[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Mucho fun was had early this morning when we got a call from our friends in India helpfully pointing out 'our computer has a virus'

We started by putting our 4 year old on the phone, then we held up the phone to Mrs Obi's mobile running Talking Tom Cat

Oh the hilarity.  They hung on for quite a while before hanging up saying 'why are you laughing?'

[Paul B]

I've had a fantastic debate about operating systems with one.

"You have a virus in your windows computer"
No I use Linux (or Ubuntu)
"No, thats the manufacturer", "look near your space bar, you have a windows key, see... you use Windows"
... errr
"tell me sir, what do you see when you start your computer, a multi-coloured flag correct?"
no a penguin
"sir, you don't really see a penguin".
yes I do
"no, you don't"
yes
etc.

What I don't understand is, what is their end goal? Are they trying to sell me virus protection? Surely once you've openly started bickering with someone all hope of selling anything is out of the quesiton.

Maybe I'll try Android next, they'll at least have heard of that 

[lukeh]

Got that phone call every day for a good few months... funny at the start. Touch wood not had one in a while.

My uncle (fairly computer illiterate) also had the same thing. He did have a virus at the time and went along with it until they asked for credit card details after "fixing" it, being a tight bastard he then hung up. I think the end game is to pretend to fix a normally non existent problem then demand cash. Either than or my uncle downloaded a bunch of Trojans as the fix.

[chris j]

Either than or my uncle downloaded a bunch of Trojans as the fix.

I always thought this was the ultimate goal for them - get the user to download some key-logging software or similar that will send all your passwords to the Russian Mafia bloke who's rented a cheap call centre for a month. I wonder how many positive responses/mugs who install their software they'd need to get a return on investment...