Members Invicta Posted April 7, 2014 Members Share Posted April 7, 2014 Do you all get phone calls purporting to come from "Windows Support?" A scammer who conned people with bogus Windows computer support calls has been given a suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay thousands of pounds in fines. The prosecution is believed to be a first in the UK as the authorities finally take action against the plague of so-called 'Windows support scams'. Mohammed Khalid Jamil, 34, from Luton, Bedfordshire, hired call-centre workers in India to cold call people in the UK and con them out of hundreds of pounds. The cold-callers told people their computers had serious faults that needed to be fixed, charging as much as £150 for the service. Police said many of the victims were elderly. People tricked by the scam gave Indian call centre operators remote access to their computers but found that rather than fixing non-existent prOBlems they actually removed security software. Jamil's company, Smart Support Guys, claimed to be a registered Microsoft partner, but a spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed this was not the case. Jamil filed an early guilty plea and was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months and fined £5,000. He has also been ordered to pay £5,665 in compensation to his victims and £13,929 in prosecution costs. Specialist e-crime investigators based in Yorkshire worked with trading standards, Action Fraud and local trading standards teams in Redcar and Cleveland to bring Jamil to justice. Rebecca Brown, prosecuting, explained that trading standards officers in Luton had warned Jamil about the conduct of one of his previous companies, Online PC Masters, in 2010. "This is a landmark case, as we believe it may be the first ever successful prosecution of someone involved in the Microsoft scam in the UK," said Lord TOBy Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board. "It’s an important turning point for UK consumers who have been plagued by this scam, or variants of it, for several years". He added that the successful prosecution should act as "a stark warning" to anyone else carrying out similar scams. Our sister title Computeractive recorded a call with similar Microsoft cold-call scammers in 2010. You can see what happened by watching the video below. http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/1307167/microsoft-cold-call-scammer-gets-suspended-jail-sentence-and-huge-fine?CMP=NLC-Newsletters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members No Nicolaitans Posted April 7, 2014 Members Share Posted April 7, 2014 It's sad that people fall for this type of scam; that's what updates are for. I'm glad they were able to prosecute the guy! Another reason why I switched to the Zorin OS on my main computer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LindaR Posted April 7, 2014 Members Share Posted April 7, 2014 Now I'm glad we don't have a lan-line phone anymore. We just use our cell phone and I certainly don't miss the scammers and telemarketers! We do keep our Windows updated. I like Windows 7 Never heard of Zorin OS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members swathdiver Posted April 7, 2014 Members Share Posted April 7, 2014 No, but OBamacare keeps calling trying to sign us up. I do not like that they're trying to force me to upgrade and change my OS. They say it's twelve years old but were still selling new and improved versions years later when I upgraded from Windows 98. They've linked this to Security Essentials and the last update has slowed my machine down considerably. I disable it and the internet when I want full power. I sure hope the rapture comes before I have to upgrade! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zed Posted April 7, 2014 Members Share Posted April 7, 2014 Our family often get's phone calls from someone claiming to know that "You have a prOBlem with your computer". My dad humours him and asks "Which one? We have multiple computers in the house." Its quite amusing to listen to what he says. Last time I remember, the guy claimed that the prOBlem was with a computer that had Windows XP running. We do happen to have a netbook that runs XP, but we haven't fired it up in a long time, so it couldn't possibly be that one! It's sad how that these scam companies somehow manage to exist. Thankfully my dad can see through them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members No Nicolaitans Posted April 7, 2014 Members Share Posted April 7, 2014 Now I'm glad we don't have a lan-line phone anymore. We just use our cell phone and I certainly don't miss the scammers and telemarketers! We do keep our Windows updated. I like Windows 7 Never heard of Zorin OS Zorin is a Linux OS. It's built off of Ubuntu, but it's a lot "flashier" than Ubuntu. It's similar to Windows, and that's one of its marketing ploys...it's supposed to be the Linux OS that makes it easy for Windows users to switch to Linux. I tried Ubuntu, and I liked it...but I like Zorin a lot better. Here's a screen shot of the desktop of their latest version... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveW Posted April 7, 2014 Members Share Posted April 7, 2014 We get calls like this every few months. I really enjoy them. I ask them which computer has the prOBlem, then when they say my windows computer I ask them which one. Then they ask how many I have and I tell them - my older kids are old enough to have bought their own - so we have a number here and they all have different windows versions and we use Ubuntu as well. I tell them that if they have detected a prOBlem they should be able to tell me which computer it is. Eventually they give up on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members candlelight Posted April 8, 2014 Members Share Posted April 8, 2014 I use Windows 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Standing Firm In Christ Posted April 8, 2014 Members Share Posted April 8, 2014 Candlelight, you use windows 7? You do have a prOBlem. Matter of fact, we all do. RoFL Windows does have it's prOBlems. We have to admit that. If it didn't, there would never be a need to upgrade.. No need for antivirus programs, etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members candlelight Posted April 8, 2014 Members Share Posted April 8, 2014 Candlelight, you use windows 7? You do have a prOBlem. Matter of fact, we all do. RoFL Windows does have it's prOBlems. We have to admit that. If it didn't, there would never be a need to upgrade.. No need for antivirus programs, etc.. Yes, I do SFIC. They are constantly sending me pop-ups to upgrade to Windows 8. I have a pretty good antivirus program with Dell computers. They scan my computer, once a month, per my agreement with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Standing Firm In Christ Posted April 8, 2014 Members Share Posted April 8, 2014 We opted out of the Dell scan. We use Vipre. Great antivirus program. Runs surface scan six days a week and a deep scan once a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members candlelight Posted April 8, 2014 Members Share Posted April 8, 2014 We opted out of the Dell scan. We use Vipre. Great antivirus program. Runs surface scan six days a week and a deep scan once a week Dell is running 24/7. I just have to respond to it when the pop up comes on. I run it whenever I can. I like when Dell does the monthly scan. They even scan my husband's computer, which is not a Dell. It is less work for me. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.