The International Routing System scam

August 17, 2010, Richard Folwell says:

I just had one of those too. The first caller was struggling a bit with basics, and his supervisor took over. Somewhat intrigued, I followed instructions until it got to the bit where we were looking at the Application area of the Event Viewer, and he said that all of the entries there indicated that I had a virus infection! (This was without even asking for the content of a few samples.)

Suffice it to say that the call ended very shortly after that.

This is worrying, many users would be completely taken in by this dangerous nonsense.

Richard

September 20, 2010, Simon T says:

Yup, just got a call about this myself from a pakistani sounding person.

Smelling a rat, whilst he was chatting and asking me to fire up my laptop (which was already on, but he didn;t know that) I googled this page and it confirmed what I already suspected.

September 30, 2010, ms d says:

Shocking! A very persistent Asian male just called informing me i have a virus on my computer. I'm running more than one PC/connection and he couldn't tell me which one he was referring to! I was suspicious straight away and come across this article. Before hanging up i asked him a few basic questions about the company to which he kept replying that it was urgent that i visit their website right at that moment. He caught me off-guard but thankfully i know enough about computers to know he was full of BS!! I'm livid, the cheek of it!

October 22, 2010, Alex Perkins says:

I have just right this minute had that same guy on the phone. Stating he is from the "International Routing System" company, I was sat downstairs and he said i had a virus on my computer a very serious one. So i knew i hadnt so i asked him to call me back in 5 minutes while i urgently start up my computer to get rid of it... i then went to this official website of this scam where people like on here can comment and tell people their stories. I made such a fool of him is there anyway he can be stopped though? cos your obviously gonna get one person that isn't all there with computers and falls for it :/

November 23, 2010, Rohen Sewdarsen says:

I would also like to add, that these people who called me said that they were from TechE4PC, but that they received my information from International Routing Systems. They said that they were an association of MS Windows.It may be that TechE4PC are also crooks, after all, the tech support number they gave me did belong to TechE4PC.

November 28, 2010, John says:

Got the same scam call here in London 24 November 2010. Indian "gentleman" from the so-called "International Routing Department" told me he had been informed by my ISP that my computer had infected files and he was calling to help. I work in IT and nothing that he said made much sense at all. I asked for his name and company number so that I could call them for authentication. This indian said his name was "Alan Black" and gave me the numbers 18883135119 and 3255153544926. The arrangement was he would call back in 20 mins after I had called his organisation. I didn't call the numbers and he didn't call back. But I did call my ISP who already knew of this indian "gentleman's" reputation and confirmed it was a scam. My ISP said that had things continued the aim of the scammers would have been to infect my computer themselves and then charge money to fix it. BEWARE!!! They're still out there!!!

December 6, 2010, Terry says:

Just got the same call myself (Dec 6, 2010 - 3:30pm, Melbourne, Australia)! They gave me a scare - and cause for suspicion in equal parts. They did sound like they had an Indian accent. I asked where they were calling from and they said NSW. BTW, when I persisted in asking for a contact number, the caller said he would put me through to the supervisor. Same story about 'International Routing System', etc. I persisted in asking about who he was and his company, eventually he kept saying "Hello? Hello?" as if he couldn't hear me any more. Probably so that I would stop asking questions and start doing as he was asking :) Eventually I hung up and immediately searched the 'net and found this forum. Now it all seems kinda funny, except that they are probably scamming lots of vulnerable people - which is very sad.

December 9, 2010, JRosey says:

I live in Adelaide and I just had a call from Brian and George at teche4pc support. My poor Mum nearly fell for their scare tactics as they told her our computer was about to crash because the International Routing System told them so. She couldn't understand either of them, so I grabbed the phone and started questioning who they were. Conveniently, I happened to be in front of my computer so I Googled their name as well as "IRS" and this forum appeared. I cracked up laughing, knowing exactlty what they were trying to do. I decided to give them a taste of their own medicine. I went along with what they were trying to get me to do. Over the course of about 4 phone calls they quoted 2 different scam websites, "ammy.com" and "teche4pc.com" they couldnt tell me where I lived or exactly how the IRS gets my information. They also presumed we had Microsoft Windows. I questioned everything they told me and annoyed the absolute crap out of them and wasted as much of their time as I could without giving them any of my personal information. Eventually I told them I knew they were scam and threatened to call Today Tonight! And I agree, it's so sad and frustrating to think people can easily fall for calls like this. Just hang up people, hang up!!!

December 23, 2010, Jan says:

I had a call this morning they said they were from windows international support service and were based in London...I managed to shake him off for 5 min then found your site,he phoned back so I told him politely what I thought of his scam..thank you!!

January 4, 2011, Belinda says:

Thankyou for your forum. I just got the same call as from PC Tech support - International Routing System and thought it sounded off so I googled them while on the phone to them and got this forum page which confirmed my suspicions. So I let him know I found it to be a scam and hung up. Just annoyed I waisted time talking to the low life.

January 12, 2011, Tony Hall says:

Hi,
Same basic story yesterday in UK but in addition to quoting my ISP and International Routing System for the source of his information this one quoted fullpcsupport.com operating out of melbourne and gave a uk tel no. for their customer support dept (44 02081234372) yes it rings but there is no-one on the line. keep all such callers on the line as long as possible but DO NOTHING that way you maximise their call charges and minimise their success rate.

Tony H

January 17, 2011, hi me also says:

yep and now New Zealand, an Indian fellow got to me and wanted me to allow remote assistance... I asked him to prove who he is.. he hung up Int. phone no.? to New Zealand 9-1676 nothing else.. if this helps...

January 18, 2011, David says:

Yeah, just a few minutes ago like Keemps. The only reason I humoured him so long was he had so much personal information: our address, phone number, email address...

Seriously worrying.

January 19, 2011, Pauline says:

I am in Adelaide, my mum almost got stung, but she let me speak to this guy who said he was from IRS and was calling on behalf of Miucrosoft, soon as I got on the phone I said to him"phew I am glad that you called, Iwas just about to call you ," he sounded pleased until I said" I was wondering if you realized that your company has accidentally downloaded 'The Mealyworm Virus"(a totally bogus virus..LOL) and it has corrupted all of their companies computers,& it causes computers to spontaneously combust once infected" he started panicking and asked me "how do we get rid of this Mealyworm virus" I ended up having to hang up, cos I could not stop myself from laughing!

January 21, 2011, Blooie says:

Same type of call - asked how they knew it was my computer. Apparently, "the data that goes to IRS contains all my personal data" which "due to privacy legislation they cannot devulge" until I give them data that proves my identity.

These guys are getting more sophisticated - this about the 20th time in the past 6 months. I was "impressed" that they wanted to take me directly to a remote control app.

I'm trying to think of a good defence. If I have the time, I like wasting theirs. If they are calling international or STD good. I have noticed that there is usually a long pause before you hear them speak.

My daughter had a good defence "it must be a XP bug - my friend has urging me to upgrade to W7. This is an XP bug?" "Yes!" "Oh that's right, Dad upgrade to W7 last week". They hung up.

How does this sound? "You are not connected in any way to my ex-wife Rita? (change as appropriate)." "no" "that's good, she's psycho and the police have advised me to record all conversatations as they can trace the caller and where she's hiding". I wonder ow long they stay on the phone.

Good luck all.

February 2, 2011, Guy says:

Jesus...its relentless. 15 calls from John and Paul in India claiming initially to be from Microsoft Head office stating that i have downloaded a virus. When i said that i would hunt him down, the line goes dead. There is no such thing as an international routing system and i wish they'd f***off and leave me alone.

February 10, 2011, Jann says:

I, too, had a call from john in Melbourne. First time he rang the line was bad and I hung up. We HAD been having trouble with computer, so was unsure if I had somehow let someone know about it.He rang back the next day and tried to continue conversation. I had trouble understanding his accent and asked how he had got information he said he had. I asked for his number.He said I would need a client number to be able to talk to anyone. He would give me this after we had done all the stuff on computer!! After a few minutes I said that I didnot trust him. He said to hang on while he got his boss. I hung up on him. I didn't think to look up IRS on internet until today, a few days later. Thanks for tip! Next time I will have

February 27, 2011, Willi says:

I have sent a system automated error message to microsoft and recieved a call from these indian sounding people from tech support. I was of the belief that they were contracted to microsoft. I helped them to gain remote access to identify the prob. (Big mistake)When they started offering me a product for a price, to help correct my system, I told them I had no money. They reduced the price by 50%. I told them I had no money. They dropped the price again. I hung up. What Indian or Pakistani would haggle downward?? None That's how many.

March 3, 2011, Cheryl Davies says:

My dad in England just got one of these calls from an Asian man pretending to be from Apple. I think they must have contacted him before about PC's and he's told them he has an Apple so they've remembered. He said that the sending and receiving of emails from my dads laptop was causing problems. For who I don't know. My dad asked for his telephone number but he wouldn't give it out. I told my dad to tell him that he knew it was a scam and to hang up. As we all know, Apple macs are very virus resistant anyway. These people make me so angry as there will be many people out there who do not know much about computers and so will believe these conmen.

March 11, 2011, chettina hobson says:

i had a call today from a man who had a pakistan accent, he told me he was from some internet company and that my computer had infection that an antivirus protector cant detect!! he was very pushy, was making it all sound very urgent! he told me my home address and said that they had traced it, and to put things right he would help me! and that i was to get to my computer urgently so as he can talk me through stuff i needed to do, like i said he was pushy, he asked me why i couldnt get to the computer, i told him i was in the bath, he said he would call back, and did, i told him to hang on a minute, let him run up his phone bill lol, worrying though, i bet he got some poor trusting people today!

March 19, 2011, Sum says:

Had this call two times in last week. First time I was puzzled, but knew it was a scam and hung up. After reading about it on this forum, the second time I was better prepared and wanted to send the scammer in a wild goose chase.

I played along initially. He gave me instructions to open eventlong and see system errors. He claimed these were serious errors ("Oh my goat....your computer is totally corrupted)".

Then asked me to go to some site and enter a unique key. This web tools allows them getting remote access to my computer. I spent about 20 minutes 'mistyping' the url and telling him that "Page not found" errors. Then I slipped in "Internet connection timeout. Please retry after 5 minutes" errors and got him waiting on the phone. Then I faked some "blue screen of death" errors.
So, this process pretty much went for 1 hour. In the end, he gave another site and asked me to buy "5 year warranty" on my credit card, so that he can arrange a technician to visit me. Then I said that the site shows me a warning saying, "stealing is bad". He replied that "You think you are smart? f** idiot" and hung up.

March 28, 2011, dana....QLD says:

From looking at all these coments i think i am the only idiot that didn't pick up on this scam of QUICK SOFT FIX the only thing they fixed was my bank balance after paying us$156.34& it cost me $3.91 in bank fees. I was told that his name was James Martin from New York than I was also given a Melbourne phone number if i wanted to contact him. I told my husband (after i made the mistake of paying)he said he had never heard of a indian or pakastanie with the name of 'James' before.This all started on 25/2/11 & is still going on. I am expecting a call tonight from the lovely James or one mates or one of his rellies maybe, wont they be surprised by my unlady like answer to them. They have also told me that my money that i paid through on line paying(Quartz-pay)has been lost & they have not received it. They also asked if i could pay it through another online payment lucky i said no to that. I aiso sent an email to the on line pay & got told that my credit card was stolen, i then contacted my bank. I am glad that i looked this site up thanks to you all. good luck

April 8, 2011, JJ says:

I have received many calls like this (all indian too) some I act dumb and lead them on for 5 or 10 minutes before saying to them "Do I need to have an internet connection to do that" then they just get angry and hang up. Or another time I said "oh I'm so glad you called because I sure as heck want to get rid of those nasty viruses, then I said I don't know much about computers cause I just got my first one and asked them to describe to me what a keyboard was because I didn't know" If they waste my time with this nonsense then I'll waste theirs too. Sometimes if I want them to get off quickly I'll just say "Have you heard of the stop call list because I'm on it and you should have checked it before calling me" that makes them hang up real quick. My most recent call from them I asked for his name and number and he said it was "dean rozario 02 8003 4478" and he was from "The windows support service centre" and he got my details from the "international routing system". I continued asking him many questions about his company and he was getting really agitated and said "now can you go to your computer" and I said "look, my husband is a detective so I'll just get him to run this info through the system and if it all checks out ok then I will call you back" needless to say he hung up on me.

April 13, 2011, Ian says:

I also had call from an Asian man, he said he was from FULL PC SUPPORT and eventually gave his me phone number 0208 1234373. I thought it was a scam but he was most insistent that I should switch my computer on and he would show me some file that were more dangerous than a virus and I could buy some software that would remove them! I said I couldn't get to my computer at present and he asked when could ring back.

April 14, 2011, tami says:

I just got called by one of these. sounds scammy. their phone is 02 61008129

May 3, 2011, Adrienne says:

I received a call similar to those mentioned above just last night. It was from an Indian man who was very insistant that I had an issue with the security of my computer. I then asked him which company he was from (I think he said quicksoft - affiliated with Microsoft), and I said that I had never heard of that company. He then said he had been sent the info from Microsoft. All through the conversation he seemed to be getting less patient with me and kept almost ordering me, "could you please be at your computer maam". I finally told him I was entertaining guests and could not go on to the computer now. He said he would call back tonight, although I think it's a slim chance, because at the end of the conversation I asked him what the name of the company was again, and he hung up. Any advice would be well received, in case he does call back.

May 5, 2011, Michelle says:

I have just had a call from "Jenny" with an indian accent, who is apparently in Sydney as she gave her supervisor's number as 02 9037 2906 where I could ring to verify this - she initially said she was calling from microsoft as I had error reports being submitted & got me to the website www.onlinerepairworld.com but I refused to click on the live support link until I had more info - this is when I got the no. but she also then said that they were not connected with microsoft at all & mentioned the International Routing System had forwarded them these reports - I asked if I could look this up & she kept repeating info, even when I said it said "scam" everywhere, she stated that others have their details & could be running scams but she & her company were not - they were very persistent, she said it was my choice as to whether to continue - but I said I would prefer not, thanks, & hung up.

May 6, 2011, Robbo says:

I almost got stung today, in Newcastle, Australia by a company called "Online Pc Solutions" composed of atleast two male indians and one female indian.
They told me my computer like many others in Australia had "infections", and had rang to help me fix it externally.
They sucked me in at the start because recently my computer has had a lot of trouble in the past few weeks (freezing or struggling to turn on without restarting itself constantly) so I guess they got lucky calling me at this time.
I let them on my computer and they showed me some random files in a windows folder that they purported to be infections, and when I opened a program on my pc called 'Event Viewer', they revealed a list of things that said 'error' and 'warning', evidence of these viruses getting in but as to the details of the errors I had no clue what they were.
When it came to paying though I pulled out.

It was rly well done subtly too, like you could hear other ppl in the background making the same 'routine' calls, and the female supervisor was very persuasive and helpful and kept repeating things like 'Don't worry Mr. X, we will fix this problem'. Kinda creepy. :3

May 14, 2011, Lewli says:

Just had a call from a very Indian sounding "fella" by the name of Alan Plant. Said he was from Quicksoftfix and working with Microsoft. I went along with him, examining my PC's Event Viewer and naturally there was the odd Warning message or two as there always will be (Microcrap). Anyway after I wasted enough of this turkeys time I questioned his name, and suggested to him that his name was more likely Bobby Naidoo or Arnand Sigh, then speaking to him in an accurate Hindustani accent, (I do impersonations) told him in a number of four letter words what I thought of him and what his mother was, before hanging up on the idiot.

July 2, 2011, Mark says:

I had this call about 6 month ago, and again tonight (Darwin, Aust), last time thought it a scam, this time I found this forum, kinda confirms my thoughts.

I demanded to know their compand details before doing anything on my PC (they couldn't provide an ABN, and a search of www.ABR.gov.au found no trace of them).

They said they were Quicksoftfix and mentioned links to the IRS, and that they were flagged by an error report from Windows (lol 4 computers XP & Vista & 7, they had no clue how to identify which one).

They gave me the follwing details: Temple Tower, 15 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic (nice if someone near there can check on this building).

Phone (03)90087998, I called it back and they answered, however suspect a phone diversion (Telstra should get them disconnected).

They were asking to go to the Event Viewer, but I just told them I will have our IT department contact their technicians on Monday (this will not happen).

Now I'm working up a good, creative way to mess them arround.

Ultimately, these people sound like crims, so need to be shut down.

July 4, 2011, Melissa says:

Hi All
Just had another call from an Indian (woman this time). After receiving calls nightly at about 7pm at our last house I had our ISP block international calls. As we have just moved house (3 weeks ago) and have got a silent number now, I am a bit disturbed that they are on to me again. This time the woman said she got my number from the "world routing system/service". She started to tell me that my computer had a virus etc. etc. and I asked her where she got "my bloody number" to which she replied "it's not a bloody number maam". Funny. I'll now do the DO NOT CALL register however, I get the feeling that once they get you on the phone, that's it, they won't stop. Seriously people, when a silent number doesn't even work, what will??

July 16, 2011, Chris says:

In the UK here, been called several times by people (usually my wife has picked up and told them that she doesn't know anything about it).

They're really persistent - even after I told them I was a software developer and laughed at them they carried on, at least until they got fed up and hung up.

Today they actually threatened me with being put behind bars - he really got quite upset when I kept laughing at him...

July 21, 2011, colin naraine says:

This happened to my mother-in-law who is not computer literate. We were on the phone earlier trying to access her Skype as she recently lost her husband whom she had known for 50+ years. So when she got a call from www.fullpcsupport.com she was at a loss as to what to do. She rang me and I told her not to discuss matter any further and to have them contact me.

I tried later to get her on the phone but her line was engaged. She later called me back and was exasperated by how long "Annie Scott" from "Windows" had her on the phone. She was trying to get my mother-in-law to log onto some website.

I rang this person back on 023-239-7020 and was surprised how quickly I got through to someone.
I am afraid to say it as well but the male person was Indian and the female person was also Indian. And by the way, whoever heard of an Indian person called "Annie Scott"!!!

Please note that there are genuine IT support people who work in the industry who ARE Indian and do an extremely excellent job, but it grates on my nerves how there can be unscrupulous persons who give Indian people a bad name!

When I spoke to "Annie Scott" she bombarded me with techno babble and she said it in a fast manner. Now I am studying IT and am CompTia A+ certified which is to say that I think I know a little about pcs but even I was having a hard time keeping up with her, not to mention an elderly person of 70+ years.

I was livid. I told her off for putting my mother-in-law through all this bother. She tried to calm me down by directed me to the company's website and stressed that they were legitimate. I asked her how she can know that my mother-in-law's pc was infected. She said that her computer was listed with Microsoft and that my mother-in-law Windows OS was infected. I asked her what OS she had and she incorrectly answered XP. Then I was convinced. I asked her again to explain who she was and how is it that a company can ring up an individual. She began to speak techno babble in a fast manner which I quickly stopped and demanded that she speaks to me as if I knew NOTHING about pcs. The line then went conveniently dead.

Unperturbed I rang the number again, and got through straightaway again, to the same male person who had put me through to "Annie Scott". I demanded how such a company can put my mother-in-law through so much distress. He kept trying to answer my question with a question. I admit, I should have ended the call much sooner but my blood was up. Suspicious how quiet his office was, I asked him to explain why this was. He said that he didn't work in a fish market. Very professional, don't you think? I demanded that he put me onto his manager. He said who do I wish to speak to, as if I would know the name of the manager. I became even more infuriated and said put me onto to his manager as I am not satisfied with him and that I wish to make a complaint. He said that he will put me through to someone who will "satisfy me". Again not the type of language you would expect from a professional company.

He then put me onto "Annie Scott" again. I asked for her manager and then got cut off.

Do not let these sods get away with it!

July 22, 2011, handroc says:

On 22 July 22 2011, I too got a call from a man with an Indian accent named Jack Wilson (employee number E315). He was calling from Microtek Company (which does exist) and said that the International Routing Department said that I had downloaded something to my windows operating system that was infected or corrupted.

I asked him if this meant that I had a PC and he said yes. I immediately knew that this was a scam as we have a MAC (but did not tell him that I had a MAC).

I kept on asking him how he got my information as this is a privacy issue and he said the International Routing Department gave it to him and I asked how did they get the information and he did not know.

I got him to give me information about his company. He said that his phone number was 315-352-4665 and the address was 44Y3 Park Street DOC Building Floor 23, Room 45 New York City. When I asked for the Zip Code, he hung up on me.

I also was really suspicious as I live in Canada so why would someone from what he claims was New York City be phoning me. I am also on a DO NOT CALL registry in Canada but was told by the Canadian government that if the call comes from outside Canada, that registry has no effect.

Colin Naraine who posted something on July 21, 2011, said that his mother-in-law received this scam when trying to access Skype. I got this call the day after I used Skype for the first time so I wonder if there is a security problem with SKYPE.

August 17, 2011, Simon says:

Mr Gray,

Unfortunately I let them remotely access my laptop but after scanning the computer and removing the remote access software it appears there has been no damage. Has there been any reports of people in my situation having their computer compromised, bank details stolen or anything similar?

Cheers

August 31, 2011, Tony says:

Just had an overseas sounding lady (English clearly not her first language) telling me my computer was infected. When I asked "Where are you calling from?" she said "International Routing Systems". I replied "Thats WHO you are calling from not WHERE". As I chatted i googled the name she had given. "Ahh, the International Routing systems Scam. I see," I told her. Give me your number and I WILL ring back.

She rang off. The best way to deal with these people is to keep them talking and take the mickey out of them. Costs them time and money.

September 17, 2011, Jason says:

Hi, ok I have a question about this scam, I've also received a phone call from an Indian guy today. The line was poor, delayed and with an annoying echo on the other end where I could hear my own voice. I'm not IT boffin, in fact, I know very little about computers. He went on to explain that I had malicious files on my computer and if I don't get rid of them it will cause my PC to run slower, crash, kill the motherboard and eventually die. I can't remember who he said he worked for. When he instructed me to sit down at my computer and press a number of keys on my keyboard I put the phone down on him. He never even stated my name, address or how he obtained my number.

My concern however, is that my Internet connection had failed on me about 20 minutes prior to the call so it did worry me slightly.

Also once I had cut him off I received pop up messages from my antivirus (Commodo) telling me that unknown files had been found and placed in the "sandbox".

Now my question, is there any way that this Indian chap could have influenced these events? The Internet death and the "unknown files"?

If it is of any help my network provider is Orange and there is a ADSL status update that says: PPP server is down.

If anyone can help that would be excellent! A step by step fix or something would be a great help.

Thanks!

November 29, 2011, Guy says:

A lot has been written already on this, but just to say that as of today, 29 Nov 2011 they are still trying to scam people. I've just had them on the phone this morning. I know more than most about routing so I questioned everything they told me leading him done the 'garden path'. When I finally revealed I was on an iMac rather than a Windows machine the indian sounding chap got quite abusive. I just laughed at him but it is a shame they pray on those more fearful of computers and the internet. Please beware, they are still active.

January 9, 2012, bob says:

my dad just got the same call except we use mac but the guy on the other end kept insisting that we have a windows in our house :)

January 10, 2012, Chet says:

Just got a related call. Caller ID on my phone showed VERTEX at 318-599-9211. As expected, a reverse phone number search showed no results. The caller was a female with heavy East Indian or Indonesian accent. The connection was very noisy with static, buzz, and fading, but she said the call was from Oregon. The message was that a “DLL virus” had been detected on my computer by the International Routing System (IRS), and I should take immediate action to remove it. Since I had three computers on line at the time, I asked which computer? No response. The line noise got worse and disconnected. I have a full suite of active anti-virus software and firewalls, and nothing has been detected.

March 5, 2012, m scunthorpe says:

Sombody just called me and said we are from technical support can you switch pc on please. i just laughed and hung up.

had enough of ppp and insurance/accident scam phonecall's each day both of the above ring us up.

March 6, 2012, ashman says:

There are great tips throughout on how to handle this. I came here while I was on the phone entertaining "Rick" (Indian Accent) and Seattle WA phone # displayed. The main summary was enough for me, Scam and "IRS" getting all this info. I'm a Tech Support pro and have been for over 18 years (DOS 3.3, Windows 3.11 ring a bell). Anyway, I played it up when we crawled to Start>Run...eventvwr. And when I told him I had 78 Errors in the past week = "oh my... oh my gosh". So I'm like what can we do!? Suffice to say, I told him I have to open a help ticket immediately with my company and report this. And thanked him, asking for his company name and phone to call back. Something like 'Computer Services' and he'll call me back in an hour... (sarcastically) It's so nice that the "IRS" gets this information and FW:'s it on to a company to help us out of this mess. I think when he calls back, I'll use the 'Which computer' question and prod a bit more on what they know about me. Just to see what's goes out there but I'm not afraid of Big Brother. As always, monitor your checking accounts and credit card statements every month. At a glance during BP, you'll be surprised at some of the things we've subscribed for... Take care out there!

April 4, 2012, Phillipa says:

Germany here. The Indian or Pakistani gentleman has good intel as he did his stuff in slurry English and went away when I would only talk German.

Did he know I was English, or is it a ploy to put non native English speakers at a disadvantage. I guess he stole my phone number from some internet shop or other that I have used.

The giveaway was when he asked me to "switch my computer on". Two of them are always on, the other two only when needed.
I listened at first as he dropped the "M" word and I was concerned that they might erroneously want to talk about potential minor licensing quibbles.

May 9, 2012, Bo says:

Some indian guy... would not get to the point, just some blabber about my computer infected... Kept him on the line for a while, repeating periodically to "State the nature of your call!"...

For fun, tried to get him to provide me my MAC address, my IP address, even my name...

Wish I had seen this post earlier... I would have had a ton of fun... as it was, figured it was just spam crap and gave a bit of a hard time... wish I would have escalated to a manager for some more fun... Did have some fun trying to associate him with the real IRS (Internal Revenue Service)...

Eventually I was rude and hung up... I hope someone calls back again... ;-) LOL

May 17, 2012, Joanna says:

Bless the Internet. Got a similar phone call. Some rubbish about infected computer and International Routing System. Typed that into my search engine and got this website. I started to read back to him some of the posts on this forum. Sadly he only gave me the first few digits of his phone number before hanging up!!

May 30, 2012, Phil says:

Today's version: caller claimed to be from Microsoft, and stated that Windows was infected with a virus and it had been picked up by the "Global Routing System".

Caller id withheld. Accent: I don't know how to tell apart Indian and Pakistani, but either would be a plausible description.

July 13, 2012, johnson bestwich says:

I got a call from some one from the international routing system and they solved all my problems as my computer was slow fpr free . thank god

Eaton Bray says: "Johnson Bestwich" posted this comment from the IP address 103.3.231.174 which is assigned to Pulse Telesystems Pvt Ltd, an Indian ISP. We get many bogus comments like this from people that obviously work for the scammers. Do not be fooled by these people, and make sure you tell all your friends to be aware of this scam.

August 11, 2012, Elsa says:

I have received 2 phone calls with the same story of a problem with my Windows operating system. I asked them for their phone number which is (213)221-3528 I called later and the number is correct. I never believed them, so I called the police and they told me that they could do nothing about it. Thanks for the article it is of great help!! Who could help?

September 2, 2012, Deb says:

Ok just I've had some wierd calls on my cell phone with numbers like...1408, 1313, 1417, 1304, and 1301. Until the last one, nobody would answer when I said Hello. So the last one some Indian speaking man tells me that I have an infection on my computer. I ask how can he tell I have an infection, he says thru the International Routing System, which I have never heard of and to turn my computer on. But it's already on, but I don't tell him that. So I tell the Indian guy let me have you talk to my husband who works in Information Technology. So the Indian guy tells him the same thing and that he works for Microsoft. Paul says he's never heard of the International Routing System. He asks the Indian guy for the IP address that he has and says he doesn't know it. Then he hangs up. We then look it up on Google and found this website.

September 24, 2012, Michael Young says:

Hi & Hello All

Well looks like these guys are realy busy. I reside in Australia and I have been taken in by these guys to. It cost me about 125.00 AUD for my subscription. These guys came across as genuine. They have a fully functional website and support sevices.It was very convincing. I only subcribed to this as I travel a lot and I needed to set up something for my wife. I didn't reserch this properly!I am quite fluent with a computer and many of the things you do to keep a machine secure. I get a regular call from these guys and I let them successfully fix my machine ONCE and they did a pretty good job too, but after that they would blank out the screens and hide what they were doing.I shut them down twice after that by turning off the Router. They ask questions like how many machines use this network. They tell me I have viruses and get me to run the inf directory or the event viewer. They once tried to convince me that my IP address was compromised and tried to sell me a new one! Beware of this as this has to be a scam. I had them on the conection sharing when I was being told that these error messages were "Hacking Files" and "viruses" so I proceeded to do a virus check on the file whilst she watched she managed to stop me from running a scan on the file and subsequent directory I turned off the router, She passed the phone to her "Supevisor". During one of these sessions after I told them that they would only be permitted access to my machine if I could see every move they make. they agreed I allowed access. The Tech then ran the Command promt. I noticed that MSE had been disabled and he proceeded to ping other computers I took control and shut down the router. I received another call from them about 2 hours ago trying the same stunt with someone different. I again refused access to the machine. He asked me to run thr INF command so I went outside for a cigarette. I told him I was following his directions. He said all the files in that directory were infected. "Oh realy I said,Ive just run a scan on these files whilst talking to you. They are clean. I then told him I'd spoken with Microsoft's Tech Support and they DO NOT CONTRACT OUT THEIR TECH SERVICES. They do it all themselves (this realy makes sense when you think about it!). I then asked him to send me proof that they are a Microsoft accredited sevice agent so I could varify the information with Microsoft AUST. He politely said goodbye and hung up. I have found mention of these clowns on the IC3 website and left a similar comment there. I went to GRC.COM and run some external scans for peace of mind.I ran another external scan and also ran the resident security software as a precaution. These people do provide the service they sell however I am sure they are stealing personal information, software keys, passwords etc. I also discovered that they cant see a split screen I run 2 screens with indipendant windows.(Not in Extended screen mode, They couldn't view the secondary screen.This was quite handy to know. I could move things around such as the ICS command window ans ome of the other crap they would attempt to install and run.All this and more has happened in about 4 sessions and I have deliberately made it dificult because from the second session they started doing things I wouln't expect from a sevice here in Australia to do. Unfortunately there are no laws in this country at present to prosecute a Tech for copying your info on your drives whilst doing authorised repair and maitenancehence. So AUSTRALIANS BEWARE YOU ARE NOT LEGALLY PROTECTED.The crime is if they use the info without permission. They can even steal your photo collections according to Channel Seven Current Affairs. I could continue but read some of the posts you dont need to read to many before you get the idea.Put in the teche4pc.com address at the IC3 website and your search will provide you with all the answers you need if you doubt the posts here. Mum always said "Where there is smoke there is fire" Something is not quite right with this Tech Spt buisiness,so buyer beware.

October 20, 2012, Michael Young says:

Hi and hello again

Well the saga with these clowns continues so here is another update as they are trying another scam.
I have now just received a call from the "International antiscam Beureau" (Ha Ha Ha )and acording to Officer Turban (Sorry couldent understand the name due to the heavy Indian/Pakastani accent) telling me the scammers have been arrested. they are all behind bars after a deep and meaningfull confession by "all and sundry".."now could you please boot your machine and start teamviewer software as we need to see what they have done and so we can recover your subscription fees. You should have it returned in the next 48 hrs Mr Young" Sorry Cobber I told him but Ive had the machine professionally repaird and secured by a local technition, but you can transfere the funds to my paypal account ,I'll give you the details if you wish". "oh" but you need to fill in some forms to get the refund" was the reply.I said You may email it here and I shall fill it out and return it to you via the email service", I gave him a secondary email account where all the junk goes. The conversation went around in circles till I mentioned posts to this site,ICCC websites ,complaints to the FBI and the Australian Feds. Needless to say a very disappointed voice replied "Oh ok then I'll send you the form and call back tomorrow te see if you received it". He hung up. BEWARE THESE FOOLS ARE AT IT AGAIN AND THEY WILL TRY ANYTHIG TO GET ACCESS TO YOUR MACHINE.The refund for does have a requirement for you to supply your creditcard details. DONT DO IT. Give them a paypal account or similar. Word is obviously getting out and about the net regarding this group of thieves so please if you know of another site like tis please repost this post and my previous post anywhere and everywhere.

January 16, 2013, Mark Stewart says:

Just had my 4TH "microsoft technician" in 2 months phone me. As my household has 2 laptops and 2 computers I always ask which OS to load. When I mention linux they start shouting down the phone "DO NOT USE LINUX". When I ask Which windows to load they just say "yes windows". Getting fed up with this so i now just politely turn all the questions around on them until they get fed up and hang up. Hopefully they might get the hint.

March 13, 2013, Glenda McGaughey says:

they even gave me a number to call back! :) 1-855-888-5881

May 31, 2013, Scott Brinson says:

Had the same phone call from Sylvan Bradford from Global Routing Services. I knew it was bogus when he called 6-7 times the day before looking for a Mr. Morgan. I work in a government office and we have never had a Mr. Morgan here. He used the same excuse about viruses in the computer and he was hired by Microsoft to fix the problems. We have our own IOT people, so we did what we could to rile their feathers and waste their time.

June 14, 2013, L A Petersen says:

I received the same call from gentleman with an Indian accent who identified himself as John. He called from 202-202-1234; a throw-away cell phone. I asked for a number to corroborate his information for the agency he claimed to be calling from - A1 Tech Support. The number he gave is 646-915-1375. This is not the number of that agency. I did a reverse number check; this second number belongs to a cell phone owned by a fellow in New York City.

July 14, 2013, Karen M. Sullivan says:

Received a call 7/13/2013 about my computer being infected from an international router.

He claimed to work for Microsoft's Windows 7 division.

I asked him to send me an email so I could verify his claims.

His response: "I can't do that"

End of conversation

August 30, 2013, Mel says:

The Global Routing System scam is still happening. These guys (Indian speaking) are really persistent in trying to legitimise their "purpose" in responding to error reports to a 'server' indicating that there is a dangerous virus on my computer that is not being blocked by usual computer protection. They did the Event Viewer gag but the scary bit was leading me to the operating system and quoting my computer ID number - not sure how they do this. Company names they used included "Let's Assist", "Global Routing System" and "UTC - United Technology something". They also "put me through to the supervisor" and provided a call back number 0800 800 150. They were trying to get remote access. This was all pretty elaborate so glad to find this site that talks about this scam.

October 1, 2013, Bernie Green says:

I got a call from a person that sounded Indian or Pakistani
And told me he was from Suppot Plaza and he gave me his name, address, tel no and company ID. He said I had malware on my pc . He told me the name of the malware and where to find it. He offered to access my computer to fix it I told him I wouldn't let him do that and said I'd check it out. I was curious how they could see that there was malware on my PC and how they got my phone number so I called back. They told me they got that info thru the international internet routing system. Unfortunately when I called back I gave him my full name so I don't know if I've given them a way to get access to my stuff easier. Anyway, when I googled international internet routing system and that's when I found this site. So now I know that I am not infected. Thanks!

February 15, 2014, D. Curran says:

Was woken up early on a Saturday morning with these people. I asked for a manager and told him not to call me, that I was on the Do Not Call List and that I would be reporting him. The response to this was a tirade of four-letter insults.

May 28, 2014, LYNN says:

I just got a call at 9:22pm from an Indian lady, claiming to be from Global Routing systems, from the UK. I messed with her for about ten minutes. They are persistent in trying to gain access to your computer. She was talking to someone and she seemed to be in a loud room. Crazy people. She finally hung up.

July 15, 2014, anonymous says:

Thanks alot for the article really helpful. I too received a call from 287-471-7730 first from an indian guy and later from some foreign guy saying that some hackers hacked my computer and they want to repair it. to my wonder they were revealing all my details including my email id, my phone number, address and every thing.

March 19, 2015, Anon Ymouse says:

Got the call today Came from Brian in Texas.
He sounded more like Gunga Din.
He told me my computer was infected, but didn't explain how they knew my phone number also.
You can call him at 888-577-4003.

Ever since I got Magic Jack I get a load of these garbage calls.
And it is not possible to call back the incoming phone number.
Why is that?
Why is there no agency to stop these fools?

September 12, 2015, Moyra says:

I have had numerous of these calls, but only tonight did I get the information about the international routing system. When I told the man with the Indian accent that I was not who he thought I was (he called me "Mrs" and I'm "Dr" and I used my maiden name rather than my ex-married name), he first became agitated but then put the phone down. I sometimes take pleasure in telling these callers that I think they are incredibly stupid to have to read a scam from a script. They hate that and often call me a variety of names before putting the phone down. One said I was going to be prosecuted for saying he was stupid, to which I responded that he was an idiot. One has to get a bit of fun out of these irritating people trying to scam money out of people. I hate them.

February 4, 2016, Peggy says:

I just had the same call today. My caller ID said the phone number was 859 355 5313. How did they get my computer number and know my name and address. I hung up after a little while, but I am concerned whether they can still hack my computer. Should I report this as a scam to FBI?

May 10, 2017, T Gordon says:

They are still at it. I received two phone calls today from an Ohio phone number telling me that they were from a Routing Support company and that error messages from my computer were being sent to the International Routing System.

I hung up on the first caller - claiming BS. I led the second caller on. I asked how he could link my home phone number (which is unlisted) with my computer. I know that this information is not available on an IP lookup. He danced around the question - at that point, I had enough and told him that 'his mother would not be proud of him', and hung up.

I checked with my computer's security company - and they stated that this is starting again. So, warn people!

September 7, 2017, JJ says:

These guys are at it again. I just took a call from LNP Megapopnet @ 248-530-4490. It is from around Troy, Michigan. I live In Florida.

The story line is the same, as several of the above comments.