Edit: 20 March 2012. I just had a phone call from “Anna”. When I asked her how it felt to work for a company, phoning people and telling them lies. She told me “I’m proud of it. Because nowadays most people don’t know it’s a lie“. Really – that’s exactly what she said.
This has just been forwarded to me from our local Neighbourhood Watch (I live in the UK) – see below. Normally I dismiss these stories as scaremongering, but I KNOW this one is true as it happened to my neighbours just a couple of days ago.
They received a phone call from someone who gave them the impression that they were calling from Microsoft, told them their computer was sending out spam messages, talked them through delving into an error reporting panel I’d never seen before to show them all the errors and then directed them to Spark Support.
I managed to convince them it was a scam. If you receive a call telling you there is something wrong with your computer, put the phone down.
Do NOT talk to these scammers and DO NOT let them take control of your computer. In fact, do not have anything to do with The Spark Support. I have just delved into their website. Their testimonials page contains links to a forum where it is clear that they have hijacked legitimate user accounts to post scam testimonials. The site they hacked contains this warning “There was a recent downtime due to issues with our backup servers followed by the corruption of some db tables from a hack attempt.”
Important note: There is a LEGITIMATE company called “Spark Support” (www.sparksupport.com). They DO NOT cold call and and are a LEGITIMATE computer support company.
This is the message forwarded to me by Neighbourhood Watch
“SCAM COMPUTER CALLS
Over the past few days we have received several reports of a Computer Support Company, cold calling people in the area asking them to log onto their computer as they have detected serious viruses on your computer or your connections are affecting neighbours. They say they are from companies like “Spark Support”, “Microsoft”, or just “Your computer support company” etc. They get you to log onto a web site where you enter in a code and then they take remote access to you computer. After they supposedly remove the offending virus they then inform you that they will now be sending you a rather large bill for the service. These Remote Access companies offer remote technical support to computer users but they charge a large fee for something that can be done easily. Should you receive such a call, DO NOT switch on your computer, take their contact details and hang up. Fraud line has recommended that you then ring the consumer company direct and complain.”
I’ve had around 4 calls in UK from people with Indian accents with a similar story. Odd since I’m on a Mac! My guess is it’s not a British Indian accent but could be wrong. Last time I got mad and said “why don’t you f***-off you thieving bitch” (twas a female this time) and hung up. They immediately phoned back and a male said “is that Mr xxx” (getting name wrong), I didn’t reply, he then said “why don’t you f***-off you”….son-of-a-bitch”, and then he hung up. He couldn’t very well call me a thief LOL. I reckon MS have let their standards slip a bit.
Sorry for those who’ve fallen for it. But never trust that anyone who calls you or sends and email is what they say they are. Never give anything useful to them nor visit a website from that. If you’ve done what they say, I’d suggest at least watching your accounts closely. It could be just a payment scam, but it’d really be safer to reformat your hard drive and re-install Windows in case they’ve installed something; you don’t know what level it could be lurking and taking CC numbers etc. in the future.
Likewise, I received a call – the guy had an Indian accent and seemed not to understand when I told him that I run Linux, not Windows!
I got scammed by 24x7pchelp(dot)com today, too. Talked to “Ethan Hunt”, senior technician. Sounded so legitimate. Said my Antivirus had expired and my trial Vista software had expired and my computer would crash in 5 hours. Showed me a list of about 300 error messages supposedly on my computer. I expressed surprise, but was taken in and fell for it and paid for $200 for a once-only software upgrade and $100 for Antivirus and gave them remote control access to my computer to work on it for 1 hr. My husband came home, got suspicious and we tried to call the Florida number – it didn’t work. I interrupted the remote control work and removed permission. we called the 1-877 number at 24×7 and enumerated the lies they had told me. Turns out my Norton was still fine for 60 days and we had purchased the Vista CDs with the computer (no trail version). They said, “Sorry, you’ve already paid for it.” I said “Forget it. I purchased based on lies, so this is fraud. You taped the conversation and MasterCard will listen to it if they investigate and I have proof the things you told me were a lie. Don’t process that payment, or you’ll be investigated for fraud.” They are refusing to refund my money saying I paid for their service and my credit card company says they don’t have a very strong case because I willingly gave my credit card and don’t have anything in writing about what the service I was paying for. I’ve cancelled my credit card to stop the professional thieves from 24x7pchelp(dot)com from getting any more of my money – now that they’ve captured my credit card information–and did system restore on my computer to get rid of any activity they did while they had access to my computer. This is a scam, folks. Take their name and number and hang up and then do your research and see that you shouldn’t call them back. They are very convincing that they are “legitimate Vista software providers” and also play on the fear thay your computer is going to crash within hours unless they perform this emergency rescue operation.
I have had five of these calls in the last month or so; always the same irate Indian who I can’t understand well. He is shouting and ranting at me that my computer is sending out threats and he must fix it ‘mam’ ‘Am I in front of my computer mam? Can I turn on my computer mam?’ etc. I told him a couple of times I have no computer and how did he know whether or not I have a computer or not, and he just keeps going on and on. I can usually tell it will be this ‘company’ as when I pick up I hear a single ringing tone before he speaks. I am trying to think of something good to do to annoy him. I usually put my five year old on the line to these kind of people, which is funny. I have had to email my mum and tell her though, as she might well think it was real. I have TPS so I have no idea why they are calling.
i been getting cold calls from Sparksupport asking out for Remote Network services, migration to cloud solutions …
Avoid http://www.24x7pchelp.com (also goes by name technogennie and finmaestros). There might be some decent people who work there, but they also have professional scam artists working for them (like Senior Technician Ethan Hunt), and if you get scammed you’ll have the fight of your life to get your money back. It works like this: you’ll get a call from a computer technician claiming to be a Microsoft authorized service provider, saying they have been receiving error messages from your computer for a few weeks and are phoning to resolve the problem. He will probably have an Indian accent as it appears they are operating out of a call centre in India (they also have a front office in Florida). At this point, you should take his contact information, and HANG UP. Microsoft agents will NEVER call customers unless the customer asks them to call or fills in a support with phone case. Contact Microsoft Fraud Line at 1-800-785-3448 to report them.
If you have a lapse in judgement and fall for the scam (as I did) and follow their instructions giving them remote access to your computer (you might not be aware this is what they are doing, but it is), they will use Event Viewer to show pages of files with errors. From my computer research, I now understand that “Event Viewer system logs display prominent ‘Error’ icons, which often relate to trivial matters like the failure of a process to start, but could be used by a scammer to convince someone their computer needs ‘fixing’ by running a script.” (http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/314295/windows_event_viewer_phishing_scam_remains_active/). He will also be able to read out to you your operating system product code, further deceiving you into believing he is truly an authorized Microsoft technician. In fact, he is just reading it off your screen which he has obtained remote access to without your knowledge. Then under the pretense of scanning your computer, the technician will get access to your computer through http://www.logmein123.com and is able to display, through sleight of hand, a screen saying your software warranty had expired and that you will lose all your data in 5 hours. They will say you need to renew your software (like Vista or your antivirus) to avoid a complete systems crash and will direct you to a very professional looking website, http://www.24x7pchelp.com, to make the purchases. Then they will request remote access to your computer for one hour to “fix” it and do the download of purchased “software”.
Basically, these guys are masterful at gaining your trust and use their superior computer knowledge to deceive you about the status of your Antivirus software, the state of your Operating System, and the security of your computer. They use fear of an imminent computer crash to persuade you to buy “software” you do not need. When you express doubts or reservations about what they are telling you, they assure you that they are who they say they are (authorized Microsoft professionals), that the situation is critical and that saving your computer’s data is their chief concern. If you lay down your money, their refund policy (it’s a joke, really) will not protect you and the company will likely refuse you a refund, basically standing behind these deceptive marketing and sales tactics, essentially showing you they endorse this kind of business practice–which is completely contrary to the marketing on their website. Here’s their mission statement: 24x7PC Help was founded by a bunch of enthusiastic computer professionals passionate about raising the bar on service quality with a view to provide best technical support service and with it educate the customers about their computer. If you are lucky enough to get your money back (for me it meant playing my cards very carefully and going to the top, company co-owner Shawn Ray), you will not get a full refund; they will keep a deduction of $59 USD for “instant services”.
If you go to your Credit Card Dispute Department, you will be told that you have nothing in writing, so they can’t help you – which is exactly why these scammers do the whole transaction over the phone. You will also be told ‘Buyer Beware’ which is basically an approach that blames the victim of the scam. Yes, you can call me stupid for falling for it; but the charge against the 24x7pchelp employees is far more serious: misrepresenting who they were (it’s called fraud, folks) and using deception to obtain purchases. Buyer Beware says if you’re stupid enough to fall for it, it’s your fault. I find that outrageous. Well, I for one am going to hold this company accountable for the tactics of this salesperson and am going to hold them to the high standard they advertise on their website. I will point the finger where the blame lies. I share this so that others will learn from my experience and not fall for similar scams.
Working for a more honest world.
Suzanne
Funny, but true story about http://www.24x7pchelp.com. I called their 1-877-523-2355 number to complain that one of their technicians had called me claiming to be an authorized Microsoft Service representative, and I had just discovered that I had been lied to. NOTE: Microsoft agents will NEVER call customers unless the customer asks them to call or fills in a support with phone case. Contact Microsoft Fraud Line at 1-800-785-3448 to report them. The very nice young man who answered assured me that none of their representatives would claim that. I insisted one had and gave him the technicians name and time of call. Again he insisted that they never claim to be authorized Microsoft service providers. Then I heard shouting in the background. The young man excused himself for a minute and as I listened, I clearly heard an older man with an Indian accent yelling, “If a customer asks if we are authorized Microsoft software providers, you say YES! YOU SAY YES!” When the young man returned on the phone, I said, “I see they are teaching you to lie.” He was at a loss for words. A minute later, he said he needed to go, but would call me back in 15 minutes. He never did. When I called back one hour later to reconnect with him, I was unable to, and unfortunately I hadn’t gotten his name. I suspect he was probably an innocent computer science grad who had no idea what kind of company he’s gotten in to.
are you human? 9+5=stupid human!
i live in wolverhampton, uk- i get these calls every other week, sometimes in daily succession- they ring till you answer (so it just keeps ringing) and when i answer i get this ********** (imagine a sarcastic imitation voice now) say hello, is there a mr dunny here- i answer, then he goes- there is something wrong with your computer, i’m am calling you, blar blar. now i know how to look after my computer and i certainly know that if i want something i will look for and ask for it- not take random sales from people i’m not acquainted with, with no means of recording relevant information. NOTE how they withhold their number when they(by which i mean you) hang up- instant show they have something to hide. i have had many of these calls- with no success on getting their number- i use to be nice when letting them down but once i was told to shut the fuck up! so now my typical answer is don’t call again and FUCK OFF- they still call. i hope they go to hell. cold calling should be illegal- at least from outside countries.
there are computr hackers the should stop this madness i am not giving name cuz been conned
Just had a similar call. The first thing he asked me was “do I have a computer”. I told him I did have a computer (but didn’t tell him it was a Mac). He then said that they worked with Microsoft and had detected a problem with my Windows software… So I’m thinking ‘Hang on a minute, a few seconds ago you didn’t even know whether I had a computer, and it certainly isn’t running Windows’. He tried to get me to boot my computer up but I said no, and asked him for his name, and the company name. Again, he had a strong Indian accent and his English was very poor so it was hard to tell what he was saying, sounded like Henry at April Solution. Anyway, I played with him for a while until he got wound up, at which point he said he was going to get his supervisor then the line went quite so I hung up after a few mins. It was obvious from the start that it was a scam – I thought it was rather hilarious really, but I can see how some people may get taken in.
Ps. Just done a 1471 on the call and the number recorded was 0161 156 9823. Googled it and found this: http://whitton.ning.com/forum/topics/new-scam-being-tried-1
PC crashed friday and got a call today (indian voice)saying they know i have a problem? and said they were from microsoft, (they even knew my name phone number and business name!)
they tried to talk me thro what it was (but I just pretended i was following the commands on the computer screen that was dead,)and in the end asked for £95 to fix it! after I said Bill Gates was a millionare and wouldend have charged to fix his own problems they put the phone down on me. so the bas**rds prob sent me a virus killed my machine then wanted money to fix it.
so i said i would re-format my drive to cure the prob at no cost to me
Well last year my dad got a phone call from an Indian saying that his computer had something wrong with it and needed to gain access my dad not being the best on computers did not know what he was on about there are 3 computers in the house so i got on the phone and i played along for a bit not doing as he said then i asked so what company do you work for he said the computer company i laughed and said what computer company he started getting cheeky so i kept asking name the company he could not so i told him to f*%k off but yesterday i got the call again he said the computer is downloading a virus i said what computer he did not answer so i asked again what company he said microsoft so i said then i will just ask my brother a symantec employee to have a look at it he hung up so i have warned all family members to hang up if people ring asking about the computer.
We had a phone call this morning claiming to be from IT Solutions saying we had problems with my computer. My husband said I was out and could they phone back later and speak to me. The male was Indian. He hasn’t phoned back yet………..
Beware of a company called Qmen Solutions Limited. They cold call under the name of Qmen IT Solutions telling you that you have a virus or Windows Error messages. They also say that they are from Microsoft and then they will direct you to their website which looks very impressive. They access your computer telling you that you have all sorts of errors and as for a fee of £125.00 to sort it. They contacted my wife and she believed them and after I hit the roof she got back on to them and threatened them with the police they refunded the money. We believe that they got access to her emails as they have alson been contacting friends and family.
They have rang back a couple of times since (a male with an Indian voice) but my wife now tells them to contact me. I am still waiting for them to call and get their eardrums blasted!
I’ve had 3 calls over the last few months, Indian accent and the spiel is the same. I have a virus and could I go to my computer and they will talk me through a “fix”. They always ask for me by name. The 1st call almost had me but then I realized, my partner bought the computer he pays the broadband and its all in his name. How did they get my name? Now I just play along and keep them on the line for as long as I can. I eventually get told to go forth and multiply! The last call was a woman who claimed to be from “Global IT technicians” and inferred she was working on behalf of micro soft. Now I seem to have a “problem with windows”
Had an indian women call me today on my house number and she asked me if i had a computer i must have told her 3-4 times i dont have a computer, but kept going on about viruses and stuff, she asked again to turn my computer on and i said i dont have one she got angry and told me not stop wasting her time, when SHE called me!! i cant ring them back either has the number is unknown! otherwise id make sure id make their life a living hell for speaking so rudely to me! these people need stopping, if i get another call ill make sure i go along with it and annoy them