I have just had a very interesting telephone conversation with a Nigerian gentleman called John Smith ( very original ). He claimed to be from Microsoft and advised me that my computer had flagged up as having a virus and that he was able to fix this problem over the phone if I switched on my computer and followed his instructions.
My computer was on already and so I told him to hang on a minute whilst it booted up and I logged on (I went and made a cup of tea).
John Smith then told me to press the windows logo key and the letter R on my keyboard at the same time...After a slurp of tea and a custard cream biscuit I said ok whats next, he told me a pop up box should appear with some script in it. I told him I could see this and also a box that wanted me to type something into it, he asked what it said above the box.
My reply was unprintable and so was his. He then hung up, unfortunately his number was withheld.
Luckily I knew this was a scam from the minute he told me he was from Microsoft and so was happy to wind him up and let him think he was on to a winner.
....PLEASE DO NOT BE A VICTIM OF CYBER FRAUD AND DONT FOLLOW ANY INSTRUCTIONS HE MAY GIVE YOU AS HE IS TRYING TO GAIN REMOTE ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER AND WILL THEN HAVE ACCESS TO ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION AND PASSWORDS.........

We could do with some methods with handling these calls. The tea and biscuit delay one is good and love the reading back to him what it says lol..must be some other ways we can really cheese them off.
Had one few years back they come across so plausible ...how did you know he was Nigerian?

Used to get the Nigerian emails of someone trying to smuggle and launder millions of pound out the country.

A friend has a klaxon horn he blows down the phone when he receives any calls he think as scams.
Think this is a scam
In the last couple of days I've received this message on my pc when I've been on facebook (not that often) and clicked on links on the side there that appear to show Richard Branson or Cliff Richard or Mick Jagger had died.

IGNORED THE MESSAGE AND DIDN'T PHONE

I love that screen shot with the IP address of 21.205.827.444,
it's a bit of a giveaway as its clearly fake as the highest possible value for each field is 255...

Dave

I used to work in a call centre and Mr Smith had a Nigerian accent.

See this Running Topic Click me

Strangely i got one of those calls today, and took them as far as i could for 40 mins before they wanted me to download teamviewer at this point i said, wow ive just checked the error logs and there all clean now thank you and goodbye lol

Ha! Id love to be savvy enough to string them along for a good length of time.

This Scam has been circulating for years. Just tell them YOU work for Microsoft too, then ask which department they work in and you'll pop round and have a chat with them later. It's amazing how quickly they hang up.
https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums...-another-scam-phone-call.html#Post888389

Coincidentally, I came across this today. It explains the whole Scam in detail.
http://www.howtogeek.com/176605/tell-your-relatives-no-microsoft-wont-call-you-about-your-computer/

I keep getting calls from abroad claiming to be from Talk Talk saying they can save me money and I just tell the caller I do not wish to take the call then hang up.

Before I retired when we had computer problems at work we had to phone a dedicated phone line for them to deal with it and get you back on track.

It shocked me to see how quick and easy it was for them to take over control of my computer although for a good purpose.

This has made me wary and I take no unsolicited calls and never confirm my name.If they ask to speak to me by name I just say no and refuse to listen to them

Talk Talk from time to time sends clients information to state the things they would not do and this is helpful.

Anyone remember Esther Rantzens consumer prog on tv? That was many years ago & she exposed this scam then.Ive had several of these calls & always ask the caller to hold on while I get a pen ,then I ask them to tell me exactly what to do to solve the problem as my Son has his own computer repair business (he doesnt) .They usually say they have to do it there & then & dont like to be asked for their contact number if I say I will check & ring them back.This takes some time & really annoys them just as they annoy me !

go to argos and get a phone blocker, when you get one of these calls you press the button and (in the voice of Barry Scott) bang and it's gone

Or with talktalk you can block up to ten numbers for free.