Scam Phone Call

[Bill Greenwood]

It is 1 pm Sat afternoon and as I am sitting here watching the fresh snow, I get a phone call. The I D says Dist of Columbia. I answer and there is a slight delay before they answer which is indicative of a mass marketing computer call.
Then a voice with a heavy Eastern accent, perhaps Indian, comes on and tells me that there is something wrong with my computer and when I use it it is picking up some junk?
I am not sure if he said junk or not, but he did not say virus. His English was hard to understand, and I hung up before he could make any specific demands.
I am posting this though I am sure almost everyone is aware not to give out any personal info or even listen to this obvious scam. I
I don't know if someone more computer savy than me can find some way to trace this to the source.
I'd like to send them a nice drone visit.

For some good news, I just saw on the new the American Ted Liggety with a victory today in Slovania has clinched the World Giant Salom title.
I don't know how many of you are skiers, but this is a pretty big deal, 2nd only to the Downhill and overall title. GS is a race with mostly medium turns, still pretty fast, maybe 50 mph at times and requires the best pure turning precision of all.

[Check 6]

Bill, if you provide me with your full legal name, DOB, and SSN I should be able to research this for you.

Signed - Your favorite uncle in Lagos, Nigeria

Seriously, if you google the phone number from the caller ID you will likely learn more about this scam.

[rosiejerryrosie]

Sounds as if it might be a take off of the famous "FBI Virus". Very evil thing that actually takes over your computer and will not let it do anything but display the message that you have broken all number of obsinity laws and the FBI has locked your comupter until you pay the fine. It then gives instructions as to how to send the money and they will unlock your computer. Some folks have actually sent in money but, of course, their computer stayed locked up until they took it to an IT professional to have the virus removed.

[Bill Greenwood]

I thought the call might be from my friend in D C, but I spoke to a friend in Denver who works with computers and is an expert. He said there is a method that the scammer can use so that the phone id is shown as DC or somewhere that seems logical, when the caller actually is overseas.
If you do get a display phone number and try to call it back the call doesn't go through.

[Jeremy Leasor]

I had exactly the same type of call yesterday, here in the UK, but the caller ID was simply "International". He gave an English name - Martin - but he was clearly from somewhere rather warmer and his accent was almost impenetrable. His pitch seemed to be that my computer was sending messages without my knowledge and he needed me to log on so he could take me through the necessary steps to cure it. I managed to avoid this temptation, but the man was persistent and kept ringing back when I said I wasn't interested and put the phone down - probably four times.