The unstoppable "tech support" scam

[mike99]

Reported in PC Pro

The unstoppable "tech support" scam

1 of 2 Gallery
By Barry Collins
Posted on 6 Jul 2010 at 12:52

Barry Collins investigates a computer virus swindle that the authorities seem powerless to prevent
They take mere hours to set up and they’re near impossible to shut down: a pernicious new type of scam is targeting British computer owners.
The con is both fiendishly clever and ridiculously simple. The fraudster cold-calls the customer and tells them that Microsoft has detected a virus on their PC, then invites them to download a piece of remote-assistance software. No doubt reassured by the lines of indecipherable code flitting across their screen, the caller assures the customer they can make the virus vanish – but first, of course, they want payment. £185 to be precise.
That’s the point at which PC Pro reader Mike McCartney entered the room and prevented his grandfather from making what could have been a very costly mistake. And judging by the groundswell of comments on the story we ran on the scam in March, many others have received similar calls.
Top five stories on PC Pro

1. Microsoft Spurned Researcher Collective springs into action
2. iPhone tops most recycled phone chart
3. Seven amazing projects from Intel research
4. Whatever happened to the Micro Men?
5. Inside the cockpit: mile-high computing
The “company” behind the scam is called The Nerd Support – although there are others perpetrating similar swindles. The Nerd Support points its victims towards a legitimate looking website, which carries official-looking logos that reassure visitors that it’s a “Microsoft Registered Partner” and is even verified by McAfee Site Advisor as a site that’s passed its “intensive daily security scan” that tests for “dangerous sites, phishing, and other online dangers”. To add to its legitimacy, the site bears a working London 0203 telephone number.
It’s absurdly easy to pull off such a sting. Website domains can be registered for less than $10, and the relatively skimpy website could be cobbled together within hours. What’s more, the website’s FAQs and customer testimonials are duplicated across several other domains, suggesting the designer has either been making liberal use of the cut and paste commands, or that there are several identikit sites waiting to pull off the same scam if one domain gets blocked.
Cheap telephone numbers
The British telephone number can be bought from companies such as Skype for less than £4 per month and, of course, you don’t need to be anywhere near London to buy an 0203 telephone number. In fact, judging by the Indian hold music and the accents of the staff who answer The Nerd Support lines, we’d wager that the scam is being run closer to Bombay than Brixton.
And using a service such as Skype, scammers can make their international cold-calls for only fractions of a penny per minute (although there’s no suggestion Skype’s involved in the fraud).
While it’s a doddle to set up such a heist, shutting them down is much more difficult. A spokesperson for the Office of Fair Trading urged affected customers to ring its Consumer Direct helpline, although quietly conceded that if the scam was being run from abroad, the chances of it being closed down were slim.

A spokesperson for PhonepayPlus (formerly ICSTIS) said his organisation could only get involved if the fraudsters were using a premium-rate telephone line, and not the standard-rate 0203 number. He pointed us to telecoms regulator Ofcom, but its spokesperson said that shutting down a telephone number was “not within its remit” unless the telephone line itself was at the centre of the scam (such as charging people excessive fees for text messages).
And what of the companies whose reputations are being tarnished by association with The Nerd Support? In a statement sent to PC Pro, Microsoft said it was investigating the company: “There are no circumstances under which we would ever allow partners or any other organisations to pose as Microsoft. We take matters such as these extremely seriously and will take immediate action if such behaviour is brought to our attention and found to be the case.”
Meanwhile, McAfee said that “Site Advisor rates websites based on the security implications of visiting them – McAfee visits websites and tests them for a comprehensive set of security threats. Although some users’ experiences of The Nerd Support seem to imply that its activities may constitute a scam, testing is currently in progress to understand whether it carries any of these security threats”.
Which leaves only The Nerd Support itself. When PC Pro first telephoned the company and began asking questions, the company representative hung up. On our second attempt, the person who answered the phone – who claimed to be “in charge” – told us that The Nerd Support has never cold-called customers.
When we asked him why he was using Microsoft logos and pretending to represent the software giant, he became angry, demanding to know why he “should justify himself” to us before once again hanging up. Alas, it seems the con artists answer to no-one.


Read more: The unstoppable "tech support" scam | Security | News | PC Pro http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security...#ixzz0szh1QxT5

[silver]

have been cold called for this scam Strange Phone Call

thanks for the heads-up

[Doggy Doo]

Been called Four times now on scams like this, I do have fun with these guys.

Short story goes like this
Red = them Blue = me

Microsoft has detected a virus on your PC
Have they that's good of them
Is your PC slow at times?
It can be
OK go to start then run and type in www.lets stitch you up.com we have a sucker here.
Sorry I can not see start on the screen
is your PC on
No hold on a sec I will get the kids to show me how to turn it on
no problems sir
5 mins later sorry it takes so long it is an old PC and takes a while
no problems sir just take your time
Ok its on now what next?
OK go to start then run and type in www.lets stitch you up.com we have a sucker here.
Ok but that microsoft must be good to find a virus on my PC and give you my phone number
Yes it is good sir
So how does it find my phone number then?
have you typed in what I said sir (they now start to be evasive for some reason)

And so it goes on

I can now keep them on the phone now for about 30 minutes all from the comfort of my chair watching telly with the PC in the other room

After about 30 minutes on the phone I start ranting to them that there is now way I would type anything from someone who has cold called me.

I must be getting good as the last 2 hung up on me. LOL

[silver]

Been called Four times now on scams like this, I do have fun with these guys.

Short story goes like this
Red = them Blue = me

Microsoft has detected a virus on your PC
Have they that's good of them
Is your PC slow at times?
It can be
OK go to start then run and type in www.lets stitch you up.com we have a sucker here.
Sorry I can not see start on the screen
is your PC on
No hold on a sec I will get the kids to show me how to turn it on
no problems sir
5 mins later sorry it takes so long it is an old PC and takes a while
no problems sir just take your time
Ok its on now what next?
OK go to start then run and type in www.lets stitch you up.com we have a sucker here.
Ok but that microsoft must be good to find a virus on my PC and give you my phone number
Yes it is good sir
So how does it find my phone number then?
have you typed in what I said sir (they now start to be evasive for some reason)

And so it goes on

I can now keep them on the phone now for about 30 minutes all from the comfort of my chair watching telly with the PC in the other room

After about 30 minutes on the phone I start ranting to them that there is now way I would type anything from someone who has cold called me.

I must be getting good as the last 2 hung up on me. LOL

Originally Posted by Doggy Doo

one the other day, I got 20 mins out of them,. which was nice, as I said the comp was really slow to boot up and put the phone down inbetween the computer booting - then their website loading (I DID NOT VISIT THEIR WEBSITE) was slow (presume my computer had a virus!)

unless you are bored or want to have some fun please don't follow the instructions from the nice man who calls - it's a scam and I would not visit any website some random person calls (or emails) about

[gem]

I have not had that call for quite a while now! When they ask me I ask them which computer they are referring to and they always say the one which is connected now so we go around in circles for a bit then they seem to guess that I'm up for a laugh and hang up. Perhaps that's why they don't phone me any more.

[gem]

I received another one of these calls a couple of weeks ago. I played him (Asian sounding) along for a while and got fed up so I said 'this is a scam'. No it's not was the reply. I kept repeating it and in the end he said 'F' off and he put the phone down.

Since then we have been receiving two or three calls a day (it comes up either 'International' or 'Unavailable') and when you answer they put the phone down. I got so annoyed that I used the 'block all calls that withhold numbers' but that did not work.

[silver]

we get the tech support / computer has virus calls at least once / month,.

the dial and disconnect is designed to make you ring back a premium rate number I would think

[gem]

No number is left. We have CLI and it come up as unavailable or international.

[silver]

I guess is a fault then with their auto dialing system or they don't have enough operators to pick up the placed calls when answered

is a bit annoying we get a call about the same time each day, 10am have tried answering it and it's some indian call center but it still rings most days..