Janeway Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I already know this is a scam, so don't tell me it's a scam, I already know. What confuses me is how they got this personal information about me. I purchased a laptop directly from HP right at three years ago. I did not purchase from a store, so this information would not have come from a store. Our home phone number is attached to my husbands name, so that would not be a likely source of information. They call here and ask for me by first name. They say they are calling from HP and my HP has malicious content on it. The first time they called, I told them I knew they were a scam and hung up on them. The next few times I did not answer. The caller ID shows a legitimate HP phone number. I called HP the first time and reported it. Today, I decided to see what they had to say, just for the fun of it I guess. They proceed to tell me the same stuff. Then they tell me the serial number of my computer. So get this, they have my name and the serial number of the computer and my home phone number. Since this is the computer of my 12 yr old, now I want to know if he has done something. I pretend the connection on the phone is bad and hang up on the scammer. Now, how did they get all this information? Also, I wiped my son's computer two days ago so any virus they put on there should be gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) https://www.yogabearpc.com/hp-has-been-hacked-watch-out-for-scam-phone-calls/ This is a warning from a year ago, but looking online indicates that the bad guys have spun this scam up again. As you know, HP will never call you unsolicited. Heck, it's hard enough to get them to eternal a call that you initiate! The bad guys get better every year. ETA: in this case they got the info by hacking HP. Edited March 31, 2017 by AK_Mom4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 People have ways to put fake names on their phones and I think even fake phone numbers. A few years ago, I got a phone call that said it was my husband. Now he has a cell phone which if he calls home, it says he is calling. But I answered before I realized it was someone calling from what appeared to be our number and since dh is the primary on the phone, it also said his name. I hung up almost immediately when I realized it wasn't my husband. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 https://www.yogabearpc.com/hp-has-been-hacked-watch-out-for-scam-phone-calls/ This is a warning from a year ago, but looking online indicates that the bad guys have spun this scam up again. As you know, HP will never call you unsolicited. Heck, it's hard enough to get them to eternal a call that you initiate! The bad guys get better every year. ETA: in this case they got the info by hacking HP. Tell me about it! On the can't get help from HP. I had so many troubles with my HP computers and could NOT get them to help! I swore off of HP after that. I have purchased 5 HP computers in my life and several printers. No HP printer lasted more than a few months. Of the computers, 1 died in less than a year, another had the audio give up with a Windows update, and another did last much longer. We only purchased these last two HPs because I got it directly from their site for a very low price when Windows 7 was gone. Both still run, which shocks us. They will NOT help even when you beg for help even while in warrantly. No way are they paying staff to monitor my computers and call me and offer up tech support, LOL..ha ha ha ha..just the idea of it! Hmmm..this gives me an idea. Next time they call, I will start talking on and on about the problems we have had and demand they give me technical support (of course, never giving access to said computers, LOL). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 People have ways to put fake names on their phones and I think even fake phone numbers. A few years ago, I got a phone call that said it was my husband. Yep, similar happened here. The caller ID showed dh's name and our home phone number. It didn't register the first time that we couldn't call ourselves from our own number--I just saw dh's name on the screen and answered. After I hung up I remembered dh's ID on our phone said Dad, not his name. The dc were warned not to pick up unless it said Dad--they only answered the phone if it was Dad, Mom or Grandma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Tricking caller id. to say the name of the company is called spoofing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 I know they can trick caller ID. I have had that happen before. I mean, how did they know the serial number of the computer, my name, and my home number to call me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I know they can trick caller ID. I have had that happen before. I mean, how did they know the serial number of the computer, my name, and my home number to call me? Did you register the computer with HP and list your home number when you registered it? It seems they hacked the data from HP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 We had this happen a couple of times. The first time, dh almost gave them permission to access our computer. I was in the background going berserk because I knew it was a scam. He said they had all the right information, so it must have been HP. Thankfully, he didn't give them what they wanted. The next few times they called, he told them about their scam. After awhile, they stopped calling. At the time, we believed someone inside HP must have shared the info. Now I know HP was hacked. Typing this out made me think about needing to give them permission to access our computer. Can't they access it even if we don't give them permission? Why would crooks not just access it? Why bother with the owner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutingmom Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 We had this happen a couple of times. The first time, dh almost gave them permission to access our computer. I was in the background going berserk because I knew it was a scam. He said they had all the right information, so it must have been HP. Thankfully, he didn't give them what they wanted. The next few times they called, he told them about their scam. After awhile, they stopped calling. At the time, we believed someone inside HP must have shared the info. Now I know HP was hacked. Typing this out made me think about needing to give them permission to access our computer. Can't they access it even if we don't give them permission? Why would crooks not just access it? Why bother with the owner? You need to activate remote access on your computer, which would likely be the next thing they would have you do. Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baseball mom Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Our home phone is in my name. Last year it rings, MY name and home number shows up on the caller id. Yeah I didn't answer that but it sure felt weird seeing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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