[VillagesFlorida]

I just had a phone call from 9- 581, wherever that is. The man on the other end of the line sounded perhaps Indian or Pakistani, definitely a foreign accent. He introduced himself as a "Microsoft technician" of some sort....can't remember his whole title, exactly, but definitely representing Microsoft. ( He claimed) He proceeded to tell me that my computer has a lot of malware that has taken up residence on my hard drive ("you know, Ma'am, your Drive C"). He then told me that if I didn't get it cleaned off my computer it would "only get worse until you will not be able to access the internet. Your computer will be as fast as new once we clean out those files". I guess he thought he had me shaking in my boots because he jumped right from the "spiel" to, "Ma'am I presume you are sitting in front of your computer?" I played along and replied, "Why, yes as a matter of fact I am". The "Microsoft tech" said, "OK, Ma'am, click on "Start" and go to control panel", to which I replied, "No, I am not going to click on "Start" and I am not going to the control panel. I do not like where this is going" Click.

I have no idea what this call was all about but I feel it was geared to identity theft. I am wondering if anyone else has recieved this phone call?

I faithfully do scans with Norton Internet Security and Malwarebytes. My computer is clean and it is fast. I have never known Microsoft to call a person's home and offer to "clean a computer"! Yeah, he wanted to "clean me out", alright!

[BarryRX]

Originally Posted by VillagesFlorida

I just had a phone call from 9- 581, wherever that is. The man on the other end of the line sounded perhaps Indian or Pakistani, definitely a foreign accent. He introduced himself as a "Microsoft technician" of some sort....can't remember his whole title, exactly, but definitely representing Microsoft. ( He claimed) He proceeded to tell me that my computer has a lot of malware that has taken up residence on my hard drive ("you know, Ma'am, your Drive C"). He then told me that if I didn't get it cleaned off my computer it would "only get worse until you will not be able to access the internet. Your computer will be as fast as new once we clean out those files". I guess he thought he had me shaking in my boots because he jumped right from the "spiel" to, "Ma'am I presume you are sitting in front of your computer?" I played along and replied, "Why, yes as a matter of fact I am". The "Microsoft tech" said, "OK, Ma'am, click on "Start" and go to control panel", to which I replied, "No, I am not going to click on "Start" and I am not going to the control panel. I do not like where this is going" Click.

I have no idea what this call was all about but I feel it was geared to identity theft. I am wondering if anyone else has recieved this phone call?

I faithfully do scans with Norton Internet Security and Malwarebytes. My computer is clean and it is fast. I have never known Microsoft to call a person's home and offer to "clean a computer"! Yeah, he wanted to "clean me out", alright!

I think you're right....that sounds like phishing!

[2BNTV]

I did not receice a call but I am glad you had the knowledge not to listen to him. I worked in the technical side for many years and never received an unsolicited call from MicroSoft.

Good for you.

[villages07]

VF... Oh, does this sound familiar. My almost 89 yr old mother got this call and fell for it. She paid $150 for a year of computer support. Same spiel as you got, from India, same scare tactics.

Once we found out about it, my sister and I went after them and harangued them until they agreed to refund her money. They prey on elderly and uninformed.

Glad to hear you cut 'em off.

[redwitch]

I used to have a technical support account with Microsoft (loved my job -- if I asked, they got it for me!). Not once did I ever get a call from them about any possible issues.

BTW -- I did have an MS tech fall out of his chair laughing when he asked for my password (ihatesbillgates -- I spelled it out, did not say it).

[Joaniesmom]

I have to give you my award for patience! I would have hung up on this guy in a New York minute. And I'm not even from New York! He's definitely a fraud and you were very smart to detect this right away. Good work!

[VillagesFlorida]

I decided to go out on to the Microsoft support forums to see if this issue had been reported by anyone else. Oh, yeah! Here is one reply that I read that seems to make a lot of sense:



These scammers simply play the odds.

Most people in developed countries have at least one computer in their home and the odds are very high that the computer will have a version of Windows installed.

They call random telephone numbers and present their scam. Eventually they will connect with a victim who is unknowledgeable about computers and will fall for the scam and give them their credit card information to pay for removing the so-called virus.

While they are removing the non-existent virus, they will also be downloading all of the victims personal information on the computer. They will get the victims email address book which has the information for many more potential victims to add to their call list.

This is a multi-million dollar business. The criminals are usually very well protected, since they operate from locations around the world that do not have a strong law enforcement presence. They may also have a legitimate business front that they use to process the credit card information that they collect.

The best defense against these scams is for everyone to spread the word and let people know that these criminals out there and how they operate.

The 'assoc' command displays all of the many file associations on the computer. When you run that command, the scammer will try and convince you that some of that information proves that there is a virus on the computer.

Another strange thing: Before THIS call came, and while I was away from home, my husband took a call from "Comcast" (??), asking to speak to me. When the so-called Comcast rep was told that I was not here he said he would call back later. I am highly suspicious now that these same scammers are claiming to represent other legitimate companies. The more I think about this the more I do not believe it was Comcast calling at all. There was no reason for them to call me. Hmmmmmmmmm?????

I am so sorry to read here that an elderly person fell victim to this awful scam. I CAN see how it might be easy to do this. Their scare tactics are very believable and their offer to fix the "problem" feels very comforting.

[Pturner]

I got that call about a year or so ago. I assured the guy I wasn't born yesterday and hung up.

[VillagesFlorida]

Originally Posted by Joaniesmom

I have to give you my award for patience! I would have hung up on this guy in a New York minute. And I'm not even from New York! He's definitely a fraud and you were very smart to detect this right away. Good work!

Well, to be honest with you I smelled a rat right away and I decided to have a little fun. I would have gone farther but I didn't want to compromise my computer in any way. After I hung up on the creep he had the nerve to call me back! I just let it ring that time and he obviously moved on to find a new victim. I thought that when I retired I would have so much leisure time! Protecting my personal information is a full-time job, but I'll be darned if they are going to scam me. I plan to go down, kicking and fighting, all the way.

[VillagesFlorida]

Originally Posted by Pturner

I got that call about a year or so ago. I assured the guy I wasn't born yesterday and hung up.

These creeps must think we all ride around here on turnip trucks, NOT golf carts!

[tpop1]

Originally Posted by Pturner

I got that call about a year or so ago. I assured the guy I wasn't born yesterday and hung up.

If anyone calls you and wants to sell you anything or asking for $$$ for ANY charity, just tell them send you the info with organization's name, telephone no. and vital info.

Reputable companies will be happy to comply; bogus companies will argue the point with you!

You can research the org. in your time and not do anything under pressure!

[asianthree]

good job

[john.np2b]

They had a blurb on CNN Headline News the other day about this. (i.e. someone calling and pretending to be from Microsoft). There seems to be a lot of this going around. Your chances of getting call "out of the blue" from Microsoft are about as good as mine (not much of a chance)! Suggested reply is to say that you are not interested, thank him for his concern and hang up. Don't irritate the guy or he might just do something (I don't know what) to irritate you further. Just my $0.02.

[LouGarcia]

Definitly a SCAM - Microsoft NEVER calls anyone - Refresh Computers gets customers about once a week who have been infected.