I dont need.
many thanks
ellen
It's almost certainly a scam. Ignore it.
This is a con
firstly how did he get your phone number
secondly microsoft would not call you with such stuff unless of course you are a multi million pound user which would make it worth their while
I would contact your local trading standards office they will probably have this on file already if not you will be reporting it if they get enough complaints they will sort these crooks out
Sounds like a right scam. Probably hoping to cause panic and because it's coming upto xmas, alot of folk might panic and just go for it.
Google for "supportonclick" and "support on click" to get some more info.
While they *may* be a legit company, their business techniques suck.
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
get as much information on the company as you can and phone the police (who will probably not be interested, but hey, you tried).
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefetcher
it is indeed a scam, especially since you had just downloaded AVG.The Prefetcher is a component of versions of Microsoft Windows starting with Windows XP.[citation needed] It is a component of the Memory manager that speeds up the Windows boot process, and shortens the amount of time it takes to start up programs. In Windows Vista, SuperFetch and ReadyBoost [1] extend upon the prefetcher and attempt to accelerate application and boot launch times respectively by monitoring and adapting to usage patterns over periods of time and loading the majority of the files and data needed by them into memory so that they can be accessed very quickly when needed.
Scam.
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s....php?p=7470448
Ignore it.
Might also be worth dropping BBC Watchdog a line here
correct the police will not be interested however trading standards will the other people i talk to in cases like this are consumer direct who will put you onto the right track
They are based in India – what will the Police, Trading Standards or BBC's watchdog do?
OK, the BBC can raise awareness, but not by much. Who watches Watchdog regularly anyway?
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
Thanks all soo much for your help , its a relief to know I can get such speedy advice! I shall be getting on to trading standards asap.
It seems that I should have gone with my gut feeling and just ignored it, but I suppose you never know.
thanks once again.
ellen
If they cant take direct action they will at least make the public aware this is going on
Luckily for Ellen she was sensible enough not to just fork out the money
a lot of people dont use common sense where computers and viruses are concerned and just get scared into paying out
Having said that she was daft enough to come here and ask us lot what to do
Last edited by martingold; 9th-December-2008 at 02:40 PM.
Only around 5 million potential victims last week
Having said that she was daft enough to come here and ask us lot what to do[/quote]
Yes, it is FAQ No. 325 - dump your PC in a skip and spend the money on dancing (or shoes).Having said that she was daft enough to come here and ask us lot what to do
Actually I am surprised that scammers are using the phone. I thought this sort of thing was all done by email these days.
nope - still happens, people trust others on the phone more often than via the internet. And considering the cheap cost of international calls now, its only going to get worse. Ive been getting loan companies phoning me recently, all from india - they may not be a scam but i hang up pretty quickly due to me not understanding them very well and them asking me to repeat myself (i must admit i do deliberately "turn up" the accent, its funny)
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)
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