Beware

[gfwgfw]

By heck

Late last night I had a call from a kindly Indian ??? gentleman, suggesting that my computer had a mega virus on board and needs immediate attention

Luckily my excellent Neighbourhood Police was aware of this "scary" scam and had emailed all members

I was very firm but polite, and thank the caller for his concern, afore suggesting that he should "WHATSIT" off

lUBOO ALL

The Wily Giant

[david63]

The main point being that there is no way that anyone who you do not know can have access to your computer and know the first thing about it.

These are all scams to try and get money out of the innocent and/or gullible.

[Quizzical Bob]

It's a well-known scam.

http://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam ... -trash-pc/

[JenniC]

I get these calls all the time and ask - "what's it go to do with you, if I what a virus on my computer that is my prerogative" - they usually hang up !!!!!

[Captains folly]

There is also a phone scan doing the rounds. An Indian gentleman claims he's from BT and your account is in arrears and unless he receives immediate payment he will disconnect the phone. Requests payment by credit card. Just beware.

[kaymar]

I'm afraid that whenever I hear an Asian voice say "Am I speaking to....." I just hang up. We probably get one a week, on average.

[wolfie]

By heck

Late last night I had a call from a kindly Indian ??? gentleman, suggesting that my computer had a mega virus on board and needs immediate attention

Luckily my excellent Neighbourhood Police was aware of this "scary" scam and had emailed all members

I was very firm but polite, and thank the caller for his concern, afore suggesting that he should "WHATSIT" off

lUBOO ALL

The Wily Giant

I've kept them going on their, 'not to be deviated from script' a few times, sometimes more successful than others, but the best was just a few weeks ago when I purported to do all that they said and acted dumb when what they expected to come up on MY screen didn't appear; then it was................I have an apple!!!

After that the calls came more often, I think I annoyed them, to put it politely! Haven't had any for a while now.

[Boris+]

Good for you Wolfie, I can't stand these CROOKS - because no matter what accent they have, that is what they are - CROOKS, and the scum of the earth.

We keep getting phone calls from mother-in-law who lives on her own and has a laptop - and she rings us to query if she has done the right thing in telling 'callers' that she is not interested, or that her son deals with everything, or simple 'no'. We reassure her that these unsolicited phone calls are scammers and crooks, and just say no, be very definite about the word 'no', and try and get their phone number to report to the authorities if possible.

Of course she's done the right thing, and we just have to keep telling her that.

Em

[Stephen]

Another one is a court appearance request email.

I had one just after Christmas, scared the hell out of me as I doesn't say what for. Not that I could recall doing anything wrong . And if you get one of these don't open the attachment, it's a virus.

http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt= ... email+scam

[Delboy]

On our telephone we have the facility to add different ring tones to various sets of callers, we have one ring tone for family, another for friends and another for regular businesses we deal with, like the person who services my car, etc.

Any other calls we tend not to answer, although we do check the number on the display screen.

Thankfully since we upgraded to BT infinity and enrolled in their call blocking, we get very few calls outside of those we have allocated a ring tone, whereas before we use to get loads of unsolicited calls on a daily basis.

Cannot remember the last time we got a scam call.

Just as an add on, nothing to do with the telephone, but my log in identity code to log in the this forum has just expired, and I had to enter a new one. At the same time I had to enter my old one, the only problem was, it would not recognise my old one. Eventually managed to get in last night, only to find this morning I could not, as I had exceeded the number of tries. The only way I could eventually get in was to let the forum set me a new identity code. Has taken ages and numerous attempts just to register a new log in identity code.

[Andrea S]

I cannot believe what an idiot I was recently when renewing my passport.
I read you could do it on line and went to a passport uk site. I filled all the details in , paid the current fee and 2 days later I received my form back, all nicely typed in with the correct details. It then gave the instructions to get a new photograph and to submit the firm in the enclosed envelope with a further fee for the actual passport. Yep, I had paid the 'passport ' fee just for someone to type a form me.

[Delboy]

Another Scam or just a mix up.?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ABAMA.html

[Andrea S]

I cannot believe what an idiot I was recently when renewing my passport.
I read you could do it on line and went to a passport uk site. I filled all the details in , paid the current fee and 2 days later I received my form back, all nicely typed in with the correct details. It then gave the instructions to get a new photograph and to submit the firm in the enclosed envelope with a further fee for the actual passport. Yep, I had paid the 'passport ' fee just for someone to type a form me.

[gfwgfw]

Evening all

Wednesday is my Broadway Luncheon Club extravaganza day

After coffee we have a friendly chat

By coincidence this "scam" was debated, and sadly a gentleman was persuaded to open his computer, within minutes he had sadly be duped to part with £100, more worryingly he has given his credit card details to this helpful service

I reiterate BEWARE

Luboo all

Graham

[oldbluefox]

That's dreadful Graham but unfortunately there are those who are ever ready to leech off the unwary. I do hope your friend managed to cancel his credit card before the perpetrators managed to use it. It's a very cruel and hard lesson for him.

[Jacknian]

We also get several calls every week from an Indian gentleman claiming he is from windows and I have a supposed fault with my computer. Our local community paper has warned all local residents about this scam and also the BT one. This is quite convincing as the operator says that he will cut off your phone to prove that he is from B T, but actually all he does is keep the phone line open while he presses the mute button, and it seems like your phone has gone dead therefore proving (!) that he is indeed from BT. We have virgin media not B T but they still say we owe them money because the line is rented from BT. This is not true, virgin media have their own lines, but they will try anything to part us from our money.

[Manoverboard]

I cannot believe what an idiot I was recently when renewing my passport.
I read you could do it on line and went to a passport uk site. I filled all the details in , paid the current fee and 2 days later I received my form back, all nicely typed in with the correct details. It then gave the instructions to get a new photograph and to submit the firm in the enclosed envelope with a further fee for the actual passport. Yep, I had paid the 'passport ' fee just for someone to type a form me.

Now hang on ...

Are you saying that if I apply online for a replacement passport, renewal, that I will need to pay a fee over and above the one charged for the actual passport ?

My understanding is ( was ) that using the Official Website there is not any additional fee over and above the usual £72.50, plus postage, and that the form will be computer generated.

[BrianI]

There is no additional fee if you use the official site but if you use an unofficial site they can charge what they want
Brian

[Silver_Shiney]

IMHO, it should be made law that all such websites should carry a very prominent banner at the top, stating clearly that they are not the official website and that they will charge for using it - I know some websites bury this in small print at the bottom, where few people read it. Welshie got done by a site doing E111s, because it came top of the Google listing and she thought it was legit. Preferably, these sites would be closed down.

[Andrea S]

MOB, What I thought was the official site turned out to be false. They did send me a form with all my information on which probably took 5 minutes of their time. A nice money earner.
I understand that this company amongst others are being investigated as 'copycats' but it is reading the small print first that matters.
As SS says, they come up first when you google and in my case it looked official so I was the one who should have been more careful.
Thinking about it afterwards the fact they charged me the true cost of the passport didn't set any bells ringing in my head. If it had been higher or lower I would have wondered why.

[Quizzical Bob]

I recommend doing your passports through the Post Office. They check it for you and have their own courier service. They even have their own digital photo booth. The last time I renewed ours the new ones were back within two days.

[Dark Knight]

QBob

Snap, very simple and quick

[david63]

I recommend doing your passports through the Post Office. They check it for you and have their own courier service. They even have their own digital photo booth. The last time I renewed ours the new ones were back within two days.

I would probably agree for a first time passport but there is no way that I am paying £8 for someone to check a form that I have completed on line and is virtually impossible to get wrong for a renewal.

[Manoverboard]

I was aware that a few were duped way back when getting their USA ESTA's so for our UK Passport renewals I decided it best to go to the Post Office and get the ' form ' in order to check that the wwwdot that I was intending to use any time soon was correct ... as indeed it was.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Silver_Shiney]

I was aware that a few were duped way back when getting their USA ESTA's so for our UK Passport renewals I decided it best to go to the Post Office and get the ' form ' in order to check that the wwwdot that I was intending to use any time soon was correct ... as indeed it was.

Thanks for the feedback.

You've got me slightly concerned, Moby. We use https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/ to get our ESTAs, had an email back saying it's been approved. It cost around $9 each.