Just got a phone call regarding error messages received from my computer

[funguy11]

I received a phone call a few minutes ago from a woman claiming to be from a tech company who said she had received error reports from my Windows computer and would help me take steps to correct them. She also mentioned a virus going around causing Windows systems to crash. I never send error messages out in the rare event a program crashes and I have working protection. This woman also called again after I hung up on her and said the call wound up disconnected. I chose not to stay on the line or listen to any of her directions in fear of messing up my system. Was this a legitimate phone call?

[Geek-9pm]

I got the same call.   
I thanking him, said I would take care or it, and hung up. 
Legitimate?  Well, I have few jars of snake oil you can try. I got them from the brother of the guy that sold be the Golden Gate Bridge. 

[Allan]

No, it was not a legitimate call.

[Salmon Trout]

We have been having these cold calls for some time here in Great Britain. They originate in call centers in India, and may claim to be calling from Microsoft or your ISP. They claim you have one or more viruses and offer to "fix" it for a fee. It's a scam of course. I believe they get your name & phone number from databases built by scanning and OCRing phone directories. DVD--ROMs containing these for most Western countries are widely available in Asia.

[funguy11]

If there is one thing I know it is that the "do not call list" here in the U.S. does not do anything! I have both my home phone and my cell on it and STILL get such calls!

[BC_Programmer]

If there is one thing I know it is that the "do not call list" here in the U.S. does not do anything! I have both my home phone and my cell on it and STILL get such calls!

The calls are scammers. The Do not call list would be for legitimate businesses.

[Geek-9pm]

The calls are scammers. The Do not call list would be for legitimate businesses.

BC, you have made an important observation.
So then, get on the do not call list...
Then any unknown caller has to be a scam bag.

[Salmon Trout]

In Britain, we have a thing called the "Telephone Preference Scheme". People can register phone and fax numbers, and telemarketers must take effective steps to block these numbers from being called. Making a cold call to a TPS number is illegal, and companies can be fined up to 500,000 UK pounds for ignoring the TPS listing either deliberately or because of slack procedures. This sounds very much like the US "Don't call" list. Most EU countries have similar schemes.

The only problem is, and this applies to all of them, is that calls originating outside the country are not covered. India, Pakistan, and the Philippines are among the countries where most cold-calling centers are located, and they can operate in complete immunity.

Posts on forums that I have seen suggest that a popular sport is to pretend to be taken in and keep the caller talking as long as possible, finally informing them that they have wasted the last 20 or whatever minutes. It can be very funny to hear them swearing. The only problem with that is the fact that you have wasted the same amount of your own time.

[DaveLembke]

Not legitimate and I would have recorded the conversation and posted it onto youtube along with the telemarketer that called the other day and told us we were the grand winners of a prize from a concert that my wife went to recently, and you can hear the other 20 telemarketers in the background trying to trick 20 other people into whatever scam they were selling. The second call from this potential scam was great in the fact that the caller named Dennis was struggling at the get go to leave the message on our answering machine and then he fumbled worse and worse and then crackle crackle crackle on the answering machine. When I heard that message I was like wow this guy is failing fast, pull up, pull up and then CRASH. I posted it on youtube the other day and can share it here if anyone is interested in it.

[camerongray]

Not legitimate and I would have recorded the conversation and posted it onto youtube along with the telemarketer that called the other day and told us we were the grand winners of a prize from a concert that my wife went to recently, and you can hear the other 20 telemarketers in the background trying to trick 20 other people into whatever scam they were selling. The second call from this potential scam was great in the fact that the caller named Dennis was struggling at the get go to leave the message on our answering machine and then he fumbled worse and worse and then crackle crackle crackle on the answering machine. When I heard that message I was like wow this guy is failing fast, pull up, pull up and then CRASH. I posted it on youtube the other day and can share it here if anyone is interested in it.

What I really want to do is get an old laptop ready with a clean install of Windows - Next time they phone try to go along with it giving them access to the laptop when they want it (Connected over an isolated internet connection e.g. 3g) - Then record exactly what they do!

[SuperTweaker]

Any calls or emails you receive that reference your computer are ALL bogus.  The senior citizens around the world are the ones that fall for these tactics more than any other demographic.

Let others know in your list of contacts via email about this fact.  Ask those contacts to send an email to their contacts so-forth-and-so on.  Do not say forward this email.  Tell people to clean the header of your email and add their own words.

People need reminding of these scams and yes, you could find any number of videos at YouTube that record the actual scams on the phones by savvy computer owners.