First an Indian-accented woman called to verify that i 'have windows computers', then I was transferred to a "microsoft certified technician' who gained access to my machine via the AMMYY remote desktop sharing program, and proceeded to lead me both thru my internal performance logs and external web sites to "prove I had been affected by a koobface virus attack that had left a backdoor to my system open" to hackers. Somehow he pegged my CPU to 100%, though this was the only program running.
Next he offered to fix this and all problems for free, but he required a "security panel" to be installed, and led me to 'onestoppcsolutions.com'. Then he required that I purchase one of the plans offered by that site that start at $228. He pushed very hard, giving me his employer ID code of MS22259HQ, a name of 'Mike Smith' and a callback number of 201-338-6142. He sounded Indian with a New Zealand accent, if that's possible!
The call lasted over an hour; it took maybe thirty minutes before he even got to the security panel/sales pitch! Avast Internet Security has not picked up on any actual intrusion into my machine, but it's about to get a full in-depth scan.
It is a scame Kevin! Wake up and smell the coffe, I have had to, after they disabled my computer. They gave me no chioce! £200 to get it fixed at a computer store or £114 for them to fix it, after they hacked in and disabled it.
Well, this is one of the side effects of globalization. That's one of the forms of outsourcing - now the scam phone calls are outsourced as well.
There is no way for them to see any "signals" from computers around the world, doesn't matter if they have Windows installed on them or anything else.
This is a complete scam, and they don't sit in NJ, the call is obviously being redirected, to India most probably.
I can understand poverty and all, but they don't exactly rob exclusively the wealthy - they steal money from anyone they can persuade.