Resolved New twist to "Hi I'm from MS Tech Assistance" scam

I've had several - maybe 6/7 - calls from these totally obvious scammers over the past few months, and have enjoyed leaving the phone off the hook for 30 minutes or so, or telling them to #### off, or whatever turned me on that particular day, but yesterday I got a surprise new version. When I answered the call, the guy asked for me by name, fore- and surname, both correct. Then came the usual spiel: we've detected malware on your PC, etc., etc.

I asked where they got my name and phone number from, but he avoided answering and eventually I gave up and hung up on him. But then I started to worry: up to now it had always been "May I speak to the person who uses the computer with Windows" or similar.

Has anybody else come across this variant on the old scam? Should I be particularly worried? Now I come to think of it (for the first time), where did they even get my phone number from?

I run MSE as my only anti-malware. Is that enough?

 

MSE is an Anti Virus program, not a malware/spyware program. What is in my signature is on all my PC's and friends PC's and very seldom do they have a problem if they are kept up to date.

Name and phone number together is very easy. PHONE BOOK is the answer.

 

Hi Mr Bill - thanks for that. Yes, I guess the phone book is pretty obvious. Maybe I didn't think about that enough earlier - like where do they even get my phone number from for a cold call to a household that runs a PC with Windows? My PC isn't listed in the phone book! Does this imply they have some sort of read access to my PC and are now trying to get write access, too? Or can they intercept network traffic when I sign up for something that requires name and phone number and OS?

 

I guess that's right. In my little town (38K residents) there can only be about twenty people in the phone book with an obviously non-Italian name, so maybe they pick us out. I forgot to mention that the callers I get have always spoken English with that typical Asian-sounding accent that always seems to be mentioned when people report this scam in various blogs or articles. I'll need to ask around my Italian friends whether they get these calls and, if so, in what language.

 

MrBill

Correction, but MSE is Virus\Spyware\mallware.
If you goto MSE page you'll see what I mean

 

This link explains exactly what MSE is for everyone's information.

I had one of those scam calls yesterday, the Asian sounding man insisted that he could track them through the internet in my house. I let the fellow drone on for perhaps a minute, then told him he was a con and we had been warned about him calling. He protested that he was not and immediately hung up.

I got off the line quickly as perhaps they do have some sort of tracking device or they are just kidding to make people frightened....rotten so and so's, why don't they put their skills to something productive.

kind regards,

 

But it not anything like MalwareBytes is. There is no comparison of the 2 in this factor. MalawareBytes wins hands down. Look in the Malware/Spyware sections of most forums and MBAM is one of the main things that they want you to run no matter which AV program you have. It is like the old saying, "there is no one size fits all ".

 

tallin, It is Productive for them!!!
The Barnum & Bailey saying "There's a sucker born every minute" still applies.

g.watson, do you subscribe to Facebook, Skype, Twitter. etc. It's amazing where your profile will appear these days. Neil.

 

Hi Neil. Sure, I'm on Fb, Skype and Twitter. I've no doubt it's quite easy to find me - I've never tried particularly hard to hide my identity. I just wondered exactly why these mfrs go to so much effort for a scam with such a low probability of success. Probably something like panhandlers see 100 pedestrians go by before a coin falls in the tin.
Many thanks to all for lots of useful comment - I'm about to check out Malwarebytes.

 

MrBill

I agree, I also use MalwareBytes and SuperAntiSpyware.

 

Hi g. watson,

Check out the fun I had with these scammers:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/general-discussions/99090-microsoft-security-center-scam-fun.html