They are a bit naive so its easy to string them along. Just don't go to any web sites they tell u too (or at least wind them up telling them its showing some mysterious error code) or give them any personal information.
So far I have have 2 clients report this within week a guy with poor english presumably from an Indian call centre calls up claiming to be
Microsoft support and tells you you have a problem on your computer and must renew a licence, if you argue he then tells you it is to get rid of
malware that is on your computer ! In one case the guy took control of the computer remotely.
I have both PCs in the work room just now but have started to sweep them for malware.
Common factors so far are: (1) this happens when user is on line, (2) Both Computers are Dell
Update from MS website
Phone scams: down but not out
As recently reported, a number of government agencies from across the world have disrupted the “Microsoft Imposter” scam. The scam involves criminals
pretending to be from Microsoft who call and inform you that your computer is infected with malware.
To “clean” your computer, the criminals then request a fee or remote access to your computer (or both).
Based on the feedback we’ve received from you we know this scam was widespread and extremely frustrating for every person it affected.
However, it’s likely there are many more scammers out there – either continuing with this scam, or devising new ways of stealing your information and
your money.
As we wrote in this space a few months back,
Do not trust these callers
Do not provide them with any personal information
Do not allow them to install software
Do not give them your credit card details
Do waste as much of their time as you can, and don't tell them you're on Linux or a Mac until they are ready to pop!
This has been happening for a long time... commonly know as the Event Viewer scam.
Basic rouse is to ask you to run the event viewer which unsurprisingly (for windows!) shows several non critical errors and failures.
They then dupe people into installing remote access software to gain access and install further malware to lock up the machine.
It's at this point they request a fee to remove.
I had a spate of the calls and took great delight in winding them up including responding in urdu. The calls soon stopped.
JC
[Edited on 19/12/12 by SeaBass]
My wife took a call the other night. She just replied 'no our PC is fine thanks, bye' then hung up.
No fun.
And we only run Ubuntu on our home PC's anyway.
I managed to keep one hanging for about fifteen minutes while I tried various things on my PC (in reality I was watching TV)... he got totally confused when I said a blue screen had come up, he actually went to someone else to find out what to do!
Lol, I've had a few of these, had one on the line for over half an hour... took a while to figure out i needed to log onto my Windows PC and not
my Linux desktop ... needless to say it took over 5 mins to boot up the windows laptop ... then got my password wrong twice
(supercalafragalistic....docious ... read it out letter by letter as you type it) .... then put them on hold while playing some nice background
music....finally started talking to fraud officer who i'd pretended to call and told caller that they had traced their call. Once they had
clicked he had the cheek to say he'd report me for time wasting They are a bit naive so its easy to string them along.
Just don't go to any web sites they tell u too (or at least wind them up telling them its showing some mysterious error code) or give them any
personal information.
The last guy who phoned me to tell me that my computer had a virus lost over 30 minutes of his life whilst I pretended to fire up my PC and two
laptops. We had a chat about how slow they were and why the local council were renewing the kerbstones outside my house. We discussed the recent
heatwave we were having here in the UK which was nice for November but to be out swimming in the sea and sunbathing was nice. He had also been
swimming in the sea just off the coast of Milton Keynes.....
He hung up as I started complaining that he had made my computer leak water all over the carpet...
45 minutes is the best I've managed. Ended up with the guy calling me a liar for claiming the the Windows session he had seen was running in a
virtual machine on my Mac 
One of the oldest scams in the book this one.
My record is 25 mins at wasting their time and money, pretended to have only just got the pc the day before and was new to this sort of thing, after
some time pretending to do what he wanted, I said a message had come up on the screen, he said can you read it to me..... I said yes its, .... "
You have just wasted your time on this call, you have also been traced, please hang up now and do not call again - goodbye"....... he did hangup
although he swore quite a lot at me before he did ( which was amusing) and that was the last I heard from them, well over 12 months since I have had
that call, used to get quite a few in the past as well.
My advise , if you have the time, just wind them up as much as you can.
I've done this before - kept them going for over 10mins before saying "I don't know what you've just done, but the little Apple
logo on the front of my monitor has just lit up. What does that mean?"
Cue line going dead.
quote:
Originally posted by ChrisL
Do waste as much of their time as you can, and don't tell them you're on Linux or a Mac until they are ready to pop!
Funnily enough, had one of these last night.
Made a change from the PPI, pensions, accident claims, and charity cold shots. If I'm bored, I'll verbally waste their time, if I'm
busy I'll ask them to hold and leave the phone next to the radio.
I (of course) never give my name, details or anything whatsoever.
The junk mail stopped when I started putting other parties junk in their prepaid reply envelopes!
The b@studs ring up and ask for me by name, last one told me my computer was uploading viruses to the FBI. I pretended my computer is upstairs and kept leaving him hanging while I went to do as he asked. Each time I just said yes I'll have to go upstairs to do the next step and when he asked if I could see the desktop I said no, it's upstairs he told me to f*(k off and hung up. I have had one other since with the same spiel but I just told him I know it is, the Taliban is paying me to do it and hung up on him.
I had one going for ages, eveytime he asked me to do something I told him "computer says no", he didn't get it, being foreign so in the end I said "computer says your a liar" he asked me to repeat it a few times and when he got it he hung up, that was about a year ago
Haha microsoft couldn't give a shoot about if you got a virus, they aren't liable...
I managed to keep these guys on the phone for 50 mins, when he rudely hung up on me
quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
45 minutes is the best I've managed. Ended up with the guy calling me a liar for claiming the the Windows session he had seen was running in a virtual machine on my Mac