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On 15/10/11 20:32, Tony Sumner wrote:
I had one of these calls. She said her name was 'Nancy' and told me I had a Trojan. I said 'I don't use Windows' and told her that proved she was a b. liar. She got quite upset and said no I was the liar for saying I don't run Windows and hey I realised that I have a laptop that does have windows on it and it seems likely that she did have access to MS information. She also knew my address. A web site I looked at said that they tend to target older people (like me) so they may have a source of information that includes age and address. Tony
We've been receiving these calls once or twice a day for at least the last 3 months.
Our little network has just me and the wife on it. I've been using Debian sid since 2001 and the wife has had Windows XP for the past 3 years. I consider myself competent enough to know if my network is "clean" and to keep it so.
By some means they have gained some of my personal info as they know that I am the owner of the connection to my ISP and also my home address.
They don't always use the same approach. One time they'll claim I'm infected by a virus, another that I'm being used as a phishing site. Sometimes it's just a cold call. Strangely at other times they claim to be my "local electricity board". The latter backs up your supposition that they are targeting older people as people my age (I'm 68) remember when energy supply was state-owned and referred to as the "Electricity Board" and the "Gas Board". The first time they spoke of the "Electricity Board" I realised it was obviously a scam and laughed until the guy said something I couldn't make out and hung up. I enjoyed that!
These days I've given up arguing with them. If it's not a cold call as soon as I hear the Indian accent I tell them I don't do business on the phone and hang up. Sometimes I feel I would love to give them a blast of the foulest abuse I know (I once worked in a shipyard) but I don't.
I've gone through all the usual means to get this stopped but I know that in the end nothing can be done. Until they go out of business or lose my number my wife and I just have to grin and bear it.
Keith -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All e-mails including their file attachments are scanned for viruses and spam using Symantec's and ClamAV's scan engines. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq