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Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

richspalding — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:37:33 -0000

My Parents were targeted by this exact scam today (07/11/09). Claiming to be from TechOnSupport (http://www.techonsupport.com), and again using the name Henry Watson. Thanks for the article for confirming it was a scam.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

LT — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:38:12 -0000

Oh my God! Me too. Just got off the phone after going through the prefetch unwanted page via run - and saying I had 80 of these dangerous files, and him saying '80! That is very dangerous. Don't open them', and then getting me to type in eventvwr - and handing me over to a supervisor because problem was so big!

I stopped when he wanted to get me to go through www.logmein123.com.

I was protesting throughout the call - saying I really think that after 10 yrs with this computer, and this being the first time Microsoft has ever bothered to help (with essentially a non-existent problem as I was unaware of any problem and my computer isn't slow), I was understandably suspicious.

He gave me this number: 01865521065 and name: Henry Foster and they called themselves Techonsupport.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

guest — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:19:51 -0000

Just got the call. I only found this site afterwards or would have recorded the 10 minute conversation. Same thing: run event viewer, get scared by the error messages. I told him I knew exactly what my event viewer log looked like, thanks, so didn't find out what the next step would have been. I was interested to find out what the scam was going to be, but not to the point of touching the PC. I did worry at one point that I was paying for the call, and his assurance that I wasn't isn't very reassuring now! He did find a lot of inventive ways to keep the call going.

He kept asking me if I was an IT professional, to which I answered truthfully that I'm not. (I just build my own PCs so I know what I'm getting.) I think he might have called me a liar about that at one point, but the accent was so heavy I wasn't sure. In the end he gave in and wished me a nice life!

These predators should be in jail. I'm surprised Watchdog isn't interested.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

owain — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:26:09 -0000

I would check your accont isnt loosing money! or any direct debits set up over the next few days.
worrry? yes I would

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

elainewright — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:39:15 -0000

I WAS CONTACTED YESTERDAY AND THEY KNEW MY COMPUTER WAS RUNNING SLOW.

THEY SAID THY WOULD CLEAN IT AND I WOULD BE INSURED FOR 2 YEARS.

I PAID £105 IS THIS WASTED. THEY DID APPEAR TO MAKE IT RUN QUICKER.

Re: Free Imperial Majesty Nassau Cruise - survey cold call

Nathan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:52:35 -0000

thanks I STARTED WONDERING AFTER IT COULD HAVE BEEN TO LATE

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

batdog — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:48:20 -0000

Got one of these calls today. Usual spiel about my Windows computer running slow. Strange, I thought I ran Linux on my PC. Anyway I was a bit bored so strung them along all the way to handing over the money and then gave them the sucker punch of knowing it was a scam. They protested until I told them I worked in IT and knew very well what the Prefetch folder contained. At which point the "technician" told me to "F**k Off!" Brightened up my afternoon!

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

digitaltoast — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:52:38 -0000

PLEASE record the call and string it out for as long as possible if you can! I would love a recording of this - many thanks!

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

owain — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:49:45 -0000

this guy has just called my wife ( I am at work) but she didnt do what he said to do, give card info,,
she said I would like you to speak to my husband, he said hes going to call back tommrow, what should I do, is there a way I can catch him out?

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

digitaltoast — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:48:28 -0000

Yeah, that's funny. An Indian, posting from India (202.90.98.2), calling himself "John Smith", using an Indian webmail service, saying they don't take money before fixing, and yet everyone else says they do. Strange...

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

johnsmith88 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:54:07 -0000

supportonclick is not a scam, they take money only after fixing your computer problems.
No 1 can tell that their service is bad. even i took more than 5times service from them but they conducted well and very helpfull.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

Cranners99 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:57:19 -0000

I am in Florida and just got the call from an unknown number. He had asked for my wife (it's her name on the phone account...) and said that something had downloaded its self last week. The first Indian guy was pushy and said that they were aware of all of the problems that I was having with my computer. I played along and had him tell me how to get to the 'run' command. He originally had said that he was aware that I was using Vista and should hit start and run. He eventually twigged that it wasn't there and had me use the widows key and "R". He asked me to type 'eventvwr' which I did as I kew it wouldn't hurt. When he tried to explain about the red symbols I acted dumb and it must have frustrated him and he said that I knew nothing about computers and would need to speak to one of his techs.
The tech came on the line and tried to have me connect to www.logmein123.com so they could look ate the problem and fix it. When I asked where he was calling from he said New York, got upset and told me that I needed to speak with a manager.
The manager came on the line and said that my free offer had expired and for them to fix the problem would cost $89. I asked the 'manager' his name and in the thickest Indian broken English said James Thomas. I asked for his phone number and he eventually gave me (516) 703 7900, which is a dead number. When I stated that I had decided not to use their 'service' he became very rude saying that he hoped I did not have a very nice day...

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

Gill — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:42:14 -0000

Had a call this morning. Said he was from Microsoft and he had had a message from my computer saying there was a problem. Because it was serious he had to deal with it. I asked his telephone number. 01274 900113. I said I would phone that number to see if he was legitimate. He said it was no use contacting them because the technicians would need a pin number and he was the only one who could give it to me.

I asked how he knew? he said go into System tools > Event Viewer>Application. Scrole down and there will be an Error warning. Well - there was - but I was still wary and he said it will be within the last month. It was! (This really does make you think he knew something and was from Microsoft)

So I asked what was he going to do about it and by that time he was getting quite aggressive. In fact he said 'Are you a computer technician?' I said I was not and he said then listen to me!

So I said I have to be wary of people making calls such as this and he said he understood but needed to sort my computer out. So he was going to send me a document. I asked if it was via e-mail and he said no - he was going to do it now. So I asked what was the cost?

He said £5. So i told him that I was not paying money over the phone without verification of who he was and I was a pensioner, not a business, so I needed more eveidence of him first. He then said, 'Do you think you are the only pensioner if the world!'

To that comment I knew my instinct as to something was not right was confirmed.

I phoned Trading Standards and reported it. I then phoned the telephone Prefernce Agency and asked if they heard of this scam and he googled it and came up with this site.

What else can we do. My Mum who is 87 also had this call but had said I do all her computer Virus stuff for her - but they could have got her also.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

Kat — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:58:46 -0000

I've just receive a call from someone calling his self Mark Jenkins re Tecon support. I found the whole conversation quite feasible as I have been having problems with my laptop recently but why would the mighty Microsoft Corporation take time to phone me with this information? that and the fact that I could hardly understand him (with a name like Mark Jenkins!) made alarm bells ring. He gave me a number to phone back - 01274 900834 but when I rang it it wasn't taking calls at the moment!! What a surprise. The scary thing is that he knew my name and kept saying to turn my computer on and trust it if I didn't trust him - was he going to access it remotely? With my help?Something needs to be done as I could quite easily have been taken in.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

stackridge — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:00:12 -0000

I've just had the same www.logmein123.com call. Said they were calling from Microsoft and they knew about the problems I had been having. Gotme to type in eventvwr in the run prompt.

I did give them access to me computer briefly but was unhappy - googling the details in all the time - so logged them off quickly. At first they said it was free, then said I would have to pay £55 by card or Paypal. Did I have a lucky escape or did they do any damage in the short time they were messaging me? I did not type anything else in, regarding the prefetch command.

Strong asian accent, difficult to understand. They rang me twice - we got cut off once - and "Maxwell" was quite abusive when I said I would not pay. I should know better and hope I had a lucky escape. I am certainly glad I did not pay over any money

P.S. Just remembered the name given to me for the company behind this CoMantra http://www.comantra.net/

Helpline Number For UK: 1274900110 - this ties in with the message above for complaints. I'm still bloody annoyed I nearly fell for this and wasted my time on the long call. It seemed so plausible and they did say it was a free service - at first - and also made it sound they knew I was having problems with my LiveUpdate. Bastards!

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

Andy — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:43:52 -0000

Just got a call from these idiots a few hours ago. Kept me on the phone 30 minutes, I knew it was a scam based on the fact that windows RUN doesn't really have commands like prefetch virus corrupted etc, with the spaces.

I played it out for a while though, finally the tech guy came on and asked me if I was happy to continue, and said NO... he got mad and said "Are you a technician? No. You have lots of viruses that needs fixed".

Sure, I've only been working with computers for 15 years what the hell do I know. He then said "Are you in the UK? You don't sound like you're from the UK."

That's just rich coming from some Indian claiming to be Alex Smith. I wish they'd phone back so I could just abuse them.

Re: Wibbling moron David Nutt sacked as government advisor.

Oranjepan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:12:27 -0000

Prof Nutt never actually said what was attributed to him.

This is the original paper in which he makes the comparison
http://jop.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/23/1/3

He reports that ecstasy use causes acute harm on average in one-in-10,000 cases, whereas horseriding causes acute harm in one-in-350 cases. Yet the former is illegal while the latter is legal.

Maybe it is a crass and insensitive comparison, but it makes the point that public policy must be based on evidence - not personal preference and reaction to daily news headlines.

Then there is also the problem of enforcability of the law. If you can't enforce it consistently because the behaviour is too widespread then the cost of prosecuting it is a complete waste. 730,000 regular ecstasy users? there are only 85,000 people in prison - are you prepared to pay the tax rise required to make the clampdown? Or do you propose laws should be ignored?

If the law fails to deal with practical issues, the people who make and uphold it will begin to be held in contempt as officials lose authority over what they do. Worse is the way in which such behaviour patterns don't happen in isolation, and when more serious issues are at stake the consequences are starker.

The culture of setting policy according to whim and not according to proper consideration of the evidence lay at the heart of the decision to invade Iraq, the deregulation of the banking sector and the setting of the expenses rules to give three simple examples.

In each case contendious justification was provided for undertaking the policy, implementation hadn't be fully considered and adequate resources weren't made available.

Yes Saddam was a bad man, companies want higher profits and politicians need to be in contact with ordinary people, but the way each matter was handled was flawed by lack of scrutiny of the evidence, and we are paying through the nose for the consequences.

Do we want more of that?

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

geomac — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:31:47 -0000

Same problem with me - cold call from India (number withheld) claiming to work with MS from whom they obtained my computer error reports - asked me to checl prefetch file - "too many entries bad for performance" Then to check event manager - "too many errors and alarms slowing system but don't worry we can fix all that". Asked me to connect with technician from techonsupport via www.logmein123.com. Technician downloaded freebie software including ccleaner, Advanced Windows Care and run them - big deal - I could do that. had to pay £60 upfront (via Paypal) and I can have support for a year on techonsupport web site or on an Oxford telephone number. Followed this up via Google and found I'd been conned - trying to recover £60 via Paypal. Grrrrrrrrrrr

Re: Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Oranjepan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:12:27 -0000

Indeed, the nominations closed 11 days after he was elected... 11 days!

Re: Sony Ericsson K310i sms txt backup software

talktalk1 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:05:35 -0000

nixe

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

MM — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:41:25 -0000

I just got one of these. The beginning was identical to the above, but as I am a Un*x person, I typed the "prefetch yadayada" into google, not the "run" dialog. I didn't have the time to have fun with this idiot, though, so told him to get lost after that. To me at least, this sounded like a scam from the outset. What annoyed me was the fact that he knew my name. Where to these bottom-feeders get this info from?

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

ringding — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:37:39 -0000

they scammy bastards tried it on me, offering me a service providing that was better than my currently provided services and a better dealing than my current providings

also they asked me to open
eventvwr
and prefetch
saying that my machine was heavily corrupted from websites i had visited....
what? ebay and facebook?
im happy with my current providings

Re: Wasting two years at TVU, a “New University”

ArnoldNeville — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:15:35 -0000

TVU is a Joke.
I could have gone to university anywhere.
So I went to TVU.
I'm going to go shoot myself now.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

viv_plank — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:17:52 -0000

I was called today (24/10/2009) by Techis Online - Bradford. The young lady said they worked as Microsoft technitians and that my computer had been logged as running slowly and she would check some system info with me. I let her go along with it and this is what happened.
1st. She told me to click Start and Run and type this command in the run box - EVENTVWR. Now I had to click Application and count all the red crosses and yellow triangles. She told me I had a very large number and a big problem with the PC.
2nd. Click Start and Run and type this in the command box - INF CORRUPTED SYSTEM FILES. Now I had to count the number of files in here. She told me that this showed how many files were corrupted on my PC, and as I could see this was a large number.
3rd. Now she said we should check my software warranty. I should click Start and then right/click My Computer and click on Properties, under the place where it said Registered To I had to copy down the last 6 digits. She told me that this is private info and I should not share it with anybody not even her (Genuinly convincing).
4th. Click Start and Run and now type into the command box - www.logmein123.com - then I would need to enter my last 6 digits in here and they could check my software warranty for me (I didn't do this step). If it was out of date I could purchace through them a new 2yr extended warranty for only £55.

I didn't acctually do the last bit as I told her I had on money with a car tax bill to pay next week (I had no intention of doing it, I have heard these things before) but I did tell her that if they had a number I could call them on then I would do it when I had the cash. The number I was given was 01274900113 and I should ask for her Jessica Willson.

Re: Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com

nel99 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:25:48 -0000

When i asked the guy why he was being so persistent when i had researched this type of call and had over 300,000 people clarifying it was a scam he replied "I love computers. It is my nature. I love computers more than my girlfriend"

And he expected me to believe what he was saying...

Oh dear