Phone Call From Microsoft

Not sure this is the proper category for this post - if not, sorry, please move it. Anyway, just wanted to re-warn members about phone calls. Yesterday, I received a phone call which caller id showed "Unknown. That was my first red flag. The caller identified himself as with Microsoft and in a foreign accent told me someone was attempting to get into my computer and this was a security call to help me prevent it. I know it sounds stupid, but I had been communicating with Microsoft Communities about a problem with Windows Update 2975719 all week and my first thought was maybe this was through my Microsoft Account and a result of my posts. Then immediately some sense kicked into my weak mind and I hung up. They probably trick a bunch of users with this scam. Just be aware! Sometimes it takes a short while to realize what is going on - and it may be too late if you talk with them. They're out there all the time.

Hi John,

If I called you my number would show as unknown. So would calls from most people from Europe (and possibly elsewhere) as we get free international calls though VOIP from our phone/tv/internet providers. This is the norm and it shows up as "unknown". In fact if my mum gets a "unknown" caller she calls me back just in case it was me.

I also have a foreign accent compared to those from Oklahoma I expect.

None the less, if I call you and ask you to install TeamViewer, confirm your password, your inside-leg measurement or your zip-code or any other information you can be assured it was not me but an imposter.

Don't damn the "unknown" caller though - it can be a technical thing.

Cheers,

Adam

adamf - I really was not "damning" unknown.....I also have it on my phone. But, I don't think Microsoft would have unknown on a legitmate call for business. My point was not about the unknown id thing - but to warn against scams like this. Sorry you misinterpreted my post.

I answer all or most unknown callers ,what I don't do is listen to the caller when they start talking trash like updating my credit info or tell me I have a security issue with my computer ,and I don't just hang up I give them a piece on my mind first , Click

I get quite a few scam calls pretending to be from MS

Let them tell you all about the problems they think you have, then say to them "How does that work, my computer is an Apple", they usually hangup

I had the same problem a few weeks ago, and I started speaking Latin. The guy on the other side was really getting frustrated and after 15 minutes or so I couldn't help my self and broke out laughing. I cant remember when I had such a good time!

PS: After a good laugh, he hung up on me!

Tews said:

I had the same problem a few weeks ago, and I started speaking Latin. The guy on the other side was really getting frustrated and after 15 minutes or so I couldn't help my self and broke out laughing. I cant remember when I had such a good time!

Click to expand...

I should finish editing the recording of my ordeal, it could be quite entertaining!

Edwin said:

Tews said:

I had the same problem a few weeks ago, and I started speaking Latin. The guy on the other side was really getting frustrated and after 15 minutes or so I couldn't help my self and broke out laughing. I cant remember when I had such a good time!

Click to expand...

I should finish editing the recording of my ordeal, it could be quite entertaining!

Click to expand...

Waiting to be entertained

Don't edit too much, don't want to miss out the fun part

caperjack said:

I answer all or most unknown callers ,what I don't do is listen to the caller when they start talking trash like updating my credit info or tell me I have a security issue with my computer ,and I don't just hang up I give them a piece on my mind first , Click

Click to expand...

It really happens a lot? Judging by the responses here I suppose so. In my country you can sign out of having your number on the list for advertisers etc and also remove yourself from the directory. Apart from wrong numbers I get perhaps one nuisance call a year (windows or insurance or something) who hang up as soon as I speak English..

visruth said:

Waiting to be entertained

Don't edit too much, don't want to miss out the fun part

Click to expand...

I tied them up for almost an hour and a half, I got LOTS of editing to do!

I'd love to visit the place they're operating from and snip the main phone line!

Edwin said:

I'd love to visit the place they're operating from and snip the main phone line!

Click to expand...

You'd have to get the girl off of the strain to shut down the internet I think.

adamf said:

It really happens a lot? Judging by the responses here I suppose so. In my country you can sign out of having your number on the list for advertisers etc and also remove yourself from the directory. Apart from wrong numbers I get perhaps one nuisance call a year (windows or insurance or something) who hang up as soon as I speak English..

Click to expand...

In the UK you can also opt out of telesale/telemarketing calls by registering you phone numbers with the telephone preference service. The problem is tps/ofcom only have jurisdiction over the UK, so what happens is companies call from the USA instead (which display as 'unknown' numbers) and there's nothing you can do to stop them as they are outside of the authority of the UK regulators and law. All you can do is waste as much of their time as possible.

I haven't got one of those calls in while, they were quit frequent at one time though. Once a month or more. If I'm bored I'll lead them on as long as I can just to piddle them off. Sometimes I just tell them I don't own a computer. That usually throws them for a loop. I get a long pause and then the "You don't own a computer?" I say no and they hang up. The usual line is your PC is infected with viruses and needs to be cleaned. It is trying to infect other PC's on the Internet. We can help you fix it remotely, yada yada yada. I've had two fiends fall for it and come to me to fix what they did. They gave them remote access and by the time they finally figured out it was a scam it was too late. They couldn't log in or Internet access was blocked, then the give us money and we'll unlock it ploy. A factory reset fixed both PC's. Lesson learned for them. I advised them both to change any and all online passwords especially for online banking sites.

In the U.S.A, we have a "Do Not Call List" that was initiated by our government several years ago. It worked for quite awhile.......now the advertisers, etc., etc., no longer pay attention to it. We get an unbelievable amount of advertisement, recorded, and scam calls. We usually don't pick up the calls that do not list their phone number and/or caller's name. We let them leave a message, and if no message left, no return call.

A customer of mine fell for it,when his credit card didn't work he tried to pay with his paypal acct .for some reason that didn't work ,so he never lost any money except For what he payed me to make sure his computer was not infected

I went through a spell of getting 3 or 4 a week of these calls some months ago. On an odd occasion I would keep them talking and then thank them for staying on the line long enough to get a direct trace to their location or keep them talking and then say "but I don't have a computer" or "mine is the one with a Penguin"

caperjack said:

A customer of mine fell for it,when his credit card didn't work he tried to pay with his paypal acct .for some reason that didn't work ,so he never lost any money except For what he payed me to make sure his computer was not infected

Click to expand...

A friend of mine actually paid with her bank card. I advised her to contact her bank right away and block any further charges from that company. They did that and got her money back as well. She somehow got sucked in by a fake AVG site. She did a Google search and just clicked the first link at the top of the search results. Downloaded and installed the software. It was all downhill after that. It installed a Pay Wall on her PC with a number to call to unlock it.

I get those calls once in a while. I let them ramble on a bit then reach into my drawer and pull out my trusted air horn and give them a blast. Know it is not legal but they are not legal anyway.

I've only been fortunate enough to actually experience one of these calls, once. I wasted all kinds of time asking them what versions of Windows were infected, trying to figure out exactly which of my computers was infected, putting them on hold while I went to boot up all of my different computers. At one point, i must have said something that caught their interest and they stopped and asked how i knew about the Event Viewer. When I explained that I was a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer all of a sudden they experienced some type of phone system failure and I lost them.

I've received several many calls stating in a thick Indian accent "Hello I am from Microsoft, you have a problem with update your Windows PC"

I would usually hang up, but it got so annoying I decided to play along...


These were the old Ammyy scammers, who would remote into your machine and show you the many errors in your event log.
An attempt to get you to spend $400+ on their "repair" software, which I bet does little more than clear your event log...


Anyway, I was using purely Linux on my desktop at the time, and wanted to mess with these guys a bit.

Within 4 minutes of stalling I had a virtual machine with Windows 7 up and running. I also added a nice little handfull of Image Hijacks (these cause other exe programs to run in place of the normal ones). To name a few:
eventvwr.msc
taskmgr.exe
control.exe
iexplorer.exe

Further, I put many disgusting and horrible things littered around the machine in the few places they were to navigate through. The kinds of things that would give even a lowly con artist second thoughts about dealing with such a deranged and creepy person.

Then using my phone's internet connection for the VM, i gave them remote access. (Didn't want them anywhere near my real network, went far as unplugging my ethernet during this escapade.


You could hear in their voice when they were remoted in that there was substantial difficulty remaining composed and "professional".


About 4 different people tried to handle this machine as I played totally stupid, before they finally gave up and just hung up on me.


Never got a call again.