DNS Changer virus

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toby123

Senior Member
Location
West Sussex
I was just about to sit down to dinner when someone who sounded like he was calling from India (but claimed to be Brad from the Microsoft Technical Centre or something in London) phoned and said that he needed to do something to my computer to get rid of this DNS virus, with which my computer is apparently affected.

I have only had this laptop for about 2 months and have been a good boy, downloading all the updates recommended by the HP support assistant and I have Norton also, but he said that none of these measures protect against DNS. I have not noticed anything untoward going on on my computer, and having just done a quick search on the net, it appears that we have passed 'D-Day', i.e. when the virus was supposed to bring down peoples' internet connections.

I don't really understand any of this stuff and I couldn't suss out whether or not he was genuine, although he did give a name and London address and phone number. Not wanting to be 'had', I took these details and said that I would have to find out more before allowing him to do anything to my computer.

So what should I do?
 

rusky

CC Addict
Location
Hove
Ignore it, he was trying to scam you & gain access to your PC.
 

colly

Re member eR
Location
Leeds
Would you let that weird bloke from round the corner take your kids to the pictures? Same thing.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
How did he know it was infected???:laugh: I have once watched a You-Tube vid where some very knowledgeable bods played the bod along, pretending to be the fool - it was hilarious but doubt I would have enough knowledge to pull it off myself.
 

Mr Haematocrit

msg me on kik for android
Microsoft do not offer support for their products period. Try to find a free phone support number listed on their site. It's a outright scam.
Tell him you run SELinux and not Microsoft Products watch him put the phone down.

btw the web would continue to work without DNS you would simply use the IP Address, so to reach google.com you could use http://74.125.224.72 in fact you can speed up your surfing by bypassing DNS lookups in your systems local host file.. DNS makes the web easier to use and more convienient as its easier to remember names than IP addresses. However to say that the web would not work without DNS is not correct.

you can read about the scam at http://tinyurl.com/cu2egtp
 

Thomk

Guru
Location
Warwickshire
I was just about to sit down to dinner when someone who sounded like he was calling from India (but claimed to be Brad from the Microsoft Technical Centre or something in London) phoned and said that he needed to do something to my computer to get rid of this DNS virus, with which my computer is apparently affected.

I have only had this laptop for about 2 months and have been a good boy, downloading all the updates recommended by the HP support assistant and I have Norton also, but he said that none of these measures protect against DNS. I have not noticed anything untoward going on on my computer, and having just done a quick search on the net, it appears that we have passed 'D-Day', i.e. when the virus was supposed to bring down peoples' internet connections.

I don't really understand any of this stuff and I couldn't suss out whether or not he was genuine, although he did give a name and London address and phone number. Not wanting to be 'had', I took these details and said that I would have to find out more before allowing him to do anything to my computer.

So what should I do?

Tell mummy and daddy about it, they'll know what to do, and don't answer the telephone again without a responsible adult present.....oh and go to bed it's past your bedtime :hello:
 

Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod
Microsoft do not offer support for their products period. Try to find a free phone support number listed on their site. It's a outright scam.
Tell him you run SELinux and not Microsoft Products watch him put the phone down.

btw the web would continue to work without DNS you would simply use the IP Address, so to reach google.com you could use http://74.125.224.72 in fact you can speed up your surfing by bypassing DNS lookups in your systems local host file.. DNS makes the web easier to use and more convienient as its easier to remember names than IP addresses. However to say that the web would not work without DNS is not correct.

you can read about the scam at http://tinyurl.com/cu2egtp

Ah, the Internet would work, but the web would be impractical :smile:


Sent from my bum.
 

MrJamie

Oaf on a Bike
I get far too much satisfaction from keeping these guys on the phone asking them dumb questions until they eventually realise what im doing. They arent brilliant at going off script so its a little amusing if youre at all technically minded :rolleyes:
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
I get far too much satisfaction from keeping these guys on the phone asking them dumb questions until they eventually realise what im doing. They arent brilliant at going off script so its a little amusing if youre at all technically minded :rolleyes:
I've done that sort of thing when they ring up doing a survey.... the guy really didn't understand that my pet was a tadpole - my main problem is not bursting into hysterical laughter.
 

MrJamie

Oaf on a Bike
I've done that sort of thing when they ring up doing a survey.... the guy really didn't understand that my pet was a tadpole - my main problem is not bursting into hysterical laughter.
Haha, thats brilliant :biggrin:

As a child I once took a tadpole home to keep and put it in the fish bowl, I was quite sad to see my goldfish eat him. :cry:
 

Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod
I had a call from an 'alternative domains' scammer once, being my own ISP at the time I very calmly took him to bits, he lost his temper and hung up on me!

http://lawsie.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/tele-serve-high-pressure-alternative.html
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Sent from settee #2 - steel & wooden frame, deep padded seat, low profile DFS 2000 model.
 
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