Ah...the joys of Saturday morning. I am sitting here this a.m., while trying to convince Joshua that going to his friend's birthday party might be fun (and not winning), when we get a call with caller ID reading UNAVAILABLE. It is election time, so I assume it is some campaign trying a last ditch effort to bull$**t me into voting for them. However, Nicole had mentioned that she had been receiving missing several of these calls recently and I was curious what the call was. I answer the call and have a large pause before I get an individual (ah...an autodialer, this is not a recorded message). Finally, on the other end, comes a voice with a thick accent (likely Indian).
The "fun" begins. The gentleman on the other end of the line picks up and asks for me by name. Here is how the conversation went (not verbatim, but close enough to get the gist of the call:
"May I speak to Kirk Becker...."
"Speaking"
"This is (name forgotten) from Online PC Support," (I think that was the name). "I am calling you because you may be having a problem with your computer. "
"Okay...." I think I see where this is heading...***SCAM ALERT ALARM SOUNDS GOING THROUGH MY HEAD***
"Yes, your computer has been reporting errors online to us. Can you tell us what operating system you have?"
"Okay...um..." Do I have time to play around with the guy? Nah...I still have to help my youngest get dressed. "I somehow don't think so. You see, I am an IT professional that might have a clue on how my computer actually operates. Please take me off your calling list."
Click......
Turns out this scam may be more widespread than I had originally thought. Doing a quick google search brought me to the following website where at least 900 different people have commented about the scam, and there was a police crackdown in July in the UK on one of these outfits. The website has links to several videos where people are on the phone with these "PC support experts." Some reports from individuals getting called in the US can be found here.
Obviously, don't give them any more information or a credit card. They are out to steal something from you.
I do hope ignore me and call back. I would love to get help on an OS2 Warp system. :)
It is amazing that this scam is still taking place. My wife just received a call from this (or a similar) group trying the exact same script. She gave them a similar blowoff as I did in the original article (if you are legitimate, then contact my husband via email...no request for email address).
Scammers will be scammers.
About 2 weeks after I posted this information, the following article came out about the same issue. Share and enjoy.