Phone number leaked to India-based scammers

[timbo3]

Yesterday I got a phonecall to the landline in the house where I live. Someone claimed to be from Microsoft R&D in California and said that they my windows computer had sent warning messages to through their server and that my computer was probably infected with "malicious programs and hidden junkfiles". He wanted me to connect to their servers to fix the problem.

I soon realised that this was a scam. Some searches on the web confirmed this and that the call could have originated from a company in Kolkata India called Komantra. This is an article with some info about them. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/World/India-Phone-Scam-Nation/Article1-823574.aspx

Additional info:
- I run only linux in my house. But there is an old computer with windows on it which is sometime used to make some book-keeping. It is connected at those time with the internet.
- The landline to this house is actually not in use. I cannot make calls on it but I can recieve calls. No one calls on this number so that's why this freaked me out a bit.
- The people who live here atm don't even know the number to this phone. And I can't imagine that the owner of the house has ever posted this number online.


So one important question remains;
How did he get my phone number? How did he know the name of the person owning the house in which I'm residing?

Then I thought of the code I posted in the thread
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2178162

Could he somehow had gained knowledge of the phone number or about my connection through some of the info I posted from the wireless log?


By the way. He will call me again on monday evening European time. So if there are any suggestions on what I should ask him, feel free to post them here. I will not do anything he tells me to do but maybe I could get him to reveil some more info on this.

[oldos2er]

Not an Ubuntu support question; moved to Cafe.

I think it's highly doubtful this scammer got your phone number from anything you posted here.

[deadflowr]

Depending on where you live, landlines can be publicly available by default.
At least where I live, you have to opt out of having the owners name, street address and number from being published in the white pages.
Sometimes it can be opted out of but is still easy found through Public Records, such as Property Assessment stuff for local government needs(ie property taxes, zoning laws).
And sometimes, they just randomly guess.

Here's an old thread with some fun suggestions

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1753968&highlight=beat+back+telephone+scammers

[cariboo]

The phone companies sell phone number lists to telemarketers. Here in Canada, the do not call lists are publicly available, and they are a great source of phone numbers too.

[s1wood]

"So if there are any suggestions on what I should ask him,"

I've had three or four of these calls and I usually ask (playing dumb again) how they know my computer has a virus and when they have tied themselves up on that one spring it on them that I'm using Linux. It might be a good idea to tell them that the phone call can be traced before telling them you know it's a scam, might reduce the risk of you getting further calls.

Susan

[y6FgBn)~v]

When I receive these type of calls, I usually just tell them they have dialed the wrong number, have a good day, and goodbye. For me they are so infrequent it's not that annoying.

[3rdalbum]

So one important question remains;
How did he get my phone number?

Where I live, telephone numbers follow this format:

(area code - always between 01 and 08) (exchange code - four digits starting with a 6 or a 9) (four more digits)

If you know those rules, you can ring any landline telephone in the country, starting with 01 6100 0001 and ending with 08 9999 9999.

Some will be business numbers, some will be residential, many will be disconnected or invalid, you'll even find yourself dialing faxmachines, payphones and emergency telephones in lifts. But if you program a computer to dial those numbers, and connect a valid number to an operator, you can start your own outgoing call center.

And that's what scammers, telemarketers and legit market research companies do. However, most people get indignant that "they got my number from somewhere". I even spent about a minute trying to explain it to one woman who still couldn't understand how a company could dial a random number that just happens to be hers, and for the call to actually connect, without us "getting my number from somewhere".

[3rdalbum]

By the way. He will call me again on monday evening European time.

No, "he" won't. Somebody else, whether from that company or a different one, will call again at some random point in the future, but scammers don't keep appointments.

[Warren Hill]

How do you know they got your number - did they use your name? They could just be dialling numbers at random. They may be trying to make money by trying to fool you into phoning a premium rate number or they may be trying to fool you into installing some malware.

Just tell them you don't use Windows because it's <insert your favourite expletive here> They should go away.

You could try contacting the police as fraud is a crime but if they are in a different country from you they are unlikely to do anything about it apart from advising you just to tell the scammers to go away.

[sammiev]

Tell them you do not own a computer and hang up. ):P

[bapoumba]

On landlines, if I do not recognize the phone number or if it is not in the contact list > ignore.
On cell phone, same thing. In addition, I have an Ignore Me contact with no ringtone that I assign these numbers to and then block them > ignore.

[coffeecat]

For my landline, I pay a small amount for an option called "choose to refuse". If someone with a number in my blocked list tries to call me, they get a recorded message saying, "This number is not accepting calls from you." And in a somewhat coldly aloof tone of voice too!

It was with great pleasure that the first number I blocked was from the phone company's sales office, who had been hassling me with pointless "offers". :mrgreen:

Of course, it doesn't work if you don't know the number of the person annoying you, and scammers usually call from a withheld number.

[jockyburns]

Another common scam is where they claim your bank /credit card is at risk and ask you to call the bank/credit card company. Again they don't hang up, but stay connected. They can even play a recorded dial tone, then someone appears to answer "your call" They then ask for the long number off your bank/credit card, Ask you the start and expiry date (often posing this as a security question) and then ask for the 3 digit security code from the back (again as a further security question) They will even ask for your pin number. They now have all the information they need to clone your bank/credit card. You won't know until your next statement. They do sound very convincing too.
A real bank/credit card company, will never ask you for your card number,security code , far less your pin number.

[coldraven]

Another common scam is where they claim your bank /credit card is at risk and ask you to call the bank/credit card company. Again they don't hang up, but stay connected. They can even play a recorded dial tone, then someone appears to answer "your call" They then ask for the long number off your bank/credit card, Ask you the start and expiry date (often posing this as a security question) and then ask for the 3 digit security code from the back (again as a further security question) They will even ask for your pin number. They now have all the information they need to clone your bank/credit card. You won't know until your next statement. They do sound very convincing too.
A real bank/credit card company, will never ask you for your card number,security code , far less your pin number.

In the UK after they have done the above they say that a courier will collect your card "to prevent theft". A motorbike will arrive, take your card and ten minutes later your account will be robbed.

Depending on my mood I either play along to waste their time, tell them that they are criminals and will go to jail or pretend to be a witchdoctor and put a curse on them. Something like "as from today all your money will be cursed!". As many people are superstitious I hope that they get a fright and give up the scamming job.

[t0p]

Another common scam is where they claim your bank /credit card is at risk and ask you to call the bank/credit card company. Again they don't hang up, but stay connected. They can even play a recorded dial tone, then someone appears to answer "your call" They then ask for the long number off your bank/credit card, Ask you the start and expiry date (often posing this as a security question) and then ask for the 3 digit security code from the back (again as a further security question) They will even ask for your pin number. They now have all the information they need to clone your bank/credit card. You won't know until your next statement. They do sound very convincing too.
A real bank/credit card company, will never ask you for your card number,security code , far less your pin number.

Thing is, banks do often get in touch with a customer if there has been "suspicious" transactions going on (eg someone has tried to use your account in Thailand when you have never used your card overseas before). And banks (and cellphone companies) do use couriers sometimes, but I've only known that to happen when they are giving or exchanging something with you - eg the courier comes to swap your faulty cellphone for a new one... in which case it would have been you who called them... and a bank wouldn't want your old card, they'd tell you to cut it up) As you said, a bank would never ask for your PIN. And I can't see any reason why they'd ask for numbers from your card. But a bank would ask for some personal info, to confirm you are you. I guess the only way you can be sure is to ask whether they know your date of birth! [EDIT: No, that wouldn't happen, it's trivial to find out what someone's date of birth is]

Incidentally, I live in the UK, but recently got a VPN account based in another country. I logged onto Gmail, then later I got an email from Google asking if I knew my Gmail had been accessed from abroad! Their nosy-parkerism isn't all bad I guess...

[deadflowr]

It's probably also important to note, aside from how any scammer can get a phone number, that unless you a) are actively publicly selling microsoft products through illicit means, or b)pay a lot more money to microsoft for special extra support, microsoft will never contact you.
And why should they, they already have your money.
The onus is on you to contact microsoft if problems arise.

[david98]

Sadly these thing's are common practice especially in the uk where I live. More than likely they got your details from some sort of on-line survey customer questionnaire. A lot of companies collect your personnel data then sell it off to the highest bidder no matter what that bidder's intentions to do with your data. Always beware of any type of cold callers better of just tell all of them to do one and hang up (that's putting it politely)

[timbo3]

they never called again.. but they did know the name of the owner of the house and that I found a bit annoying. but maybe not surprising.. anyway, it doesn't bother me anymore.
thanks for all replies, it's always nice to get some feedback :)

[ventrical]

I just tell them that I already talked to Bill and he said my PC is ok. Other times I ask them .. "What is the Adress of Micorsoft World Headquartes and then they start to dance around the issue: "Sir , your computer is infecting other people's computers!" No straight answers. In Canada, not even the RCMP can do anything because they are using cell and are so hard to track down.

[loup2]

I already got a phone call from them 4 times in the last 2 months. As we only have linux on our PCs I suspected that they were a fraud. I just told them to wait as I was going to turn on the PC and then I just leave the phone off the hook till they got sick of waiting for me to return ;-)

[PJs Ronin]

I like getting these calls. I fire up an old windows lappy, mention that I'm retired and play along with them. I think the best I did was keep one guy trying to help me for around 20 minutes.

[neu5eeCh]

I just got a call about a week ago. I offered to help coach him. I said: "Look, if you're going to scam me, this is how you've got to do it..." This just really p'd him off. He said something about my mother and hung up.

Next time I'm going to really have some fun. There was some guy in Texas that released a CD of himself with phone scammers. This was a few years ago. Some gal would call him up trying to sell a vacuum cleaner. He'd ask them if it vacuumed blood and eventually convince them he had just killed somebody and their product would be perfect if they could just deliver it really fast.

Some of the scammers called the local sheriff who, eventually, was in on the game.

[VinDSL]

I like getting these calls. I fire up an old windows lappy, mention that I'm retired and play along with them. I think the best I did was keep one guy trying to help me for around 20 minutes.
LoL! Similar to this, was it? :D

nevermind

EDIT

Whoops! That video was a little too explicit for this site. Sorry!