Telephone spam

My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it started
working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the installation
date a couple of times.

Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to come
from Microsoft. Do you think Zen are selling their new phone numbers to
the spammers? Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?

--
Graham J

On Aug 11, 10:59*am, Graham J <graham@invalid> wrote:
> My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it started
> working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the installation
> date a couple of times.
>
> Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to come
> from Microsoft. *Do you think Zen are selling their new phone numbers to
> the spammers? *Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?
>
> --
> Graham J

Openreach sell on numbers, it happened to me, 2 days after brand new
line.

On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:59:46 +0100
Graham J <graham@invalid> wrote:

> My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it
> started working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the
> installation date a couple of times.
>
> Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to
> come from Microsoft. Do you think Zen are selling their new phone
> numbers to the spammers? Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?
>

Have you asked Zen? I believe they are obliged to tell you if they do.
What was this call claiming to do for you?
--
Davey.

On 08/11/2011 11:14 AM, Davey wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:59:46 +0100
> Graham J<graham@invalid> wrote:
>
>> My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it
>> started working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the
>> installation date a couple of times.
>>
>> Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to
>> come from Microsoft. Do you think Zen are selling their new phone
>> numbers to the spammers? Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?
>>
>
> Have you asked Zen? I believe they are obliged to tell you if they do.
> What was this call claiming to do for you?

Those MS calls tend to claim that they have found a serious problem with
your computer and they want to help you 'fix' it. We don't have Windows
at home, but I believe what they actually do is get you to install a
trojan key-logger on your PC.

"Graham J" <graham@invalid> wrote in message
news:4e43a872$0$2482$(E-Mail Removed)...
> My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it started
> working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the installation date
> a couple of times.
>
> Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to come
> from Microsoft. Do you think Zen are selling their new phone numbers to
> the spammers? Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?


Neither! These automatic dialers call numbers at random. They are often
calling from outside the UK.

Regards from Peter Crosland

On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:17:58 +0100
chris <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> On 08/11/2011 11:14 AM, Davey wrote:
> > On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:59:46 +0100
> > Graham J<graham@invalid> wrote:
> >
> >> My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it
> >> started working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the
> >> installation date a couple of times.
> >>
> >> Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to
> >> come from Microsoft. Do you think Zen are selling their new phone
> >> numbers to the spammers? Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?
> >>
> >
> > Have you asked Zen? I believe they are obliged to tell you if they
> > do. What was this call claiming to do for you?
>
> Those MS calls tend to claim that they have found a serious problem
> with your computer and they want to help you 'fix' it. We don't have
> Windows at home, but I believe what they actually do is get you to
> install a trojan key-logger on your PC.

That's ok then, I use Ubuntu.
Thanks.

--
Davey.

On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:44:23 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Neither! These automatic dialers call numbers at random. They are often
>calling from outside the UK.

That's what I thought, but I tried to string the last one along a bit
by pretending I was still using CP/M as an OS*. It was a real
struggle as he didn't speak English very well, and couldn't seem to
understand there were other OSs than Windows.

The thing was that he _did_ know my name and address (couldn't
pronounce it though, even after three or four attempts :-)) so it's
not all just random dialling.

*Which is, one rare occasions, true.

Ian
--
The From and ReplyTo addresses are valid

In article <4e43a872$0$2482$(E-Mail Removed)>, graham@invalid
says...
>
> My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it started
> working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the installation
> date a couple of times.
>
> Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to come
> from Microsoft. Do you think Zen are selling their new phone numbers to
> the spammers? Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?

Highly unlikely to be Zen IMHO.

Much more likely to be via BT - particularly as their "Help Desk"
service is contracted out to HCL Technologies in India. These people
have access to customer and Openreach line data.

My money's on data theft from the Indian end.

Gaius wrote...

> My money's on data theft from the Indian end.

Perhaps they were really clever and used the phone directory.
http://goo.gl/S8ahH

There are only so many numbers available for each exchange and they are
recycled as necessary.

I've had 3 of those Microsoft Virus calls, it is slightly amusing to
lead them on.


--
Ken O'Meara
http://www.btinternet.com/~unsteadyken/

"Davey" wrote in message news:j20c06$poc$(E-Mail Removed)...

On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:17:58 +0100
chris <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> On 08/11/2011 11:14 AM, Davey wrote:
> > On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:59:46 +0100
> > Graham J<graham@invalid> wrote:
> >
> >> My sister recently ordered a phone line and ADSL from Zen - it
> >> started working last Friday, after Openreach had screwed up the
> >> installation date a couple of times.
> >>
> >> Within 2 days she received the typical spam phone call claiming to
> >> come from Microsoft. Do you think Zen are selling their new phone
> >> numbers to the spammers? Or perhaps Openreach is doing so?
> >>
> >
> > Have you asked Zen? I believe they are obliged to tell you if they
> > do. What was this call claiming to do for you?
>
> Those MS calls tend to claim that they have found a serious problem
> with your computer and they want to help you 'fix' it. We don't have
> Windows at home, but I believe what they actually do is get you to
> install a trojan key-logger on your PC.

That's ok then, I use Ubuntu.
Thanks.

--
Davey.

I said to them I only use Windows in my house and car, as far as my PC is
concerned, I use a counting rack!