'Your computer isn't safe'

[Richie]

Hey,
Today I get a phone call from a man called mack, I don't know who he is but he knows who I am. He asks me to open my event log and tell him how many warnings I have, so I do that and he explains I need to pay 150 euro for my computer to be 'safe' this is the website he wants me to buy it from http://www.onlinepccare.com/selectplan.php is it legit? I don't wana pay 150euro for them to 'fix' the problem, I f i reboot will it fix?

[Swastika]

Your taking advice from somebody who phoned you out of the blue? AND you don't know the guy?
What you should be asking yourself is how the hell did he manage to get in touch with you and how does he know so much about you?
I'd defiantly reboot my computer if i was in this situation, i bet your freaked out LOL.

[Richie]

yeah haha I was gonna reboot it anyway but how he said it was like i was gonna die 'DO NOT OPEN YOUR INTERNET PLEASE SIR, DISCONNECT YOUR INTERNET PLEASE SIR' I said to him I don't have money atm call bk next week so next week im not answering the phone im gonna tell my mam to tell him I moved out!


oh nd off topic: anytime he said his name I kept singing humbly in my head 'Return of the mac'


EDIT: In fairness tho there is about 50 warning errors in my event log which I didn't know about and I have microsoft security essentials

[Adamm]

Yeah pay him the money.

[Catzsy]

Hey,
Today I get a phone call from a man called mack, I don't know who he is but he knows who I am. He asks me to open my event log and tell him how many warnings I have, so I do that and he explains I need to pay 150 euro for my computer to be 'safe' this is the website he wants me to buy it from http://www.onlinepccare.com/selectplan.php is it legit? I don't wana pay 150euro for them to 'fix' the problem, I f i reboot will it fix?

Richie this sounds like a right scam - people like this should be shot they are just trying to sell you the care plan for the computer. There is probably nothing wrong with your computer.

[Richie]

Richie this sounds like a right scam - people like this should be shot they are just trying to sell you the care plan for the computer. There is probably nothing wrong with your computer.

If I reboot do you think my pc will live a long fulfilled life? I would be throwing away money if I was to purchase that, my laptop is 2 - 3 years old so I will need a new pc very soon anyway.

Oh nd other link didn't work http://www.onlinepccare.com/ he said 'your internet service provider is downloading harmful things from the internet be careful thank you please'

[Catzsy]

If I reboot do you think my pc will live a long fulfilled life? I would be throwing away money if I was to purchase that, my laptop is 2 - 3 years old so I will need a new pc very soon anyway.

Have you scanned it for viruses? I just think it sounds like a scam and when I googled it they did the same thing to some guy. Link:
http://timtrent.blogspot.com/2010/04/online-pc-care-just-spam-cold-called-me.htm

[Adamm]

i reboot everyday. so does everyone. that's how we turn out computers on and off.

[Richie]

Have you scanned it for viruses? I just think it sounds like a scam and when I googled it they did the same thing to some guy. Link:
http://timtrent.blogspot.com/2010/04/online-pc-care-just-spam-cold-called-me.htm

can't be found, but if it is a scam how does he know my details?


i reboot everyday. so does everyone. that's how we turn out computers on and off.

Alright smart guy 'reboot to factory settings' and not everyone reboots their pc some leave it on gg

[Catzsy]

can't be found, but if it is a scam how does he know my details?



Alright smart guy 'reboot to factory settings' and not everyone reboots their pc some leave it on gg

Sorry try that link:
http://timtrent.blogspot.com/2010/04/online-pc-care-just-spam-cold-called-me.html

What did the guy actually say to you?

[Adamm]

can't be found, but if it is a scam how does he know my details?

cos u signed up to a site and they passed ur details on.

re-format is the word. so is bird.

[Richie]

Sorry try that link:
http://timtrent.blogspot.com/2010/04/online-pc-care-just-spam-cold-called-me.html

What did the guy actually say to you?

omg that link is exactly my call

[Swastika]

You should've recorded it, next time he phones - hit record and mess with his head, unless its automated of course lol.

[Recursion]

NONE of this thread makes sense.

YOU do not need to go in the event log, the event log is generally for system administrators, everything in there is to do with the system, rarely, if ever, will you see anything about viruses. Ignore the warnings, they are common.

I have literally tens of thousands of entries in my Event Log, none of them I need to worry about.

EDIT: Just looked, I have literally 1,512 Warnings and Error messages in just my Application log, you don't need to worry.

Also next time, ignore cold callers, this is why we have a system that asks witheld callers and numbers we havent approved for their name, then we can "zap" their call or accept ;)

[Eckuii]

Scan your computer if your so worried. Events logs have no impact on viruses. Im sure if many people checked the events log they would poo their pants.

[Richie]

NONE of this thread makes sense.

YOU do not need to go in the event log, the event log is generally for system administrators, everything in there is to do with the system, rarely, if ever, will you see anything about viruses. Ignore the warnings, they are common.

I have literally tens of thousands of entries in my Event Log, none of them I need to worry about.

Ok thanks I'm contacting the internet police about this guy, hes calling back next week 'for me to make the payment' hes gonna get abuse hurled at him. Is their anyone I can contact about this guy trying to 'scam' me?

I do a full scan everyday I think he just used event log as an excuse to make me believe my computer was unsafe

[Recursion]

Ok thanks I'm contacting the internet police about this guy, hes calling back next week 'for me to make the payment' hes gonna get abuse hurled at him. Is their anyone I can contact about this guy trying to 'scam' me?

I do a full scan everyday I think he just used event log as an excuse to make me believe my computer was unsafe

Have you signed up to http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/ ? It may stop some of your cold calls.

[Richie]

Have you signed up to http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/ ? It may stop some of your cold calls.

Nope I haven't registered but il do that now, what am I meant to do when I get a phone call 'returned from the mack'?

[FlyingJesus]

Event log errors can just be a program not wanting to start up or even you stopping it lol. Mack sounds like a dude but you should never really need to pay for antivirus software when so much of the good stuff is free anyway, and if you're careful (which I wasn't, hence spending the last week sorting out rootkits and backdoors..) then you should be fine in most cases just by running good virus scans regularly.

[Catzsy]

Ok thanks I'm contacting the internet police about this guy, hes calling back next week 'for me to make the payment' hes gonna get abuse hurled at him. Is their anyone I can contact about this guy trying to 'scam' me?

I do a full scan everyday I think he just used event log as an excuse to make me believe my computer was unsafe

You should get in touch with your phone provider and they can tell you if they have an 'abuse' service. We have BT and they have a full time department dealing with this sort of stuff. They put a monitor on your line and when the person calls you dial a special number to alert them and they deal with it from there. We had somebody trying to scam by pretending to be from Sky TV and they sorted it.

[Rapidshare]

Lol internet police.

Im sure nothing happening, the guy just trying to scam you.

/thread

[N!ck]

I'd love a call like this. Would entertain me for a while.

[[Chris]]

I'd love a call like this. Would entertain me for a while.

Agreed.

I love playing people on who are clearly there for illigitimate reasons

[Fapin]

I had a phone call like this once, he asked me to go on teamviewer, i just told him not 2 bother ringing again and he kept saying 'but sir' so i repeatably said 'no' and hung up

[GommeInc]

His name is Mack? Makes you wonder if Apple have stooped to a lower level :P When I saw the thread it made me think "What has Steve Jobs said now?"

[-paul.]

Tbh he could of gone online and searched a random name and came out with yours - ignore it and reboot and run a virus check if your that worried

[MattFr]

Is this thread serious? I can't tell.

[Axel]

Is this thread serious? I can't tell.

I don't know, but it gave me a good laugh.

[Moh]

We're ex-directory and we sometimes get calls from telesales.

They soon hang up once we ask which company sold them our number ^_^

[Kieran]

Omg... I actually want them to ring me now.

I'd have SO much fun with them ;)

[Moh]

Id make out that what they told me to do breaks it :P

[Markeh]

Warnings in error logs aren't problems. Errors can be, but check what the errors are first.
Ignore the cold call. I'm sick of cold callers to be truthful. Vodafone keep ringing me to ask how my contract is - 1. I don't pay the bill, 2. Seeing as the bill isn't in MY NAME, I can't help you, and 3. I'm 15. lol.

[Recursion]

I'd love a call like this. Would entertain me for a while.

Agreed xD

[Rapidshare]

Warnings in error logs aren't problems. Errors can be, but check what the errors are first.
Ignore the cold call. I'm sick of cold callers to be truthful. Vodafone keep ringing me to ask how my contract is - 1. I don't pay the bill, 2. Seeing as the bill isn't in MY NAME, I can't help you, and 3. I'm 15. lol.

Perhaps someone paying the bill for the phone and that the reason why they ringing the phone...

[Stephen!]

Seriously why would you even believe this for a second?

[peteyt]

Same thing happened the end of last year to my Grandad.

He bought himself a Netbook, came with a freee subscripton with McAfee for so long and it said something like something isn't correct - like some of them do, warning you if something isn't turned on or something. He got a call saying their was a problem with his computer apparently from the "Security Centre." He persumed it was McAfee but turned out to be a company called Comantra. They set up a remote control thing with LogMeIn, said it was apparently free but then later asked for card details which he stupidly gave and they said something about it was a one of payment of bla, but then decided to say he had to pay so many years in advance and when he said no they said it was too late. Cost him a few hundred.

Because it was a one off PayPal account we had problems causing a dispute - because they wanted the original card which he had cut up and got a new one - eventually they managed to sort it between the bank and PayPal but then something happened and it kept going back and forward - think he did get his money back but I'm not sure.

The important thing to always ask yourself is how do they know there is something wrong with your computer? The answer is simply, they don't! They simply ring up people and hope they will get someone with little computer knowledge. Sadly fear sells - people hear about viruses all the time and everyone wants to be more secure so people especially new to computing end up falling for it. None of us understood why my Grandad didn't contact any of us as we would have spotted it was a scam straight away and would have been able to fix any problems that did exist by ourselves.

Note there are some that call up about speeding your computer which are kind of scams and not - they simply are offering to make your PC faster - remember you can do this for free with multiple applications e.g. CCleaner

[hamheyelliot]

Went on the main page of that site, and... uh

http://i48.tinypic.com/34gkms2.png

[Richie]

he called me again and i said

'**** OFF IM TIRED OF GETTING THESE CALLS"
"BUT SIR THIS IS A SERIOUS CALL DO YOU WANT YOUR COMPUTER TO BREAK"
"YES NOW HANG UP AND CALL ME AGAIN AND IM PASSING YOUR NUMBER ONTO THE POLICE"
"OKAY IM SORRY SIR PLEASE DONT DO THAT WE WONT BOTHER U AGAIN"

[GommeInc]

I'd question why they would phone up. Anti-viruses sometimes log usage and anonymously send the information to the developer, thus when an update is available it should solve any problems. They have no reason to get in contact with users, especially when alot of them offer no such option.

[Blinger$]

its legit, trust me. i did it last week. fixed everything!

[PatrickMS]

http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/onlinepccare.com

Scam... lol yeah mention the police and if they hang up you know its not legit.

[GommeInc]

http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/onlinepccare.com

Scam... lol yeah mention the police and if they hang up you know its not legit.
Owned by an Indian company too, not that I'm saying India and any businesses associated with the country are evil :P