Anyone heard of Alpha PC Care?

[bdk]

Got a phone call from a tech from above named company claiming he worked for Microsoft and was receiving warning alerts from my PC that it was infected with virus. Had me pull up run box and type in "inf virus." He then informed me any file that ended in pnf was a virus and wanted me to purchase a "security protection" package. When I asked too many questions, he became very belligerant so I hung up on him.

Just wondering if anyone else has heard of them since I can't pull up any results on the web for them.

[exbrit]

If you have Call Screen service I suggest you add the number as it's 99.9% surely a scam.

First of all Microsoft has never, ever called anyone without them first contacting Microsoft.

Secondly, how does any stranger know that your PC needed attention?

I just did a Google Search for Alpha PC Care Scam and got lots of hits.

You can often get a lot of information by simply entering the 10-digit (area code and number) phone number that called you, assuming you have Call Display, in a search too.

As for that Run command I must have 10,000 .PNF files on my computer and I have no infections I assure you.  

What a load of cobblers as they would say back in my home country (UK)!  In other words, a load of garbage.

Just another one of many scams I'm afraid.

.

Message was edited by: Ex_Brit on 15/02/12 7:44:59 EST AM

[tyomni]

If so You can contact NSA and thay will finde the person. It could be more seriouse than You think cause usually they don't contact victim directley.

[Hayton]

(I've just added a SiteAdvisor review for them at http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/alphapccare.com/msgpage.  Feel free to add your own comments especially if you've received a call from them. If the call was similar but  from a different company, add it under that company name. There are plenty of company names, but rather fewer players in the game.)

Alpha PC Care has a website (alphapccare dot com) and contact telephone numbers for the US and UK. One lookup tool places the US number in Vancouver, the UK one in London. The site at first glance looks convincing : paid-for remote support. But ...

Our company registration number is L667256 and registered in Kolkata, West Bengal India
Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website

If you dig a little deeper there is a virtually identical site, now only available as a cached copy from Google, for "virtualpcdoc dot com" ("Virtual pc doc Digital Works")

Our company registration number is L667256 and registered in Kolkata, West Bengal India.
No cancellations are entertained for those products that the Alpha PC Care marketing team has obtained on special occasions like Pongal, Diwali, and Valentine’s Day etc.

Their cold-calling methods are illegal and well-known. They claim to be a Certified Microsoft Partner (they are not - see HERE) and also to be Cisco and McAfee certified, which they almost certainly are not.

Microsoft absolutely do not and never will cold-call you with an offer to help clean up your machine. Not even when they discovered tens of thousands of PCs infected with malware that made them part of a botnet.

The Director of Security for Microsoft was on the BBC1 programme last Monday, "You've been Scammed". He stated that neither Microsoft nor its Partners would ever 'phone you as it would be a breach of their privacy rules.  It was also stated that these people, as well as trying to get your bank details, can also install spyware and malware on your machine if they gain remote access

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-security/i-received-a-phone-call-from...

Microsoft will never cold call users asking for personal information or access to your PC. Whenever possible these calls should be reported to your local consumer protection agency.
In the United States you can visit the FTC website to report issues such as these:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/telemarketing/tel19.shtm

If Microsoft discovers that one of its partners is involved in this sort of thing, it (eventually) takes action :

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/1909550/microsoft-considers-legal-action-cold-cons

Microsoft is considering legal action against companies in its Microsoft Partner Network that claim to be calling on its behalf to tell people their PCs have been infected with malicious software.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/sep/22/microsoft-drops-partner-accused-scam

Microsoft has finally ejected an Indian company which was one of its "Gold" partners from the scheme after deciding it was taking part in a "fake virus" telephone support scam.
But Microsoft has been criticised for slow action, after one IT consultant said he had been trying to bring the activities of Comantra, based in Kolkata, to its attention for more than six months, and says that the US software giant has been warned about similar companies' actions for at least 18 months.

(Comantra also operates from Kolkata (Calcutta) and the web is full of complaints about it. It is, nevertheless, a legit outfit as far as I can see, with no link to Alpha PC care. The site is comantra-dot-net if you want to check it out. SiteAdvisor reviews are at http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/www.comantra.net/msgpage).

Some reports about the activities of Alpha PC Care :

http://phonenotes.org/3604503952   (US)

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-360-450-3952  (US, same as above)

http://www.justanswer.com/computer/659om-question.html (US)

Please avoid dealing with these companies and inform them that you know they are a scam and that if they continue to call, you'll report them to the Internet Crime Bureau, which you can file a complaint with here:http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

http://monthly.martlesham.org.uk/2012/jan12.pdf  (UK - cached copy)

This area is being targeted at the moment by ALPHA PC CARE who will tell you that your computer is contaminated. BT's advice is "Put the 'phone down".

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/092298  (UK - reports from victims of cold-calling)

Other examples of similar scams :

http://conbusters.co.uk/2011/04/08/247-pc-care-scam/

http://www.jameswiseman.com/blog/2010/06/03/windows-support-telephone-scam-corrupt-files-and-many-vi...

http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/supportonclick-systemrecure-scam

... and many many more. Just Google for "Microsoft cold calling".

The only advice I can give here is, put the phone down. It's a scam, no question about it.

[exbrit]

Vancouver?  We have laws here regarding such scams....is it just the phone number based there or .. ?

[Hayton]

From their website :

Ph- +360-4503952 (USA)

That's Vancouver, Washington State, USA, btw.

Location map is shown on http://phonenotes.org/3604503952

[exbrit]

Ah, thought so, not our Vancouver. (BC) .. 😉

[Peacekeeper]

I even got a call last week different name same speil I just hung up on them as was too busy to think of a good retort.

[exbrit]

Same here, I told them it was a private phone number for Toronto Police Fraud Squad, they hung up fast.

[Hayton]

Ex_Brit wrote:
Same here, I told them it was a private phone number for Toronto Police Fraud Squad, they hung up fast.

*rtofl*

I haven't had one of these calls yet. I live in hope 🙂