Well done EL Loro I have had several of those type of phone calls  recently... I just tell them I have no computer.... and they hang up...  The phone numbers always seem to be different...  in fact I think one of them the other day was something like 123456....!

LOL LOL I get them I like talking to them.

The first time they phoned I went along with it for ages then said, but I dont have a computer, I have one at work. She was a tad confused, so I said she would have to fix that one and could she phone back another time then i might be at work (you had to be there )

Only yesterday they called again and this time I passed them over to zazz, who had a good 10 min conversation with the bloke, and it ended up with the line :

zazz: 'Im probably more computer literate than you'

bloke: 'yes probably'

HANG UP

Next time they phone im planning on starting to fake cry because im so upset that my computer has a virus.  Then i may pass them over to lil gyps.

Aww, they scammed my poor old aunt. 

Oh no

what is it they want anyway? is it incase you have passwords etc stored on your computer for your bank and that sort of thing?

I use various ruses.. one being the same as the OP   and I keep em on the line as long as possible so they don't get hold of some other less puter literate person for a while..

another I use is pretending I am a tad deaf and when they mention windows I go off down double glazing route. . they tell me I am not secure so I say are you coming to fit new windows for me.. it don't half confuse them, especially when they tell me to open a Window and I say which one..  

sometimes they tell me to eff off when they cotton on to the fact I am taking the piss out of them and call me all sorts of names. .one bloke offered to shove his 9 inches where the sun don't shine. .I laughed and said 9 inches? you wish..

they all seem to be called Dave Steve or Allan  with surnames that do not match their accents..

I like that  

If I had been taken in by them they would then get access to my computer. They would then pretend that they were running a virus scan on my computer and I would then see the results with various viruses on my pc. They would then say I should buy their antivirus software which would get rid of the viruses and I would pay for this either by Paypal or credit card - they said £60 but it could be any amount and they then have my credit card details. And I would have this antivirus software downloaded on to my pc.

I doubt very much whether it would be genuine antivirus software, in all probability it would actually be a virus itself. And then my computer would be thoroughly messed up and could well become one of these botnet computers which spammers use to send out millions of spam emails around the world.

I seem to be ambling around the net like my little tom Henry ambles through life, never noticing anything much, never hear anything much. I've got so many messages on my email account, I have stopped looking unless I recognise the address.

 Hope I have the where with all to remember your wit Olly, next time I get a phone call from the village idiot....

Well done El, and Olly I hope I remember the double glazing thing, if they ever call me.

 Me too...... that's a great line Olly

One up to EL 

I've abondened mine....

See, I never get spam and have only had one scam call. Mind you, I'm rather carefull as to what info I give any site that requires me to give a mail address to log in and use. I'd just rather not use that site.  (This one excepted)    

I've never had a call or an email pretending to be from the tax people or anything.

Me neither, I feel so left out 

I just had a thought, I'm exhausted now, maybe I have had one of these calls but I never answer my phone if I don't know the number ... the poor scammers

Just got a call this morning, told them I run Linux 

I have had a few of these calls, and they are becoming annoying. its never the same number. I wonder how they got my phone number in the first place, as i am ex-directory 

People selling your number on Skylark when you put numbers on forms when you buy stuff. I never used to get them till I bought a phone from Carphone Warehouse once.

oohh that makes me so angry... preying on the older generation..............

i had a phone call this morning from "alex" he mentioned windows and computer but i did my usual "idiot" act (yes! it is an act!)  when i asked if he was going to rescue me because i as a prisoner he put the phone down,  did 1471 but no number was stored and i am ex directory

Skylark and Machel, I think the scammers may ring numbers at random so ex-directory numbers could still be rung.

Thats interesting, i got my mobile thru Carphone Warehouse .............

I just had another one I kept saying hello to his hello for sometime, until he  got a little  exasperated and asked if I could hear him..... when I said yes, he started  the * I am from  etc. computers....... so I  did my usual  * I don't have a computer*

When I was rung yesterday, the scammer told me to type "eventvwr" from Run (in Windows). I knew this was a genuine Windows instruction to load the Windows Event Viewer. The Event Viewer lists hundreds/thousands of events which have taken place on your computer It is meaningless for anybody other than IT engineers and network administrators. It is almost inevitable that the Event Viewer will show that there are warnings and errors and the scammers will say that these warnings and errors are the proof that there are viruses on your computer.

I could see that my event viewer showed errors so I went on with the scammer. I knew that the errors were nothing to do with viruses. I have recently carried out a full virus scan of my computer in Windows Safe Mode. This means that whilst in Safe Mode my computer cannot access the internet. Therefore as part of the booting up process, when it tries to access the internet it can't and so records an error on the Event Viewer.

But a lot of people are tricked by the scammers into thinking that they have viruses whereas they don't.

I remember there was a programme on telly about this in the not too distant past. I don't think the telly programme could ever say for certain but the inference was there.