Just recently we’ve heard details of a spate of cold calls from 01274 900 834 and 01274 449 373 featuring India-accented people who claim to have detected that your computer is running slow as a result of a trojan infection and offering to fix the problem for you. Many apparently claim to have got your number from Microsoft. It’s been reported that, should you be convinced enough to hand over your credit card details for the £54-odd one-year service fee, your card will be billed for over £200.

The company concerned is called Support On Click and has a website at www.supportonclick.com/.co.uk – a quick check reveals the domain is registered to Pecon Software Ltd in India:

Domain name:
supportonclick.co.uk

Registrant:
Pecon Software Ltd

Registrant type:
Unknown

Registrant’s address:
EN-27, Salt lake city, Sector-V, Kolkata
kolkata
West Bengal
700091
India

The company usually calls from one of two Bradford-based numbers: 01274 900 834 and 01274 449 373 but also have 0800 047 0653 on their website.  If they have called, and you want to call them back, I’d suggest doing to on the 0800 number so as not to run up your own bill.  You can then chat to them at length about their service. (Edit: They’re also on Twitter).

More:
A posting on this blog claims that the caller asks you to set up remote access on your machine to that they can infect you with a trojan, then sell you software to prevent it happening again, said software being – you guessed it – another trojan/virus/whatever.  It’s worth noting that this complaint is from Australia, so they really are targeting people on a global scale – presumably any English-speaking country is at risk.

Update:
Another blog has touched on the SupportOnClick fiasco – DigitalToast has an article here.  Despite protestations from Mr. Shah, the dodgy calls continue to come, cold-calling and all.  SupportOnClick are also on Twitter.

Further Update:
Although SupportOnClick themselves have apparently commented below, the vast majority of comments are from people who have experienced hard-sell and dishonest sales techniques. Claims of ‘We have a list of satisfied customers’ are easily countered with the list of obviously dissatisfied customers below, and it is obvious that, amongst the more knowledgeable at least, SupportOnClick has lost customer trust.

7th July 2010
PCPro have a new article up on this kind of scam: here