Hey All,
We've had a scam doing the rounds here in Oz for some time now and it appears to be proliferating.
The scam starts with a phone call from someone claiming to be a Microsoft representative. They will tell the consumer that they have received numerous error reports from the home Windows PC and need to check some settings for them....or something very much along those lines. They will begin by asking you to check some innocuous settings and gradually work their way up to requesting remote access....this is their final goal and what they have been after all along.
The fake representatives generally speak with an 'offshore' accent and are very convincing. Many people feel intimidated by their 'official' approach and fall prey to the scam. Over the past 6 months or so I have received more than a dozen phone calls from worried friends and associates who have been contacted by these people, fortunately none have agreed to grant remote access to date. I tell them all - Microsoft DO NOT make telephone calls to private homes...it just doesn't happen. Hang up immediately and if they ring back tell them in no uncertain terms you are not interested.
I even received one of these scam calls myself a couple of weeks ago. I kept hanging up but they just kept ringing back. In the end I was forced to be rude in order to get the message across.
Anyway, thought I should mention it......just in case this scam might be happening in other countries too.
Cheers....Jim
Very good advice Jim, thanks for the post.
The chances of getting a phone call from MS (or any of the major players) at your home are slimmer than getting one from the President or Prime Minister of your country, yet people still fall for this type of scam calls one way or the other.
IMHO, that's the result of thinking that fighting "computer illiteracy" means to just make computers and interent access available to as many as possible without providing the necessary awareness and education on matters like this one.
Cheers
I am human
I wish I could get one of these calls. I'd have fun with the guy and maybe reverse the scam (I really need a hobby).
Ziggie, you're my kind of guy. I too love having fun with telemarketers (aka scamers), Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
oh i got a call like that, Jim. about 3 days ago. told me i got some serious problem with my PC, virus sending alerts to Microsoft. and that the man, whose name was Alex, called to let me know. of course, i knew it was a scam right away. it's been on the news but what caught my attention was that Alex had all my information correctly. he he said he'd confirm how he knew, and it was through the messages sent by my PC to them. crap! there's no device like that. Alex must have investigated about me first before he called. don't you think?
Oh i remember. the phone number that appeared on my CID was 800-698-9034. when i looked it up, guess where it led? it's been reported to this site http://www.callercenter.com/80.....-9034.html for scamming. looks like this crook's trying to make a star of himself.
I'm getting these scam calls too. A woman claimed to be from Microsoft customer support and said with her indian accent that there's a virus on my pc.
When she was finished with her bla bla bla I pointed out that I'm using a mac and not windows^^....but she didn't understand so I hung up.
I checked the phone number on Google and found it on http://www.tellows.com
It says that the call comes from "Toll-Free - USA / Kanada"
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