Scam phone call from HP? Regarding laptop virus

[ichi730]

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@AuburnJohn wrote:

I received a call today from the 866-756-0309 that has been posted here as a scam call.  I am retired from HP and know that HP does not make this type of call so I immediately recognized it as a scam and terminated the call.  The caller does indeed sound as if he is from India and has pretty specific general information about my computer but no serial number.  It is a fairly convincing call and my concern is that when you call this number back it answers as HP technical support with support options and tells you to have your computer in front of you with your serial number handy.  People who might consider it a questionable call upfront might have second thoughts if they make a call back to verify this number as HP support.  I don't think it would be untoward for HP to send email to its customer mail list to warn them of this scam.

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Hi,

Well scammers now a days evolved. They could edit whispers so if your a lucky caller and happen to dial thier number. your computer's serial and product number will be captured. Were talking about in general here. Back in 2011 up until now Microsoft gets a 100 calls a day regarding scam calls.

Scam calls happened a very long time ago and I dont get why there are still people "Not well aware of it"

Regards

[TX_CA]

Repeated phone calls saying that my laptop is sending error messages.ANYWAY THE REPEATED PHONE CALLS from "support"  telling me about error messages started a couple months after I had to ditch my old HP Envy laptop & a call I had with the real HP support. (HP Envy failed after 24 mos due to hard drive error). I've been getting repeated calls and if one quueriries them much they hang up. Indian accent.s always. 

Last call today was masked as the REAL HP support phone number 800-474-6836.This last call had the same spiel and I asked about the IP address.  I asked for the IP for the problem device generating errors on their end.  In his Indian accent he gave me one that started like my old HP envy and I asked him to repeat it, the number he came backwith that 2nd time was a slightly different IP. Neither were my current laptop which is now Dell. Sounds like HP's support is compromised?

The guy hung up when I said that he did not give the same IP address the 2nd time as he did the first. The IP he gave may have been from my old HP Envy that bit the dust, maybe for my printer. Who knows because He hung up like all the rest.  

I had been blocking all the previous phone calls from " HP support" about error messages so that they would not keep bothering me. I tried to contact HP myself but they lost the call after I was on hold for over 5 minutes. Positng here to corroborate what all say. HP support is somehow compromised. HP will not call you says so many on this forum. No error messages. I have Norton. I am careful.

# 1-800-474-6836  # 800-474-6836

[TX_CA]

Thank you for responding. I am also getting repeated phone calls from HP support (?hah) after having had to call support to fleshout whether my hard drive could be repaired. (HP Envy, failed after 24 mos, no savaings it, )

ANYWAY, the repeated phone calls always hang up if I ask too many questions or say that I do not have an HP device. I think you have been compromised in India by your tech subs. This is super annoying. I block calls.

the last call was masked with the HP support phone number 1-800-474-6836.

I probably have copies of the any ID for chat & phone call info that I did last Autumn with HP on the failed Envy.

[gkline]

I received a call today from a fellow with an Indian accent, claiming to be an HP support engineer.  He claimed that they detected my computer was downloading a malicious file from the Internet and that it was imperative that I let him help me.

I asked his name and he said it was Joy Parker.  OK... that's not a male name.

The number he was calling from was 161248212910.  Excluding the "1" as the lead-in, the rest of the number does not fit within USA phone format, so this was likely a call from overseas.  Maybe India.

First, he asked me if I had an HP Pavillion laptop.  His accent was pretty thick and I couldn't make out the "flavor" of Pavillion he was saying.  He then told me a serial number, but it did not match any of my HP laptop computers.

Regardless, he told me to go to the Event Viewer to check for an error.  He clumsily told me to bring up the RUN dialog and then enter the name of the Event Viewer program.  Well, that right there caught me as highly suspicious, because Windows+X brings up a quick access menu and Event Viewer is right there.  So, I let him "lead me" to the Event Viewer where he proceeded to tell me to look for an error in the "Application" log.  Well, as we all know, every instance of Windows 10 has some error here or there, usually nothing consequential. 

I asked Mr. Parker what error I should be looking for.  And he could not articulate it.  That was the next suspicious thing.  Because, if there is some trojan virus on my computer downloading a malicious file, I'm not going to get any error in the Event Viewer for the simple act of downloading a file.  It would happen if there was some failure in the download.  Or, if it completed and ran, started removing essential files that would throw errors by being absent.

At this point I could not put up with this scam any longer and I hung up.  He did not call me back.

I don't know how he got my number.  I suspect someone hacked a list of registered HP computer owners.  Or, he simply guessed lucky on my computer, as he did not have a matching serial number.

So... I have no idea what this guy was trying to do.  Maybe get me to believe that some error I see in the event viewer was the indication of corruption and then I'd need to pay him to fix it.  It never got that far.  Idiots.  However, someone like an 80 year old grandmother might not be armed with enough knowledge to know a scammer when she sees one.

[BoilerTim]

I received the HP Support call today from 303-481-5266. They knew my HP laptop model number and when I purchased it...sure sounds like an "inside job" to me. They also knew my cell number.

[Omar-E]

@BoilerTim

Thank you for posting your concerns on the HP Support Forums. I have brought your matters to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They may request for some additional information from you in order to look up your case or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Please keep in mind not to post any personal information publicly (serial numbers, phone numbers, and etc.). If you have any additional questions please send me a private message. Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forum.

[Puterwzrd]

That phone number 161248212910 comes up on my phone as from Austalia. I Just got my 1st call from the fools today. I just hung up on him. THats the best thing to do in these cases. Anyone who knows about computers should know computers don't transmit errors to the manufacturer of your devices. When it has a problem "YOU" have to call tech support they don't call you I don't care what brand device you have or how much you paid for it. Its just simple commen sesnse. 

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@gkline wrote:

I received a call today from a fellow with an Indian accent, claiming to be an HP support engineer.  He claimed that they detected my computer was downloading a malicious file from the Internet and that it was imperative that I let him help me.

I asked his name and he said it was Joy Parker.  OK... that's not a male name.

The number he was calling from was 161248212910.  Excluding the "1" as the lead-in, the rest of the number does not fit within USA phone format, so this was likely a call from overseas.  Maybe India.

First, he asked me if I had an HP Pavillion laptop.  His accent was pretty thick and I couldn't make out the "flavor" of Pavillion he was saying.  He then told me a serial number, but it did not match any of my HP laptop computers.

Regardless, he told me to go to the Event Viewer to check for an error.  He clumsily told me to bring up the RUN dialog and then enter the name of the Event Viewer program.  Well, that right there caught me as highly suspicious, because Windows+X brings up a quick access menu and Event Viewer is right there.  So, I let him "lead me" to the Event Viewer where he proceeded to tell me to look for an error in the "Application" log.  Well, as we all know, every instance of Windows 10 has some error here or there, usually nothing consequential. 

I asked Mr. Parker what error I should be looking for.  And he could not articulate it.  That was the next suspicious thing.  Because, if there is some trojan virus on my computer downloading a malicious file, I'm not going to get any error in the Event Viewer for the simple act of downloading a file.  It would happen if there was some failure in the download.  Or, if it completed and ran, started removing essential files that would throw errors by being absent.

At this point I could not put up with this scam any longer and I hung up.  He did not call me back.

I don't know how he got my number.  I suspect someone hacked a list of registered HP computer owners.  Or, he simply guessed lucky on my computer, as he did not have a matching serial number.

So... I have no idea what this guy was trying to do.  Maybe get me to believe that some error I see in the event viewer was the indication of corruption and then I'd need to pay him to fix it.  It never got that far.  Idiots.  However, someone like an 80 year old grandmother might not be armed with enough knowledge to know a scammer when she sees one.

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[mdklassen]

Talk to your local telephone-company.

It should be possible for them to "block" all calls from any specific telephone-number.

The scammer will hear an "intercept" message, and your telephone will NOT ring.

[Puterwzrd]

YOu are partially correct about scamming people out of money by payment to fix an undamaged computer but they will also try to get you to give them acess to your computer remotely where they can install key stroke trackers & trojans to give them access to your personal info on your computer including Passwords to all your financial accts & all other personal accnts. Email, bank accnts & all other site accnts you have & use on the internet. Just to clean you out & make them selves rich.

[elevin]

Yep, same #scambastard called me +1 866-756-0309 and the cussed me out with a heavy Asian accent. ALSO from +1 800-727-2472.