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Phishing phone calls – Onlinesupport.com

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Daniel Cid

It was early morning (around 8am) and I received a phone call from someone asking for me by name (using a private number and with a strong Indian accent):

Caller: Hello, Can I speak with XX?” (my real name)

Me: Sure, it is me.

Caller: Hello, I am calling from Online Support because there are some serious warnings coming from our Windows Server saying that your computer is compromised.

Me: Wow, it is?

At this point I was aware of what wass going on. This group from India has been calling thousands of numbers scaring people that their computer is compromised and convincing them to buy their service or install their software.

Since I knew what was going on, I decided to play along to see what would happen. If you ever receive such phone calls, do not do anything they tell you.

Caller: Yes, I see warnings from our Windows Server.

Me: What do I have to do to fix it?

Caller: I can show you the warnings. Go to the left bottom side of your screen and click on the “start” button. After that go to “computer”, right click on it, go to Event logs, then to Windows logs and Application. See the warnings? Don’t click on any of them! Your computer is compromised!

*He actually explained that much slower and step by step.

Me: Yes, I see it! Thousands of warnings!

Just to clarify folks, the Application event log on Windows always has a lot of warnings and errors. This normal, but they use this tactic to try and convince people that their computer is compromised.

Me: Btw, thanks for the help so far. What is your company name?

Caller: OnlineSupport (speaking very fast)

Me: What is the company name again? Couldn’t understand… And site name?

Caller: WWW.ONLINESUPPORT.COM (spelling each letter – Don’t visit the site)

Me: What is your name?

Caller: Jack Adams (hmmm….something seems off.)

Me: Where are you from?

Caller: I am from a call center in India.

Me: I am curious, how did you find my name and phone number?

Caller: Our Windows Sever from Microsoft reported your computer as compromised and Microsoft sent us your full name and phone number.

Me: Ok, I am in a hurry. What do you I have to do to “fix” those warnings?

Caller: I will transfer you to our Windows specialist, and he will take from there.

Me: What is his name?

Caller: John Miller. I am transferring now…

*call dropped

Unfortunately, the call dropped and I couldn’t follow along to see what would happen. I don’t know if they dropped it on purpose because I was asking too many questions….

Anyway, If you ever receive such a call, do not follow along. Plus, do not trust such company onlinesupport.com.

If they ever call back, I will try to follow up again to see what happens. Anyone else getting those calls? Love to hear other stories.



About Daniel Cid

Sucuri CTO, OSSEC Founder, open source developer and information security professional (http://dcid.me)
This entry was posted in phishing, phone, security and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.
  • Chris

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE55R7_0E-k

    basically what seems to happen

  • Richard de Groot

    You exactly describe the experience I had on June 16.
    I immediately posted a tweet referring to Phising by phone.

    Thanks for your post.

    Richard de Groot

  • John Nicholas

    rofl i used to get 2 of these calls a day

    In the end i keep them on the phone for about 2 hours. they get you to open the event logs and point ‘Hey look you have  bad events’ … yeah I know, im debugging my WCF services. YOU NEED CLEANING.

    pure genius. They also really have no clue what they are talking about. There is hours of amusement to be had with these poor guys. They are out to rob you, rob them of their time before they con your family.

    Of course the real art is not letting *them* put the phone down.

  • Guest

    Haha, I got one of these just the other day. They called my land line and asked for a previous resident (apartment). I didn’t think to play along though, mostly because the guys was seriously incomprehensible.

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  • Hawkemassagetherapy

    I just got the call advising me my windows operating system was comprimised I could correct it by turning on my computer and giving the tech support person access.  I advised her I wasn’t running a windows system.  She hung up!

    Unknown name unknown number on my call display.

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  • LauraLoop

    I’ve had this 3 times now but they don’t say the name of the person they’re after. Recent one was today and they claim theirs a PC running windows there ( I’m a guest at the phone number and i don’t have a PC… It’s a laptop) they still think there’s a PC. U know what i said? ” Is there? I’ve just gone into my systems programming and all is well but then, I am a good computer programmer myself”. He was quiet, said Oh then bye.

    Best thing is? I wasn’t lying… Much. I’ve learnt the basics from college. :P They have no knowledge of even a mac. Seriously some thought mac was still a PC running windows… So if you get this just hit em with your best knowledge of computer skills (don’t give info on the laptop/system itself) and watch em squirm. :P

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  • Mart900

    hi i had this call today, i unfortunately went further with them, to an extent they actually took over my laptop, after approx 30 seconds i was unconfortable with this so i shut the laptop down but switching off, i immediately got 2 phone calls from the company which i ignored, i went straight to my local pc shop who said i most like have a trojan, he is looking at it tomorrow to see if anything was planted on my pc, at this point i admit i have been totally sucked in, very unlike me, please, if anyone reads this, first i,m not stupid however i do feel it, secondly take note of the written text from DD above, he/she knew about it, dont fall for this  organisation, i feel like swearing but would good would that do. martyn

  • Ms Elizabeth Byrne

    I have tried to put funds into my lotto account, using your bpay account number and my card number, to no avail, it did not work. I have funds in my bank account!!.  Have you changed your Bpay number, it is the only reason I can think of why my lodgement was not accepted.

    Regards
    Elizabeth
    Winners Circle number
    484 776 364

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