Windows Best Help

[gerowen]

So yeah, just got a phone call on my land-line phone from "Windows Best Help", some kind of rampant social engineering scam. Apparently my Linux computer has all sorts of Windows viruses running on it and is sending information to their servers and I need to let them into my machine.

I've never had one of these calls before from an actual person. This guy had a thick Indian accent. He started talking about my Windows computer having issues and I just said, "All my computers run Linux, and I'm an IT Specialist". They just hung up on me mid-sentence.

I think I'm going to create a Windows XP virtual machine and if they call back, let them into that and just see what all they ask me to do, maybe see if I can figure out where they're connecting from, run a whois on it and see who owns the domain and report them to police or the F.B.I. or something.

Anybody else get calls from these guys lately?

[sudodus]

Yes, I had several such calls some months ago. At first I talked to them before I hung up, but after a while I did not bother to say anything, only hung up. If you have time, and enjoy it, play with them! At least that guy is busy with you and can't do any harm to other people during that time ;-)

[The Cog]

Be careful about teasing them. I know someone who did that, and then got pestered for ages by a debt collection agency after refusing to pay for the repair work they did.

[poet1]

I got calls from people like them before. Person claimed my Windows XP needs updates or fixes, or something.

[pfeiffep]

I generally don't try engaging calls like that ... my ploy is to answer the calls and say nothing which keeps the caller busy. Or sometimes I answer and then immediately hang up on callers that have blocked their number.

[Habitual]

Just hang up.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I don't know if I have gotten a call like that. If a caller is in my contact list then their name is displayed. If there is no name displayed, I ignore it and wait to see if they leave a message. Sometimes I will Google the missed call # just out of curiosity.

[monkeybrain20122]

Wonder why they haven't caught them yet with all the NSA spying. :)

[PondPuppy]

*laugh!!* Yeah, I used to get a few calls like that. I told the guy, "You know, what you're doing is illegal." He said "Go to an insane asylum!" and hung up. Made me laugh a little, I have to say.

[fkkroundabout]

why don't you buy a cool new windows xp just $10

[Paulgirardin]

If I can be bothered,I string them along.They ask me to click on the start button and I say "I dont have a start button".I tell them I can open the launcher etc. They never cotton onto the fact that I'm not using Windows.One time they got me to type eventmgr into the dash and up came a picture of a cat with the title "Indian event manager scammer".When I read that out they hung up on me.

[Paulgirardin]

Wonder why they haven't caught them yet with all the NSA spying. :)

That's because it is the NSA

[westie457]

This old thread has/had some good ideas. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1753968

[Sir_Ismicoo]

My record is about 1/2 hour for keeping these guys on the line. It could have been longer but I had to go out. I told him "it's been fun yanking your chain but I've got to go out now so I can't play any more today. If you call back at about the same time tomorrow I promise to try and waste a full hour of your day"

I've not had a single one of those calls since :(

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

That's because it is the NSAthere 'off the record' revenue collection dept to be precise

[LastDino]

Never had this calls from people pretending to be MS, but I do however, have experience with calls from different pretend faces. It is usually wise to just hang up.

Never got bothered by this after I started DND service on all my sims.

[SantaFe]

Never got a call, but did run across a web page with a popup saying my computer was full of Windows Viruses. ;) Gee, doesn't their script even TRY to check the user agent string?


Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:30.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/30.0 - Build ID: 20140506141935
:D

[Gilad_Pellaeon]

Are these calls mostly happening on landlines or is it moving on to cellphones too? Seem's to me if it's mostly landlines it's yet another reason to dump the landline so as not to be bothered as much.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

Never got a call, but did run across a web page with a popup saying my computer was full of Windows Viruses. ;) Gee, doesn't their script even TRY to check the user agent string?
:D

Yeah. I run across those sites that offer to speed up your computer by running some script. When you look at the link or examine the java script for the button you find it is linked to a .exe file. :)

When someone visits my website I know the IP they connected from, their browser, the OS, the language setting for their browser, their screen resolution, their java script version, etc. That is unless they are using a proxy, or user agent switcher, or other means to fool me.

[Jonor]

Be careful about teasing them. I know someone who did that, and then got pestered for ages by a debt collection agency after refusing to pay for the repair work they did.

This is a point, what if they know you're on Linux but want to play the fool to egg you on to think you are fooling them in order to get a telephone record of you verbally agreeing to a virus scan service, repair work or whatever.

[EnglishElectricAndy]

Obviously depending on local jurisdictions, and trying not to get into 'barrack room lawyer' territory, but debt collection agencies generally have no legal empowerment. If a party to a contract is financially aggrieved then they need to apply to the relevant court for an order. If such an order is granted (after the court has considered all the evidence as to whether or not a contract actually exists) then court-appointed bailiffs will seek to enforce recovery.

Debt collection agencies are cowboy chancers who employ pseudo-legalese to try and intimidate the unwary. Court bailffs do need to be taken seriously.