Scam alert: Irish people are being phoned from an American number claiming to be from Windows needing their credit card details – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Scam alert: Irish people are being phoned from an American number claiming to be from Windows needing their credit card details




A number of Irish people, ironically including a member of the Liberal team, have been phoned over the past two days by a number reputedly from Arizona in the United States.

Upon answering the number, the caller said the same thing and used various names with spoke with a strong and distinctive Indian accent.

We received an email from a concerned reader about this and we tried to phone the number ourselves yesterday but to no avail.

Today however, we received a phone call from the same number with the following:
“Hello, my name is Sean and I’m calling from the Windows head office.”

Our team member: “Yes, how can I help you Sean?”

Sean: “We see you need updating of Windows drivers and a reinstallation of some software.”

Our team member: “Ok, what do you need me to do?”

Sean: “We need you to go to your computer now and follow our steps”

Our team member: “Is there anything else I need?”

Sean: “You will need your credit card and personal details so we can install the updated drivers and software for you”

Our team member: “I use an Apple – I don’t have Windows”

The caller hung up the phone, we tried ringing it back but the number goes dead after four rings.

We spoke to a member of the gardai about the calls and they who told us that the gardai are aware of such scams and they have advised that people share the information on social media in an effort to prevent any vulnerable people, especially the elderly from falling for such devious scams.

The number that is currently being used by these heartless scam artists is: 001 4794947311. Please be careful.

 

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