NZ Centre for Political Research

I was told that these people go through the local phone books - so if your surname starts with Z, that'll account for you being at the bottom of their list of people to call.

If they ring you again, ask them how to get inside your computer to release that poor bug!

Only New To Me?

It's an international problem:
Guardian UK
NZ Police

Hi Seymour,

This scam is doing the rounds - it happened to me twice in one night, and to quite a few other neighbours and friends around the country. It has also been reported on in our local paper.

They seem to use different stories - in my case they asked me if I was aware that my computer had downloaded objectionable material. I said "No", so they asked me if I could turn my computer on and they would go through a process with me. I told them it wasn't convenient and hung up.

I was rung again the same evening by a different person, but with the same background noise. As soon as they started on their speel I interrupted and told them they had already rung me and I was aware it was a scam, and hung up.

I also receive emails from time to time, from my 'email provider' - telling me I have to renew my password or I'll lose my email access. The email message always has English language errors in it so it's pretty easy to spot as a scam.

It seems this is a big industry these days.

Scam or Not?

What Happened

At 2.26pm, Saturday 7 May 2011, I received an anonymous phone call.
The caller had an Indian accent and there was lots of background
(typical-call-centre-type) noise. He was not easy to hear.

He represented that he was from Window Operating System technical
support and was responding to a computer problem that I had 'logged.'
I said I had not done such a thing and that I regarded his call as
suspicious and a likely scam.

He suggested that I turn my computer on so he could show me how to
fix the problem. At that point, I said that I was almost sure the call was
a fraud, said 'goodbye' and hung up.

There was no call back.

Speculation

Perhaps I should've followed the instructions to a certain point, to
see what happened? I suspect that I would've been asked to download
a patch (or some similar expression), which I would have declined to do.
(Or visit some web site or other)

However, had I persisted for a little longer, I may've got a clearer
idea of the complete modus operandi, to pass on, in an effort to
forewarn others.

Or maybe I should've said I used Linux or had a Mac, to see what
then happened?