Same old, Same old.

I got a 'scary' one today. Call came in with the Caller ID showing SKYPE_USER, same number as this Skype Forum entry.

What was scary is the caller (deep Indian accent) asked for me by name and said he was from Dell. When I asked why the caller ID didn't say Dell he said he was using Internet calling. Went on to tell me my computer was reported errors to them. OK, scam, but I wanted to see what else would happen. First thing he wanted to do was make sure it was the right computer. He wanted to 'check' my SERVICE TAG... OK, tell me what you have, and he told me the one on my computer. NO WHERE is this posted or easy to get but OFF my computer or in a Dell service database! Yes, in some cases I need to enter this on a Dell website. Was worried, but then he told me he'd direct me to where I can see the errors.  Well, it was the Event Viewer of course. BS, you can hundreds of warnings and errors there every day and they mean nothing (usually). At that point I called him a scam artist and hung up. I immediately called Dell. Yes, customers have been calling them as  they've been getting such calls. Dell Security is working on this. So far they've NOT pinned it down. However that info came from a Support Supervisor who appeared to know what was going on but didn't have 'deep details'.

After that call I ran every malware scan I had to make sure something wasn't bad on my computer. After that this e-mail came in from Dell:

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I want to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing Dell.

As dell technical support manager, would like to express apologies regarding the apprehension that scam call has raised. As discussed, Customer privacy is taken as high priority item with dell and we are investigating to contain this matter with all might and effort, meanwhile would request to please be cautious while dealing with any such callers and would request you to contact dell for which you may call us or may forward this email to Dell_Support_NAE490@Dell.com and kindly mention a prefered time to contact you.

Your experience with Dell is of utmost importance and priority to us.
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I have seen a few messages in the Dell forums over this as well. Somehow, someone has gotten Names, Phone Number, and Service codes for Dell computers.

I might be, but I've also had that replaced with Dell System Support awhile ago. Not saying that the data might have been collected sometime ago. Still don't understand how that would connect my name (might be available on the old System Detect??) and phone number. My wife still had the old Dell System Detect and it does run daily. That was picked up as a PUP and I allowed it, as I did on mine.

If you follow the link on that page you'll see that localhost:8884 is involved. That is not one allowed by my FW.

Very Interesting in that this was just 'located' recently.