help - call from "windows" saying someone is trying to access my laptop?

[titferbrains]

just had a long call - came up as international - from someone indian saying that windows has been sent reports that someone has been trying to access my computer, that they may have been reading my emails etc.

Not sure what to do or how to verify that it is indeed from windows. They asked me to open various files on the computer which pulled up some error reports from a source called "Bonjour Service" and he said those were the files that showed the activity.

I asked to speak to a manager, another indian with an English name which I've taken down. He said I could call a toll free number but that began with 0061 which is the code for australia. He didn't understand at first when I asked for his title, then eventually said he was a manager technician. He said he was calling from Glasgow and that the call appeared to be international because he was calling from an international routing centre. He tried to get me to connect to webpage so they could "show me" the activity where someone had used my laptop or whatever by taking me to the AMMYY homepage - I stopped short of letting them use my laptop remotely.

They have called a few times and I hung up a couple of times thinking it was sales calls. There is not much noise in the background when they call, just a few voices.

I don't have an antivirus program running right now but going to put one on this aft. Really not sure whether to believe this or not!

Those calls make me laugh. We got them a fair bit in our old flat. I let them rabbit on for a while then tell them I use a Mac. They hang up straight away then.

Does anyone on here also have a login to Gransnet? It occurs to me they could probably benefit from a thread over there to alert them to this scam, and to maybe suggest they mention it to their less-internet-savvy friends.

"I got feed up with TRS not working on the home phone "

By TRS do you mean TPS, the Telephone Preference System that is meant to block you being cold called?

It's worth pointing out that TPS isn't a magic technological bullet, it doesn't actually do anything at the phone exchange to stop you being called.

Rather the TPS list is obtained by companies who do this sort of thing and they are meant to use it as a blacklist to make sure that they don't call the numbers on the list. It is illegal for a UK company to call someone on that list and they can be fined up to £5,000 if they do.

So you're reliant on a UK company bothering to get the TPS list on a regulat basis and then bothering to actually do something with it. And all too many companies either don't do one or the other. So you still get called.

If a caller isn't UK based there's not a lot that you can do.

If they are UK based then report them to Ofcom and they might eventually get a paltry fine. The bigger companies are more concerned about this than the smaller ones, hence it's the small dodgy companies who ignore TPS and keep calling you.

Also once a company has you as a customer then TPS no longer applies and they can call you to try and sell you stuff as much as they like. In that case you have to directly inform that company that you don't want the phone calls.

We've started getting these calls, I let DH play with them (he's a programmer). Last time he asked them why he couldn't get Windows to work on his computer, was it anything to do with the big picture of the apple of the front. Then, when they started to ask how he wanted to pay, he kept saying, "No, no, you don't need to pay me, I'm happy to help". I was in stitches and eventually the guy hung up.

Next time if it's me who answers, I'm going to ask them if the reason my computer is broken is anything to do with all the hardcore porn I've been downloading.

As annoying as these calls are, the scam should burn out soon, like the bank emails.

Though the people from Nigeria who want to give me millions of dollars never seem to stop emailing... sigh!

When we get calls like this, our latest one asking what make of TV we have, the DC take turns to deal with it...

DS (6) sings Lionel Richie 'Hello? Is it me you're looking for?', DD1 (4) repeatedly asks 'are you calling from Daddy Pig's office?' and DD2 (2) laughs hysterically and says 'Hello Grandma' or 'Hello Daddy' over and over again. Maximum of 3 calls before they take you off their database. Or you could go down the boring route of putting the phone down as soon as you know who's calling.

Tell them you are going to get your credit card,put the phone on the side,apparently the longest they have hung on before hanging up is 2 and half minutes.

I just tell them I know it's a scam and to fuck off. Not hugely witty I know, but we get so many of them I really can't be bothered to play.

I know nothing about the computer side of things, but you can register with the telephone preference service which has stopped most of my nuisence calls