I just got a phonecall from someone who said they were from the software maintenance dept of Windows computer & would walk me through my computer to fix my problems..( I have had an error or something that tells me it needs to debug so I almost allowed them to. ) Luckily I rang my computer guru & he said no way that they get in & access your computer & hijack all the info. Other people have done it & hes had to fix their computers..+ Windows don't contact you. So if they ring don't let them do anything !
The same thing happened to somebody near me.
She said "I don't have a computer anymore, my laptop was stolen"
The reply from the Indian / Paki sounding scammer : "Well, ring the Police in your village and tell them to give it back"
Happen to me, phone ID had overseas call, i could hear kids in the back ground while he was talking at first wasn't sure what to think but no way was i going to allow access to my pc.
My parents got sucked in by that and paid over $200 to the people for their help!
They thought the scammers were being very helpful...
My responses when "Stephen" rang me a few weeks back
You what?
Your kidding?
How bad?
What's that?
Hang on!
I don't have a computer
Fark of
Best trick for any sort of tele sales, sound interested, then say , hold on a second, have to answer the door, go make a cup of tea, come back,usually still there,sound interested, say hold on a sec, read paper, come back, sound interested, keep em going for ages,hey its there phone bill and their time!!
a few weeks ago my wife said to them
"sorry where are you from?"
and they did the blurb of computer company to fix virus on computer
"no, because you're a scam"
no why do you think we are a scam
"because its in all our local papers that when people call and say what you've just said that its a scam, see ya!"
on another call... I said
"I don't have time now but give me your number and I'll ring you back when your having dinner" (and hung up)
we're on the do not call registry but that didn't stop them
donotcall.gov.au
and they have more info on there about the scam.
I've had a box that pops up soon after you open your email programme and says something like " There is a problem with your computer we need to debug..you might lose some unsaved information' ( something like that)..it has 2 boxes 'debug' on the LHS & 'close' on the R. I often click on debug but nothing seems to happen. One of the reasons I thought this call was real last night was that this box occurred just beforehand..I wonder if it is a plant that came through in an email a while ago & is meant to prime you so you are ready for their phonecall?
This scam is almost as old as outsourced call centres in India... I guess you should have bought a Mac instead. 
BTW, anyone that did get suckered in to paying them money and letting them remote control their computer better make sure they didn't install a remote trojan that will give them access at a later point. I have recently heard of a variation of this scam where they will call back a few weeks later and surprise surprise there is now something else wrong... apparently they remotely installed some nagware without the users knowledge that now gets removed, you guessed it, for a price.
Apparently this started around June 2010 and police is pretty much powerless because the scam originates from outside Australia plus they are not really doing anything illegal. Morally wrong yes but apparently it's not illegal.
I guess the best way to deal with them is like what this guy did:
Ok computer nerds ..,that box came up again..Its called
ATI External Event Utility EXE Module
I tried to copy it but couldn't.. is this normal computer help or bull****?
Re anti virus software: I used to use Eset Anti Virus from Eset.com when I was still using windows pcs in the office. It's pricey but very fast and regularly rated best in class in independent Euopean tests.
alternatively go out and buy a handle from a hard ware store. Attach it to your pc and take it to the next Apple store. Buy a Mac, get the friendly folks there to migrate your data then use said handle to put your pc in the nearest bin. You won't regret it.
