I just had an … interesting … conversation with a phone scammer who wanted to hack my computer. Here’s the gist of it so you’ll recognize it when it happens to you. Bottom line is this:
If someone calls from “Windows Service Center” asking you to hit Windows+R and type in “eventvwr” they are trying to hijack your computer.
Strong language ahead. You have been warned.
Guy with a thick accent says he’s calling from “Windows Service Center” claiming my computer is distributing malware and hacked software. He asks for me by full name and says he will show me how I have been hacked and how to fix it. For reference the number he called is a new number that has never been made public and was never registered with Microsoft or any software.
I ask him if he works for Microsoft. No, he works for “Windows Service Center” or something similar. He explains it’s a 3rd party responsible for monitoring Windows software on behalf of Microsoft. Knowing that Microsoft does not have contracts with this type of company I already knew it was a scam, but I wanted to see what he was up to.
He asks me to turn on my computer and hit Windows+R which opens the Run window. From there he wanted me to type in “eventvwr”. Of course I didn’t but I let him trail on for a bit pretending I had done what he told me to. It became apparent what he wanted was for me to enable Remote Desktop so he could take control of my computer. Being unsuccessful (because I didn’t activate anything on my end) he kept saying my Software Defender software which comes with Windows (it does not) was buggy and needed to be fixed.
After a lot of back and forth I had had enough and I asked him where he got my number from, explaining that my number is not listed with Microsoft. Boy that got him going:
Mr. Scam: “Sir, you are a software novice and you clearly don’t know what you are talking about. Your computer is infected and I need to fix it. We have security experts standing by.”
Me: “I’m just asking you where you got my name and number from. I never registered this number with Microsoft.”
Mr. Scam: “I am trying to do you a favour. Microsoft has asked us to fix your computer.”
Me: “But Microsoft doesn’t have my number.”
Mr. Scam: “Listen to me you asshole. You are not computer savvy. You are a novice and you don’t know anything about computers.”
Me: “Actually I am a beta tester for Microsoft and a leading technology expert. You are trying to scam the wrong person.”
Mr. Scam: “You work for Microsoft?!!?!? Fuck you motherfucker asshole.”
Me: “And that’s all the proof I need you don’t work for Microsoft.”
All I heard from that point on was beeping so I assume he was trying to figure out how to hang up his computer.
Having a hunch this wasn’t the first time the guy had tried this scam I did a quick search on the interwebs. And look what I found: A YouTube video of someone having a conversation with the exact same guy trying to do the exact same thing!
More information about Microsoft phone scams:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/online-privacy/msname.aspx
96 replies on “The eventvwr phone scam”
(Disclaimer – I work for Microsoft Canada).
Great post, Morten. Unfortunately we’re seeing more and more of this. If you are solicited by someone claiming to be from Microsoft asking you to make changes to your computer over the phone, then you can be sure it’s a scam and the person calling you is NOT a Microsoft employee or representative. For more tips on this, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
We had a call a few months back. They tried to scam my elderly in-laws, who are not very computer savy. I was glad to intercept the call and flush out the scammers.
I find the greatest part of your conversation with him in the cursing. He is a VERY professional “Microsoft 3rd party representative”. Educational and humorous all in one story!
I think he has an anger management issue. Or maybe he thinks swearing will scare people into listening to him.
Thanks for your post! I just encountered the same call from a local number. I told him he was full of it and to take my name off of his list. He tried telling me I had no idea the threat my computer was under and I would be sorry. I told him he would be sorry if he called again. What scammers!
From what I hear this scam has been going on for years and the authorities are unable to track him down.
I received a call from 1-989-621-5108 doing the same scam. I slowed them down while I goggled the scam.
As much as I know about computers I know bullshit. My wife is in IT and a Software Specialist with EMC so I am indoctrinated.
They called twice. The second time I told them I worked for Micro-soft and they wanted my I.D. Number. How foolish of them
i know exactly who these people are and where they are….what can i do to get them caught?
Good question. I’d start by passing on the information to Microsoft and the police.
will they go after the real criminal in india…or only focus on the ones in usa doing business with them cause i know for a fact that 2 of the businesses thought they had a real business and not a scam…actually they were scammed too!
I got the same call over and over again. All I did was just told the bastard to hold on and I continue with my youtube movies. He eventually hang up after a log trip.
I have had 4 contacts today alone from these people .
The first call sounded as if they could not connect correctly on the second call i played along with them to find out where they had got my data from this prompted a manager to come and take over the call at which point i quizzed him on data protection and compilation of data packs (I have worked in call centers for 15Years apx) he got quite upset at this point and called me a useless W**K*R who is clueless about the internet or the communications industry and hung up .
What followed after that was 2 further calls of a very abusive nature to my home number from people with the same accents .
My brother fell for it and now his media player and music files don’t work right and he has no audio on his pc. The scammer demanded money to fix the pc. Is there any proper way to fix this?
I also got scammed back in june for 200,00 they told me they had been getting reports that my comp had a virus in it.they called then a mo later and said they need to see my comp agin for 79,00 I said nope your the biggest scammer there ever was. my comp was ok tho
Great article. I especially like the party where the guy on the other end gets wordy. My mom just received a call like this, and wouldn’t listen to me when I told her to hang up, claiming “It’s Microsoft”. Fortunately, they didn’t get far enough for anything serious, something else interrupted.
What has happened to India? Its as if India has become the new Nigeria. About a month ago I started to see a shift in the origination of SPAM on my computer, and it is now mostly from India. I’ve even considered blocking anything with a TLD of ‘.in’. It starts up in the late afternoon and goes all night. I haven’t been hit by these guys yet, but they’ll hopefully not get me on a Mac (although they probably have a scam for that one, too using VMC or the like).
They target Windows because Windows is more prevalent. That said it’s only a matter of time before they go after Mac users too.
I just got a call from this person. I am in Colorado.
When I asked his company name, he said Cyber Security in New York.
He wanted me to run the event viewer, I played along… but did not run anything.
I told him I had another call on my cell phone and would have to call him back.
Just had this guy phoning me with the same scam. Told me he was from ‘Windows’ and needed to fix my computer. I told him that as far as I was aware there was no problem with my system and that I would check it out myself. He then phoned again the next day and said that there was a problem that I couldn’t see at my end and that he would fix it. At this I said okay but I wanted to check out his company and asked for his phone number. He said a UK number (0044 203 286 0298) I didn’t dial it but checked it via google which did not have a listing. Anyway 10 minutes later he phones again and tries to get me to tap in ‘eventvwr’ I act dumb and say that it might not work due to it being a French computer (I know but I couldn’t think of anything else at the time) He then says that he’ll get their technical expert to call me. 2 mins later the phone rings and another guy with an Indian accent calls and goes through the same routine. Anyway when we get to the tapping in of ‘eventvwr’ I ask him why I’m doing this and he says it’s to fix the computer. I say okay but once I’ve checked out your company I’ll call you back and we’ll proceed. He hangs up on me. If you get one of these ‘gentlemen’ calling you I’d advise you to leave the phone line open (they’re paying for the call) and go and make a coffee. After a couple of minutes they’ll hang up and try again. The are very persistent and it will probably take a dozen calls before they finally give up but at least you have the comfort of knowing that you’re wasting their time and money.
I get these calls all the time. Today I was able to actually get a phone number that I could call back and speak with the gentleman that claimed to be with Microsoft.
866-688-8731. The heavy middle eastern accent came from a man that called himself James Clark.
I could hear other techs in the background on their phone calls, as well as typing and I was transfered to Mr. Clark’s phone line.
Anyways, good luck. I can only assume they will change this number soon.
these people are very persistent tried hanging up on them and they just kept phoning back. Nearly had me at one point until they told me a event log was full of errors which it wasn’t
I received the same call from a number in Alabama. (205)-280-0212. Person has a heavy Indian accent and claims to be from Microsoft Windows service center and that they are receiving several error messages when I access different web sites. I’m computer savy so I played along to see what they were up to. They tried to have me execute the eventvwr which I did and then they wanted me to allow remote access to my computer to fix the problem. That’s when I stopped them and hung up.
I did call the sheriff’s department in Alabama and they are very aware of the problem because they are getting numerous complaints. They have stopped at the house where the phone number is registered but the people are non-Asian and are very law abiding citizens. They have no idea how these scammers are using their number in the phone scam. I’m sure the call is coming from India and spoofed with the Alabama number. I wish authorities could track these culprits because I’m some elderly folks are getting scammed out of thousands of dollars if not their life savings.
Hey Morten,
I just hung up on the same guy. What a scam. When I asked him for his number he gave me 844-615-7281 and said he was with BD Techno Designs. I made him go through the motions like you did and then stumbled upon your post while I was Googleing what he wanted me to enter into the RUN box.
As I was reading your post I told him he was a scammer and then hung up on him. So sick of these low-life pieces of trash trying to screw with people. If my wife had picked up the phone instead of me who knows what could have happened?
Anyway. thanks for the post!
Steve
Good to know my post was able to help you. This is an ongoing problem and it’s not going to get better any time soon so the more people educate themselves the better.
I was stupid enough to fall for this scam today. What do I need to do to fix my computer?
Did you let them get access to your system? If so it would be wise to seek out an expert to help see if anything is amiss. I’m thinking Geek Squad or Staples Computer Center or something along those lines. Ask first and see if they can do a quick diagnosis without having to pay anything. You just want to make sure these scammers haven’t done anything untoward with your system.
Thanks Mort. I am embarrassed to say I did give him remote access to my computer. I had a bad feeling the whole time. I am always so cautious. Of course he made it sound urgent if I didn’t fix the problems right away my computer would crash. I did delete everything that he added.
Just got one of these calling on my cellphone.Took forever to get through to him (and the guy the first caller transferred me to) that my last Windows computer died last year and I was running FreeBSD with fvwm.
Hi,
I live in Belgium and just had a call for the same scam (Indian voice this time). Very agressive (“your computer will crash now, I will shut down your computer if you don’t do as I say”) and I immediately looked up the term ‘eventvwr’ on line.
Luckily we have the internet to quickly find out if something/someone is a scam 🙂 And thanks to the autor for sharing this scam here. I hope they catch the guys soon!
They called me again over the weekend and the “service technician” asked me repeatedly: “Sir, are you retarded?”
OMG!!!!! I just hung up with a real life HACKER!!!!! He “Steve” called me and he said he was from Kin-too-Kee (Kentucky) and lives at 41091. Now the phone number that appeared on my phone was 18-8836 and he wanted me to get on my computer so he can remote in to “fix” my computer because he is with Microsoft!!! BAHAHAHAH So I decided to have 15 minutes of fun with this fool!!!!! I started by asking for his toll free number and googled it and found out that many people reported it as a hackers. LOL So I asked him for his street address and he kept repeating his zip code, then asked him what the weather was like and asked him if it was hot or cold. This is all while I am on the computer checking the weather for 41091 (70degree) and he said it was cold. I asked him how many people fall for this and he said many people do what he asks. I proceeded to tell him he is a liar and a thief. He agreed!!! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA I asked him if he knew what that meant and I was literally laughing out loud!!!! He said YES!!!! then he told me I am a thief and steal money!?!?!?!?! It was hilarious and he finally hung up on me.
I just had my 7 th call from Mr. scam , I enjoy every second I waist his time . I told him I just had my computer fixed by a guy who was certified as well . He then tried to tell me the guy knows F*** all about computers and he is not Microsoft certified and only his company is. So I went on wasting his time , when I couldn’t understand what he was saying he said he transfer me to his superviser ( his spelling ) haha Im almost sure it was the same guy , finally after 25 minutes when he asked me what did I see after I followed his instruction ( not really of course) I told him it says EVENTVWR phone scam he said ” are you just F***ing with me . I said “no that is what is says” Then he asked me where are you typing EVENTVWR I told him in the blank spot where you told me sir and it says : if a man with a thick accent calls you and tells you he is from microsoft this is a SCAM , He again launched in to calling me every swear word he knows , then I told him ” you are a scam artist that just got scammed so stop calling here I know who you are , we all sit back laughing at you , thank you for entertaining us this last 40 minutes . WOW was he pissed at me , he started a bunch of swearing to which I keep saying “pardon me sir I do not understand what you are saying ” He is a complete idiot and trust me in a few months he will try calling again and I will do the same thing .
So funny.
A while back, I had the same scam attempt. I played along a bit, but after a while I started playing back and told him that the conversation was being recorded and tracked by the RCMP Internet Security Division with connections to InterPol. Of course, that was all BS on my part, but it worked. The phone call ended abruptly. No more calls. It’s fun to play online games. 🙂
I got two calls from two different guys yesterday claiming they were from the “Worldwide Web” and that they were receiving error reports from my computer. They claimed to be making these courtesy calls to help people fix their computers. That instantly got me suspicious, so I played dumb and said that my daddy was the one who handled all the computer issues. (I’m a grown woman, but I still call him daddy. Shush.) They were very insistent that I do it myself. “It’ll only take five minutes.” They both claimed.
I took down notes and said I’d have dad do it when he got home. They offered to call back later when my dad got home and I said “Well, I don’t know what time he’s coming home tonight. Could you give me your number?”
The man asks for my email and says that he’ll email me the number. Pffft. I gave him a really old email I don’t even use anymore.
Today, I got another call. Now, up until now all the men had thick Indian-sounding accents. I put the guy on hold and put the phone down and when I came back, he switched it over to another man. This man claimed the first was a representative of his and had a very convincing American accent. I asked for his name and where they were calling from: Texas, they claimed. The man also had an ethnic name. I just led the guy on while I checked what they wanted me to run on the computer.
Yesterday, they said to run “msinfo32”. Today, they said to run “eventvwr”. It was by looking up “What is eventvwr?” that I found the commonly searched “What is the eventvwr scam?” and this page. Next time I think I’ll put on some loud music by the phone and just let it run while I go do something else.
Just had the same call literally 10 minutes ago! I googled what he wanted me to enter into the command prompt and found your website while he was on the phone. Was very funny leading him on.
He claimed to be living in Leicester in the UK. After I asked if he was a scammer another guy interrupted the call and called me stupid for not knowing I have infections on my computer which then he hung up. Was looking forward to him swearing at me! haha
What happens if I typed in eventvwr? I hung up on him after but he wanted me to click on things and I didn’t. HELP
I have just had a phone call from them too! I had them on the phone for 55 mins. It didn’t take long for the insults and swearing to start once the supervisor was on the line! Apparently I am ugly, a slut and pawn star! He initially asked for my dad (who has been dead 6 years) so when he asked my name I told him my dad’s name lol! Then he insisted it couldn’t be as I was female! I told him only one of the people in my head is! I also kept reminding him that my computer was still working! He kept asking me to put the phone down and I told him that I was having too much fun and as he was paying I could stay all day! He asked me for my facebook details so I could friend him, so I told him my dads name, he couldn’t even spell it!
When I come home from work I have a missed call every day and I am sure that it’s them! I insisted that he was in India or Pakistan and for some strange reason he asked me if I had been to America I replied ‘Yes thanks!’.
The idiot even googled ‘slut’ as I told him he did not know what it meant! When he was reading the definition he said it says so I picked him up on it and he tried to deny it! Clearly not very smart people as he also said he didn’t work for microsoft even though they said at the beginning they did! Obviously they are confused from India.com! However he really did not like me calling him a scammer!
I am glad I googled it and found this site, nice to know I am not the only one he is rude too.
I had the same call, same voice. He said his name was Andy Williams. Andy said to call him at 1855 677 5556 to confirm who he was and to use employee ID 11137. I played him your clip. Kept him on the phone for 20 minutes, then he finally hung up.
It sure would be nice if this could be stopped!!
Unfortunately i fell on this scammers that indian guy called me and he says he’s from windows centre service and they try to help me to fix the computer because is a lot of virus on it and if not my computer will crash.He told me what to do and i done it then he took control of my computer,when i realized what’s happening was too late and because i didn’t gave them any data of my bank card and i says to him why he need my card and i’m not gonna give you any data of my card he says “I give my supervisor to explain it!” After that a woman tried to convince me to pay £149.99 and they will fix my computer and is for a lifetime if not my computer will crash soon. After 10 minutes of conversation they gave up,but after i restart my computer came up the problem,they put a password to boot my computer and i cannot acces my computer anymore,so after 4 days of trying to fix it i had to reinstall the windows. I changed my password and user id on my online banking and they never called me again! But now i have a different problem i don’t know who but all the time somebody calling me on landline and asking for “Mr. Clark” i told to them here is no any Mr Clark but they still calling me and asking for “Mr Clark”. Anybody know anything about this?
Morten ~ thank you so much for this website. I haven’t had so much fun on a grey Tuesday November afternoon in a long time! Anyway, I got a call this afternoon. The only reason I picked it up was because I have business with a couple of companies in the USA and I thought it might be from one of them (001 – 989 – 832 – 8978). It showed up on my Caller Display. I live in England.
When the guy (with an Indian accent) said he was from Microsoft Services Centre or whatever, I knew I was in for a bit of fun, though I was careful not to overdo the concern as I have had scammers put the phone down on me when they know they are rumbled; and where’s the fun in that? He asked me how old my computer was so I invented a number of years so it sounded quite old and rusty. Then he asked me if I could see “CTRL” on my keyboard. Naturally it took me ages to locate this particular key; then he directed me to the one next to it; and asked me what it looked like. I said like a flag, or a book. Obviously not very computer literate, it took me ages to find the window he was directing me to. He then told me to type in “eventvwr” but I’m so silly, or perhaps I mis heard him, so he had to “Tango Victor Whiskey” me all the way through it again until I got it right. By this time I had googled my way to your website, so when he asked me what I could see on my screen, I said to him:
“If someone calls from “Windows Service Center” asking you to hit Windows + R
and type in “eventvwr” they are trying to hijack your computer”.
Haven’t had so much fun in ages. Thanks Morten!
I’m from France and I’ve just received a call from an Indian guy. I immediately typed “eventvwr” on Google. And fortunately there are a lot of comments on these scammers. I immediately told him that he was not a Windows employee and that I was about to call the police. This is a first time I receive such a call in English. The scammers we have in France speak French and are more likely to be from North Africa. Thanks!
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In French:
Je viens juste de recevoir un appel téléphonique en anglais d’une personne avec un accent indien. Il m’a dit être un employé de Microsoft et que mon PC envoyait des erreurs au serveur. Il m’a demandé de taper “eventvwr” dans Exécuter. Au lieu de le faire, j’ai cherché sur Google et trouvé tous les commentaires sur cette arnaque.
Just 3 days later I got another call from exactly the same number as on 25th November (001 – 989 – 832 – 8978). Will they never learn? This time it was a woman. I pretended to know absolutely nothing (as usual!) and my computer seemed to take AGES to turn on. This time I was wondering how long I could keep her on the line from the USA. The call started at 12:38 GMT and lasted till 12:45 GMT: so just 7 minutes. She went through the usual rigmarole (ie type in eventvwr into the Run box). This time I pretended I had done it. She asked me what I could see on the screen. I said it had gone all black. She said that was odd, it was meant to be pink and purple. Then she asked me if I were a black woman and that was why my screen had gone all black. I said I thought that was rather an odd thing for a technician to say. She said it was magic. Then she asked again what I could see on my screen. This time I said “a tree” (which was truthful, as my screensaver had not changed during the conversation). Then she said could I see a never ending highway, all yellow? I said “You mean like the yellow brick road? She said more lemon in colour; and that I should press the Enter key 5 times and go and walk on that road. Then she said I should go and F**k myself; which was curious, as I feel sure that that is what she was intending to do to me. Then she put the phone down on me. It’s always a triumph when these scammers put the phone down on their potential victims. Obviously can’t take the heat.
The scammer called me in France. English speaking with Mid-Eastern? or Indian? accent. As usual, he wanted me to run “eventvwr”. He became injurious as I told him I was not willing to do so. Like Guillet, it is the first time I encounter this type of English speaking scam in France.
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In French:
Le scammer m’a appelé en France. Il parlait anglais avec un accent du moyen orient? ou indien? Comme d’habitude, il voulait que je lance “eventvwr”. Il m’a insultée quand je lui ai dit que je ne voulais pas le faire. Tout comme Guillet, c’est la première fois que j’ai ce type de scam anglophone en France.
I get these calls every few days. I have never fallen for it and have repeated told the person to stop calling me. They have called me a b*tch, told me to *&^% off, etc. when I told them I knew they were trying to scam me. Today’s call was from a heavily accented man named “David Wilson.” These people use VOIP phone numbers I think. The past two calls have come from “DM Rouseu” with a number of 767-275-9067. I have reported these calls to the FBI twice since I have gotten probably 15 of these calls, but nothing ever happens. Depending on how much time I have at the moment, I stay on the line with them to see what they ask me to do (today he told me to enter “eventvwr” in my Run box) or I just tell them to &^%$ off. I appreciate this post to confirm that I’m not the only person receiving these calls. I just wish I knew how to stop them.
Had the exact same call today. I said upfront “hey, you are trying to scam me. Please stop and loose this number!” and he said “no no its not what you think, please bear with me…”. After some fruitless conversation I just hung up.
Hi ! Thanks a lot for this note. I landed here while doing a quick search during the call. They are attacking French market now. Same scenario, a lady this time, speaking English, with a quiet noisy background. It look like there are a team now, pretty well organised.
I will keep the advice : keep them on line and play with them as long as you can, it might make their business plan a little less profitable.
Hi, When I received the phone call the id for the incoming call said Pennsylvania. I thought that was strange to begin with. I asked a lot of questions and found that they past the phone around to different people each becoming for aggressive. I told them I have a contract with Best Buy Geek squad and they handle all my maintenance. They told me that Geek is not authorized to fix my computer problems. I asked how they knew my computer had a problem and they told me that Microsoft received error messages and that they were contracted to follow up and fix the problem. Then they changed and told me it was not MS it was Windows. I asked for number to call to verify and of course they could not provide a number or website. When they told me that this would be my only chance to have the fix, I knew they were full of ……. So I hung up and put their number on call block. My call block list is getting longer. I would sure like to have a face to face conversation with these guys. He thinks a lady has no brains. Thanks for having this information available for my search. Texas
I just got this call while at work. They said they were from Dell tech support and asked for someone who stopped working here about 5 months ago to help her fix her laptop. Which never have I seen her with a laptop. We are also a tech support company so we do a lot of business with Dell, and the person they asked for was not our representative with Dell so there is no way Dell would even have her name. While they were telling me what to do I googled it and this is what I found. I told him this is what I’ve found. He said I should be able to see whatever it was. I said, “No, this is what I’ve found.” told him he was a scam and he got upset and kept trying to defend himself the whole time. Theses guys just don’t give up. Told him to go jump in a lake.
These guys just tried calling me the same way, instead of hitting ok when they asked me to run eventvwr, I did a google search of this and saw all the scammer alerts and hung up with the guy.
When he asked me to type eventwr I put it in Google instead of the run box and the results told me all I needed to know. He told me his name was Andrew Hall. When I asked for his address he flannelled and said he was looking it up! I then told him the call was being traced and he hung up. I didn’t get the abuse and swearing from him though – wonder why not. Maybe he liked me!
Hi, My mom gave these guys access to her computer. What should she do? She called Apple and had them run a diagnostic and they said everything was fine. What are these hackers after? Are they looking for financial data stored in your computer or do they have access to your log-ins if they get in? I don’t understand the motive?!?
I have been getting these calls for a month or so. All of mine have a phone number of 20-855-8998. I checked the number and it comes from India (surprise). I also led the lady on and they went thru the whole eventvwr thing. I entered nothing. She kept asking what i see after each entry. After a few times of that I asked her why she kept asking me when she said that she could see my computer. After some arhum a num, Itold her they were phonies and should get a life and hung up. I think what I’ll do next time is buy an air horn and give them an ear check.
10/29/15 just got a call from indian speaking man said his name was john williams its funny his name is john williams with his accent. he told me to go on my computer he’s is from window tech. support . i told him to talk to my husband hes better on the computer than me as this man is talking and telling him to run the program eventvwr . As the guy was talking he checked google and found it was a scam. this mans number is 800-969-7219. i havent called it . husband hung up on him.
Whilst reading all the replies, after receiving a call from the Indian guy about 30 mins ago just had another one on the phone ,both claim to be from talk talk and tell me they are receiving server errors from my computer and wanted me to go through the eventvwr bit. obviously I didn’t and said that I was aware of the problem and an engineer from talk talk was coming to the house to fix it (B********t) He politely ended the call.
Funnily enough since last week when I boot up I do get an error where my router monitor can’t start up as a program has stopped the C+++ runtime library . Malware bytes & Kaspersky find nothing wrong —- Could this be a coincidence ?????
I got the same phone call today, and I live in South Africa. At first he said his name is David then when I asked for his name again for verification he said its John Watson.
I then searched ‘eventvwr’ on Google and came across this article…I then told him I was not interested and he started threatening me that he will shut down my entire computer. I said I was not afraid as I have everything backed up.
Thank for the article. Saved my computer. ..
Their third attempt calling me. They get very rude when you question them. It can be quite fun playing along. My caller ID comes up with Anthony Thomas (928) 772-7562.
I have had a number of calls from the same scammer. Lady says she is from BT Openreach and then passes me over to an”IT expert” who can help me fix the problem. Today he has rung me six times, re-dialling every time I put the phone down. I started off by playing along with him saying I had done what he asked. Then when I said I didn’t want him taking over my computer, and put the phone down, he rang straight back, and asked why I had done that. The last time he phoned I just left the phone ringing.He gave me a phone number of 0044792053691 to call him on, saying he was in the UK!! He said his name was Jack. With a very Indian accent!!
Just had conversation with guy with accent who tried to take me through scam as above. Didn’t swear but whenever I asked for some credentials he transferred me to (same) woman – probably his Mum – who told me that they were ‘Windows Technical Dep’t’, that my computer had been sending error messages for weeks, and kept repeating that I had to do what the bloke said. She wouldn’t let me speak and kept interrupting me. When I told her to stop interrupting me she hung up. Very professional outfit …
Just had a series of phone calls (5 over a 3 hour timespan) from the same spoofed phone number which I tracked to a deceased person in Iowa! (read his obit) The first call followed the pattern described about and when I asked for my computer’s ID number got a strong of not less than 15 digits starting with 888.
Hung up and 3 hours later took another from the same Chambers Iowa name and number. This time the accent was heavier (sounded Germanic but might have been E. European, definitely not Indian or S. Asian) and I did follow the instructions to a point, actually identifying the key to the right of the CTRL key as the Windows key which, with the “r” key brought up the run field as expected. Then came the instruction to enter EVENTVWR which I did not do. Mr. A-hole then asked what came up and I said “a scammer” and swore at him and hung up.
If you have the time check the caller ID on who is calling me, esp. if a name is given. Then when they call back “play them” for as long as you can because the more they’re tied up the less time they have to scam someone else. Test them by asking what your IP address is, for instance.
I’ve gotten the same phone call twice. The last time I asked for my computer’s IP address. The scammer would not give it to me then I asked the name of his supervisor (Mark Johnson) and to speak with him. I was transferred to another guy with an Indian accent. He gave me his phone number (844-322-3030 from Lake Sherry Homes Dr, Colville, Washington). I again asked for my computer’s IP address. The supervisor said all he had was my computer software license number. He then mentioned a MAC address. I told him I do have a MAC but it does not run Windows. He got frustrated and said it does not matter. I then asked for his credit card number. He laughed and asked why I needed a credit card number. I told him so I could verify his name and address. He laughed again and hung up.
The scam is still alive and kicking. I’ve had three calls in the last three weeks. The first caller got frustrated with the questions I was asking and finally told me that I should see a psychiatrist.
Tonight I thought I would play along for a bit so I pretended to follow his instructions. I told him that the computer kept preventing my from doing anything because I didn’t have the administrator password.
Unfortunately these creeps spoof the calling number so I can’t block them.
Love the anecdotes in your article and many of the comments
This scam has evolved a bit , I played along but basically the scammers are from Talk Talk (my ISP provider); they recently hacked their data so have phone numbers and names of account holders. They said my router was infected and my computer would have trouble in the future. I said I wasn’t the TalkTalk account holder, (my missus is!) and to phone back later when she is in. I’ll brief her , not that I need to. She never picks up “Out of Area” phone calls anyhow.
Cheers
I just had a call from a guy who was very similar, can’t tell if it was the same guy but he sounded the same. He said his name was Charlie Anderson from Windows Technical Department, which is the 3rd party technical service provider of Windows Microsoft. He gave his phone number as 1-877-392-4937. I did the eventvwr because it is not harmful, but then he wanted me to go to http://www.winfix.co and I didn’t want to go there for fear of him installing malware.
Just had fun with one of these guys. Phone number was 957-369-4957 (New Mexico). Knew it was a scam so played around with him for awhile. When asked why I need to do this because I have encryption he said it is the OS that is the problem. I said I get patches from MS for the OS and he said all they do is make software, they don’t call people to help them. I said, well I am a MS partner and we have all the updates and patches and he then asked if I was at my work or home computer. I said I own the company so it is both. He said no you don’t you are just an employee. I said sorry I do own the company and then he hung up.
STAR DATE, SEPTEMBER 2, 2016 – 1033 HOURS PST
JUST GOT OF THE PHONE – 7 PLUS MINUTES.
KEPT ASKING FOREIGN SOUNDING DUDE TO REPEAT, AD NAUSEAM, EVERY THING HE TOLD ME TO DO AT LEAST THREE TIMES PER HIS REQUEST.
AFTER I TOLD HIM I TYPED IN EVENTVWR IN ‘RUN’ VENUE HE ASKED WHAT I SAW.
I TOLD HIM I SAW 1-800 AND A BUNCH OF LETTERS.
WHAT WERE THE LETTERS, HE ASKED.
I READ THE WHOLE THING TO HIM “1-800-FUCKYOU”
HE HUNG UP ON ME. THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE.
Just got a call, from 02036300338 and asked me to press Windows and R keyboard buttons and type in eventvwr which I did . I maybe stupidly clicked OK and about 4000+ threats showed. He then asked me to close it and then enter http://www.logyou.net but I did not press OK and pulled out the internet connection and hung up.
Q. Has he got access to my computer by me Entering eventvwr and pressing OK.