rocking...

As the scam has been running in the UK for years, Microsoft are well aware of it.  The only thing they have done is put a warning on their website.  It has also been exposed on several TV Consumer programmes. Unfortunately, many elderly people still get caught.

They are still at it. As described, the gentleman who now calls himself Sam tried the same scam with me. Stupidly, believing it was Microsoft, I went along with his patter, allowing him access to my computer, including the setting up of an account 123. When he moved to showing me the fastheal website and started talking about the various plans for getting rid of all the horrible things he attributed to my IP number, I told him it was he who was the "hacker" (his favourite word)and I would not be purchasing anything. He insisted he was legitimate and passed me on to his supervisor, a woman, who mumbled something about him being ok and then hung up. The number on the fastheal screen was +1 888-649-8993 but I doubt its legit.

They are a scam anti-virus site:  http://www.fastheal.net/contact.phpI went along with it to see what they would have me do. Ended the call once at the site.Whether or not Fast Heal is even a functional anti-virus... no idea. They also call from 518-399-9911 which is New York and probably more from every area code in North America I'm sure.If you DO manage to get a phone number to call them back, they answer with a heavy Indian accent "Hello" then when you tell them you are calling back for help with your computer he says "um i mean Windows Tech Support please hold"  *then you hear a kid crying in the background and the guy covering the phone with his hand, shouting to many people in some other language (probably to quiet down)  Then a woman comes on and directs you to the fast heal website to buy their product. Their story is that you have a virus and going to the website and buying their product will fix it.MORE INFO HERE:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/phone-scam-india-call-centres

It was Bruce who called me from the Windows Service Center in Burlington, Delaware (or New Delhi, Mumbai, Who Knows Where). Bruce was very, very concerned that my computer was sending an enormous number of very, very bad messages to their computers. Wanted me to type in an executable code EVENPVWR. Unfortunately for Bruce I had a call waiting and told him I needed to take it and would call him back at the number he gave me, +1 866-682-0649. Bruce will be waiting for a very, very long time before he gets my call. Sounded a bit like Raj on Big Bang Theory. Does the show have problems? I hope not. It's one of my very, very favorites.

just rec'd a call from this number. I had to say "hello" 3 times before he answered so I knew it was probably a telemarketer. A man with a heavy East Indian Accent told me that my computer has been hacked for the past 20 days and that he was calling from Microsoft Windows to help fix the situation. I said My computer is fine I haven't had any problems. He kept on saying well we've rec'd warnings that your computer has been hacked and you need to the fix the problem. I asked him for his number to call him back and he gave me (416) 915-3536 and his name was Jason and his id number was 4614. When I asked him for a toll free number he insisted that this number was toll free. I hung up. It's a scam I'm sure. Very weird.