Thurles and the surrounding areas are once again being targeted by ‘scammers,’ these last few weeks. Several people have reported receiving phone calls from scammers claiming be with “Microsoft Support” and that their computer is infected. If you receive such a call DO NOT SWITCH ON YOUR COMPUTER!
This is the notorious PC Support scam whereby the caller tries to convince you that they are calling from ‘Microsoft Support’ and that your computer is infected. It is a total scam that could end up costing you a lot of money. Their scam can involve infecting your machine, stealing passwords or totally locking out your PC/laptop and then they charge you a ransom to get back into it!
The “00201” at the start of their phone number suggests these scam calls are originating from Egypt in Africa this time. Although some calls only show up as private.
Remember, when in doubt, hang up the phone. Be vigilant, tell your friends, and let’s all stay safe.
George. Great advise. This same scam was going around here as well. But I was not so lucky to get a call fist. I had my computer go down twice now with a similar scam. It is certainly very costly and so inconvenient. I have myself a note stuck on my computer top in big bold lettering reminding me to look before I go rushing mad to get correspondence out. This week I became a millionaire again? these scam’s seem to come in from South Africa. I often wonder how these people can get one’s email address in the first place.
When the scammer start talking, you start saying the “Our Father” in Irish. They will hang up and won’t ring again. It worked for me.
Good to see stuff like this folks being talked about and well done on the site to all the contributors and site owners.
On this scam, they’ve been plaguing me for literally years. I started off by asking them nicely to take me off their list, but that was a waste of breath. Being a professional technician, I then started to engage with them and ask them detailed questions about their software and service, and that always ended in them hanging up. I’ve also just had fun with them if I found I had the time, and acted thick. I think at one point I made one of their callers cry with frustration. I have to admit, that was fun. The upshot here is that these people wont’ go away, and from what I can see, there’s no way to stop them. These days I just hang up as soon as they utter those now infamous words about my computer being infected. They’ve also called my mum who’s in her eighties and tried to frighten her into revealing her credit card details. IN short these people are scum.