877-821-7144

This company calls stating that there is a problem with your computer. My almost 70 year old father signed up for their computer maintenance service. They call every so often stating that there is something wrong with his computer. They ask very invasive questions. If my father does not answer, they call again and again and again. They are calling from India. They are more than persistent. They will ask when he will get home. They harass my mother. They call her a liar if my father is not home when she states he will be home and he is not when they call. You can barely understand them. This morning they have been calling stating that there is a problem with my father's laptop. They say they monitor it. I have another computer maintenance service for my computers and they never call me stating that there is a problem with my computer. I call them. This company must have 24/7 access to my father's computer...including personal, banking, and any other information. I do not know if this is a scam, but they act like it. Originally they stated that they bought out the company that my father had a maintenance contract with. Even though the contract was cancelled, they talked my father into a new contract. I researched this company and they have a very similar name to a web design firm in Florida, Something like Redstar. At the time of my original research, the owner had an address in Arizona. Now thy go my the name PSS Technologies and they work out of a city in California. If you do further digging, you can find them on a site called IndiaMart where they state all the services they offer and they say they have over 50 professionals. At the bottom of the description, there is a fact sheet that states the company only employs 11-25 people. The employees are calling from some sort of sweat shop because you can hear what sounds like hundreds if voices in the background. I believe this company is a predator because when I answer the telephone and ask them questions, they do not want to answer they will hang up.

So RedStar Technologies/PSS Technologies called the house several times again today. This time they stated that someone had hacked my father's computer. They showed him how they could tell this...the code that showed malicious software was on the computer. They Googled the codes to prove to my senior citizen father that this was truly a threat, and then they tell him that he needed to protect the household network (I believe that was some sort of screen shot they displayed). That is when they started asking him for more money. He already paid almost $1000 for their service. Now they asked for $299 more. They were giving him the strong arm, trying to twist his arm into  paying the money. This went on for more than an hour. My father had them on speaker phone and the lady on the other line obviously did not know what she was talking about. She was a telemarketer, not an IT person. She finally passed the phone to her supervisor to try to get him to buy the added protection for the network. He tried to sell the product to him for $199, and then $99. I finally convinced him not to buy it...for today. They will call back I am not at the house and try to sell the useless product again. My father is a total victim in this.

Consider maybe getting a call blocking device or phone for your father.. You can google them and many are around $60.00 or so. And go to the web sites listed and make him read them! The only persons who should be touching your computer is you, your manufacturer, Real Windows support that you have called and/or maybe a real live tech you see face to face!Get this computer to a real live tech to go through and change all passwords everyplace. Place fraud alerts with the bank and credit companies.He should also file fraud with his CC or Bank.

http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases ... rt-refund-scams
http://consumerist.com/2014/01/03/that-guy-on ... ably-a-scammer/
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cold-Call-Tech ... on-150170.shtml
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/10/pecon.shtm
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/989316
http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=13376

http://www.katu.com/news/local/Callers-say-th ... -224349791.html

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/were-window ... scam-6C10631331


Report these callers here:

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#&panel1-1
https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form1088.action
https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
http://www.stopfraud.gov/report.html

To file complaints on Foreign company's:
eConsumer.gov: Report Your Complaint
E-mail: econsumerwb@ftc.gov

They got me, my money to fix my computer which crashed.  When they couldn't access it anymore called and said they wanted to fix it again (I guess they figured out they couldn't access it anymore).  CROOKS

These crooks called me about six months ago and assured me there would be absolutely no charge to clean my computer. I fell for it until they wanted all of my checking account info. I told them they said no charge and persisted with wanting my info. I said give me your info and I will send them a registered check or money order. They continued to demand my checking info and I told them to forget it and hung up. My computer was immediately infected with numerous viruses. Had to have it cleaned locally. Don't fall for these crooks

Thank you for verifying the scam.

Lurkers, read this:
If the scammer accessed your computer, they probably did one or more of the following:
• Disabled the anti-virus software
• Added a lot of malware to the computer
• Copied the Contact List (so they can email the soon-to-be ex-friends)
• Copied any financial data or passwords they could find
• Compromised the ID
• "Zombied" the computer, so it would respond to THEIR commands sent via internet
• Deleted some important files
• Asked for money to repair the damage they caused

Now, what can you do?
1.  Pull the cables on the computer, so it cannot access the internet.
2.  Change ALL  passwords stored on the computer
3.  Run FULL malware scans on the computer, in "SAFE" mode!
4.  Change the passwords again, particularly if the malware scans showed anything
5.  Contact bank and credit card companies
6.  Sign up for credit monitoring, and check the status frequently
7.  Possibly bring the computer to a local repair shop, and tell them the story.
8.  Tell friends what happened, so they can be aware of strange emails from you
9.  Plug in the computers only AFTER all the above have been done
10.  Change the passwords on all online accounts.

Remember, honest computer companies do NOT cold-call people to tell them their computers need fixing!

You were exposed to one of these scams, and you might be susceptible to others mentioned on this site:
http://phonehelp.2truth.com/facts_rev.html

Remember to return here, to 800notes.com, after you look at any of the information at that site, either to post more information, or to let us know you avoided the scam or fixed the computer correctly.

Rec'd voice mail that my computer had been "compromised".  I didn't call them back as I had gotten scammed six months ago and as a result my computer DID crash.  Had to get new hard drive from HP and re-install all my original software.  Luckily I had backed up last week.  Only deal with ligitimate tech support teams.  Be very careful of who you contact for help.

I've notice that if they scam you once, they usually try to scam you again, sometimes the same type of scam; sometimes something else.   Anyone else noticed this kind of situation?

CWG -

Yep.
Some folks are more gullible than others.  The scammers recogize excessive gullibility, and prey upon those misguided and gormless individuals.  "They believed me once, why not again?"

You have probablly seen several posts here, in 800notes, where scammees said something like "they got me for $750, and wanted $300 more for extra fees, so I sent it to them" when referring to a loan scam.

Thank you Yollie...I am so happy that someone else is exploring this same situation...I also get calls from UNASSIGNED
817-357-4088....817 is the prefix where I live...My instructions for payment was to get a GREEN DOT MONEY PAK & A VOUCHER 14 DIGIT CODE...$300.00 FOR A LIFE LONG SERVICE...I called GREEN DOT and I was told there was no such thing as a digit code..she said I can't say any thing...do you understand.  I said yes...he (Gary Thoams or Thomas is still calling and I have not paid and don't plan to...I did answer the other night and he asked me if there was something wrong with my mind!!!!  I hung up and of course he keeps calling....I no longer answer....

jacob is  scammer he charge money but he never fixed computer.................................................

Please take your computer to a real live tech you can see face to face to get it fixed and gone through. The callers most likely have also stolen all your information if you had any on your computer as well. Change any and all passwords asap. They have also possibly installed malware on your computer.  

Do read Slims, CW's and my posts above!

They are scam artists. They wont tell you were they are, they suttel you between MICHAEL-ALEX-Shawn Harley-Peter JOHNSON-John- niel adam , they use telephone #-475-223-0410/  209-208-6815/ 805-317*4899  Santa Barbra, or they will tell you they are calling from PEORIA, AZ. It is a sweat shop with all INDIANS. They promise you everything and ask for payment . They want you to us GREENDOT MONEY PAK and when you do, which I did, it always goes wrong and they claim its your fault. You get extremelly little help from GREENN CARD.In factthey are impossible to get in touch with.
When you then have paid them a lot of money and FInally wised up to the fact that you have been cheated they offer you a full refund BUT first you must pay a fee, or an INDIAN GOVT TAX - that has to be paid before they can issue you athe refund. They are crooks and feed on stuoid gullible people like me. Obvoiusly succesfull.