guardian.co.uk

I just got the "your PC is hacked" we are MS calling to help you call. this one here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/phone-scam-india-call-centres I kept him on the phone for 30mins then eventually got him to give me his ph# to call him back, if anyone wants to pursue this further: 614-388-9694 (if its legit, I don't even want to try in case it adds me to some other calllist)

"Microsoft Windows Computers" just called me and tried to walk me through cleaning off my malware. I just got a cold call from an Indian call center through a faked phone exchange (came up as area code 999 on my caller id), where they tried to get me to run a program for them on my machine. They told me that my machine was infected with all kinds of bad, bad malware and that it was phoning home. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down which program they wanted me to run so that I could look it up later. I played along with the script for a few until I couldn't fake the responses anymore, then I asked them if anyone they talked to was dumb enough to fall for this scam. That's when I got transferred to the supervisor. I repeated my question to the supervisor, who didn't take it very kindly. Since he claimed that my computer was full of malware and reporting back to their servers, I challenged him to tell me what my IP address was. He rattled off a string of digits nowhere near close. At this point, he started to threaten me. He said something to the effect of having made an enemy and that in five days, my computer was going to die. And then I would cry, like a new born baby. Then he hung up on me. *Edit: Just found this writeup of the exact same scam! I must have misheard the program name b/c I swore it started with "db", but this has to be it.* http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/phone-scam-india-call-centres *UPDATE: It's five days later, and amazingly my computer still works just fine. Unfortunately they didn't ever call me back.*

"Microsoft Windows Computers" just called me and tried to walk me through cleaning off my malware. I just got a cold call from an Indian call center through a faked phone exchange (came up as area code 999 on my caller id), where they tried to get me to run a program for them on my machine. They told me that my machine was infected with all kinds of bad, bad malware and that it was phoning home. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down which program they wanted me to run so that I could look it up later. I played along with the script for a few until I couldn't fake the responses anymore, then I asked them if anyone they talked to was dumb enough to fall for this scam. That's when I got transferred to the supervisor. I repeated my question to the supervisor, who didn't take it very kindly. Since he claimed that my computer was full of malware and reporting back to their servers, I challenged him to tell me what my IP address was. He rattled off a string of digits nowhere near close. At this point, he started to threaten me. He said something to the effect of having made an enemy and that in five days, my computer was going to die. And then I would cry, like a new born baby. Then he hung up on me. *Edit: Just found this writeup of the exact same scam! I must have misheard the program name b/c I swore it started with "db", but this has to be it.* http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/phone-scam-india-call-centres *UPDATE: It's five days later, and amazingly my computer still works just fine. Unfortunately they didn't ever call me back.*

WeAreElectricals (UK) - takes money, no goods After ordering a Christmas present I didn't receive in time I did some checking up... * [Their website](http://www.weareelectricals.com) * [Guardian article 1](http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/18/we-are-electricals-laptop-refund) * [Guardian article 2](http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/dec/02/we-are-electricals-negative-comments) * [A Wordpress site about them](http://weareelectricals.wordpress.com/) * [Reviewcentre](http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews-all-260382.html) I've sent emails and will phone them on Tuesday (after Bank Holiday) but I don't have much hope of getting my money back. Just spreading the word to avoid!

WeAreElectricals (UK) - takes money, no goods After ordering a Christmas present I didn't receive in time I did some checking up... * [Their website](http://www.weareelectricals.com) * [Guardian article 1](http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/18/we-are-electricals-laptop-refund) * [Guardian article 2](http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/dec/02/we-are-electricals-negative-comments) * [A Wordpress site about them](http://weareelectricals.wordpress.com/) * [Reviewcentre](http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews-all-260382.html) I've sent emails and will phone them on Tuesday (after Bank Holiday) but I don't have much hope of getting my money back. Just spreading the word to avoid!