I just got a call from Pamela. Wow she is persistent i nearly fell for it. She would do any thing to sell me the deal of joining ACCOR and get free accomdation and 50% off everything holiday related. I feel a bit stupid i am glad that while i was on the phone i googled her number she was calling off and asked her name. I hope no else falls for it!

I have had the pleasure of 3 calls from this 'company'.  As our phone number is listed under my wife's maiden name (Telstra havent bothered to update the phone book for 10 years!), I am immediately suspicious of anyone enquiring after Mr or Mrs Smith.  My wife took the fist (2 weeks ago) call and when she said she was not Mrs Smith, the caller called her a lair, to which my wife took exception and hung up.  They called back within 30 seconds and I took the call. I listened to the speil about the danger to my PC before laughing telling the caller I thought he was pulling my leg.  At this point he launched into a verbal tirade calling me mother f****r among other things before hanging up. I guess the call wasn't being recorded for training purposesTonight I received a 3rd call from 365PC Support.  This time I asked questions.  They told me they were located in Westpac House, 91 King William Street, Adelaide.  As I know Adelaide reasonably well I persisted with questions.  I asked which floor they were on (Westpac House has 31 Floors - Adelaides biggest building housing several companies) and was told they owned it all. I asked which other road the building faced and he told me to look it up (obviously becoming frustrated).  I kept him on the line for 17 minutes asking qusetions and having a general chat.  This time his name was Nathan and he was Portuguese.  He likes beer and whiskey, but not grass or hash. We discussed night clubbing, horses and match fixing.  I asked him where he lived and he said Heaven.  I think he had had enough of me.

I have a similar story of computer going to crash etc. Again it was 'Michelle' with Indian accent. Only this time she was working for 365 PC Support. When I asked where they were located she wouldn't give me a phone number but said they were at 91 King William Street, Adelaide. Strange they weren't in the phone book.

I rang Adelaide Fraud Squad and was assured that it was a crime group operating from India but pretending to be in Adelaide and using phone numbers that look like ours. The detective told me to ignore them.

I had the same experience yesterday evening, Sept 2nd.  He was 'so worried' about my computer that he put his supervisor on!!  She was the one who gave me the number to call back on because I wouldn't go on-line for her.  I called Microsoft help desk instead and they knew nothing about it - of course.

Similar story happened to me. An Indian-accented guy confused my Mum (who's not that computer savvy) so she put me on, and he started rambling about how there might be infections on my computer (through some holes in the Windows Operating System). I was pretty resistant to the idea, as they were cold calling me at 8.30pm, but thought I'd see it through. He took me to the My Computer window, and then into computer management - I made sure I was off-line while speaking with him. As I started scrolling down Event Viewer - Application box he asked me to count how many warning signs were appearing.  Every time I told him a new number he kept exclaiming Oh God as if something terrible was happening.  It made me extremely suspicious as I doubt any true / real employee of Windows/Microsoft would try to scare a customer that way.  Then I started questioning his intentions & why these huge massive problems were not in the media.  He immediately transferred me to his "supervisor" - also an Indian-accented guy who explained that Windows/Microsoft did not want to scare customers which I again thought was an odd theory.  I sat through about 5 more minutes of theorising before requesting a contact phone number because the whole thing felt odd.  We hung up & then I right clicked one of the warnings in the event history which told me it was merely a logging off error.  Then I found this site - so going to trust my instincts from now on!

How very familiar!!  Same thing here.  Yesterday a call from an Indian guy - later to be transferred to a supervisor Ann (Indian) when we became suspicious.   The guy said he was from Windows - click on Start, Security tabs then to internet browser and type in www.logmein123.   Then after taking over my computer and software supposedly pointing out errors and that my computer was going to crash then wanted my credit card No.    I said we would deposit money into their bank a/c.  Then they kept arguing.  I became quite heated, I was told I was very rude and that the call was being taped.   I said I hoped it was.  (another sus. point - I have always been asked for permission for my calls to be taped).Eventually after two hours (can you believe it - they were persistent) we said we would make enquiries and ring them back tomorrow and they gave us that number (08) 7200 0365.   She almost shouted at us "why not today".   We rang our son who put us on to this website.   Thank goodness we didn't fall-but very close. We are both oldies in our 70's and not very computer literate.   The guy even said he could understand us being wary about giving our credit no. but it would be safe with them  Yeah!!!!!!!

Hello,

It would appear that people simply don't learn from others mistakes.

It would appear that my significant other half has today received a phone call of the same nature; but being somewhat savy told the operator that "Microsoft don't call me for a virus & gave him an earful before he even got the chance to say anything" ... Good for her !

I have to say, in all honesty, this is possibly one of the easiest scams I've heard of. There is very little effort for much gain, and nearly all the effort is on the person who is paying for the service.

Whether you like it or not, they contact you and provide duff information about your computer - okay the only crime so far is "the claim that they are a Microsoft affiliated company" - claiming that you have a virus. You answer the phone, listen in shock and horror then agree to this helpful techie who will cure all your ills and fix your computer so that it runs very quickly. The only thing that he, or she, asks for is your credit card information; and behaving like a lamb being led to the slaughter you happily provide it.

The techie then connects to your computer shuffles a couple of files around & says that you are cured ! - NOW this is the beauty of the scam. How many times have you given your machine to a techie and received it back the way you like it - not many I guess.

The reality is you need to prove that they have committed a crime, in that they have been fraudulent, or installed invasive software upon your machine (virus, trojan, pin-pricked your firewall to allow erroneous communication). The onus is upon you the poor sapp who agreed to allowing them to connect to your computer in the first place and happily presented your credit card details to prove that they have damaged your machine.

Being honest, they don't need to download anything to steal your banking details; you've given it to them, and several calls being charged at £199 is enough to keep them happy; but a few more calls to the happy suckers out there with a drastically reduced rate of £69 if you pay now also works

In the words of that Russian MeerKat, life iz simples - don't agree to accept support from someone you don't know ... Microsoft only ring you when you call them with a case number .... if you happen to give your credit card out to someone based in India, China, Malaysia or Outer Mongolia then it's your problem and not really something the bank is interested in .... it don't get much easier than that. Simples