Hoax calls from "Microsoft"

[bobprimak]

Ok, hey paranoidie, but you are one safe dude that's for sure. I couldn't survive 5 minutes that way...my whole operation would just come to a screeching halt!

Ted's got the best angle on it...I don't worry one millisecond about anyone trying to socially engineer hacks on me...but for my Mom and Dad, different story. I can get the work out to them but how many more are clueless? Has to be many millions.
Like when that game show host of the Price is Right would always sign off with spay and neuter your pets, the word should get out over and over some way so it reaches the folks it needs to.

If you need these features always-on, at least secure your router and keep your software firewall and browsers up to date. That's about the best folks who must be exposed to the outside world can do. And I am probably not well protected against scam phone calls -- I have only been lucky.

For most folks, getting the word out is indeed the best practice. Maybe our local news stations would like to run stories about these experiences?

[VelvetElvis]

I live in Canada, and *twice* in a month, I was called by "Microsoft Support", evidently from the Bangalore branch office, telling me my computer was compromised. I ended the calls very quickly.

[Medico]

The biggest problem, as mentioned previously, is the fact that the vast majority of PC users out there do not read these forums, so do not realise this is a hoax. We all have to do our part to try to get the work out to all our family and friends about this hoax. MS will not EVER call you about your PC being comprimised, just like Bill Gates will never give away 1000's of PCes just for supplying info or trying something, and there is NO Nigerian Prince that left you money, and on, and on, and on.....

[Pictor]

I had my first (and hopefully last) such call yesterday.
I have caller display, and if I see 'unavailable' or 'witheld' I don't answer the phone, but the phone rang and it got picked up and passed to me .... It was a call from India I think. I was addressed by name, told he was from Microsoft Technical department, and that they'd noticed many people in my (named) area had unwittingly downloaded a hidden virus. At first I thought it may be like these phone people who claim to be your own phone line provider offering a cheaper service, but I felt pretty sure there was nothing much amiss with my computer. I firmly & quietly assured him that my AV was reporting nothing amiss and that my computer is running perfectly. He protested, but I repeated what I'd said and he hung up!

I'm not sure where they get the names and locations from, but if someone could try to use my credit card last month to book a flight in Japan (the location flagged it as a suspicious transaction attempt), there has to be ways! There was a spate of stolen data by hackers of several large retailers in the past year, and even where they didn't get cc details, they'd get names and locations etc.

I did warn my friends and family about the call I got. Perhaps a call to local radio stations or newspapers would help warn people! I know someone in our local radio station so will mention it.

[Medico]

Yes, as stated the biggest problem is not the people who frequent these forums, it's the millions out there that do not have a clue this is happening. The hard part is getting the word to those people so every little bit helps.

[foxyheart]

He called me by my first name and he was calling my unlisted number!! His accent was so thick I could not understand him except enough that I was sceptical. So I asked for his office number so I could call to check him out. He said his name was Jim Barker (yeah like that is his real name) and the microsoft office in Los Angeles is 213-455-3317. I called it back and he answered. A big office like Microsoft and only one person answers the phone? hmmmm..... So I tried to contact Microsoft to ask them about it and I get the usual 'you can't fine me' runaround on their site. Glad I found you guys.

Thx

[RobG]

Just adding to the mix. I just got off the phone with a man with an Indian accent claiming to be from the Microsoft Support Group/Microsoft Help team. He said they have been logging alot of errors from my PC so they know my computer has a problem. Really? I say. Absolutely sir. He directs me to the run box via Windows-R key stroke and has me type in eventvwr. This took quite awhile do to his accent and me playing dumb (Why? What for? etc. He's going to show me, for my benefit he insists.) Then we open the Application log and he has me scoll down looking for red x'd error messages. Do you have more than 5? he asked. Crikey, I've a bunch of them, I said. Then he had me scroll down looking for Yellow Warning messages. I have a bunch of those too. He says that it is all the Errors and Warnings that have prompted the helpdesk to call me about my PC. He says it has problems that I don't even know about. Did I know about all these Errors and Warnings? No, I didn't, I truthfully answered. The he has me go back to the Run screen and type in www.aammyy.com. I when he says to hit enter, I said I don't want to hit enter until I know what this web site is all about. He says this will connect me to a technician that is waiting to help clear up all these issues my PC is having (remember all those Errors and Warnings?). I checked my phone... 10 minutes had elapsed. I hung up on him. He sounded sincere and was fairly convincing because he seemed know a lot about PC's in the sense that, being a GUI menu follower, I have never heard of the keystroke shortcut Windows-R to pull up the run command screen and it never occurred to me to use the run command to connect to a web site. Cool. I can image many other people falling for this. I am in New Jersey and this just happened. Oh, yea, the call came from Seattle, WA (and for those of us that never bothered to look up Redmond on a map, we associate Seattle, WA with MS). The caller id log says: 206-456-0661. Enjoy! and Be Careful out There. (really enjoyed Hill Street Blues...)

[HowardBG]

I too have received these hoax calls, my wife received the last one and said to them "That's strange we don't have a computer" even though we do, at which point they instantly hung up!!

[IanWilson]

Just to add to the stories.

(1) My father-in-law, not the most computer-literate man on the planet (he claims to be the founder of the quill pen society) had one of these calls the other day and told the caller he didn't have a computer (true, it's his wife that has one) and that ended the call quickly.

(2) One time when I had such a call, I was told that my computer was infected with the HIV/Aids virus! I'm still laughing about that one. One of my friends suggested that the answer was to fit my computer with a condom.

Like one of the previous posters, I think that we are getting fewer of these calls in the UK at the moment.

Ian

[Drew1903]

This is a known global scam. Microsoft Security Investigation Dept., national & international law enforcement are all aware. It has been going on since last year. Efforts are being made regarding this but, it is a very elusive & difficult nut to crack. They have ripped people off, in many locations around the world, for huge amounts of money.

Please, please be aware & alert regarding this phone scam! It is extremely dangerous!! It not only steals people's money & info but, infects machines, PLURAL... it puts bots & worms in the machines that then spread to & control other machines.

Please, be vigilant & do not get sucked in to this one!

I have had both clients & relatives affected by this. The usual result, besides loss of money, is the system needing to be rebuilt. Even, our own house has received these calls more than once.

1st came to my attention by my Aunt in New Brunswick wanting my help over this... punch line is, she owns a bloody Mac.

Drew

[TheAncient]

Elderly relatives of mine also received a call from "Windows" (Not "Microsoft"). They spotted the problem immediately and blew off the caller. If a 90year old can spot the hoax, it probably isn't all that sophisticated. I received a similar call - also from "Windows". I told them, the only one in the house who knew anything about computers was my grandson and he was running BeOS. That ended the conversation right there.
I have a suggestion for anyone in the UK: I tested a device called trueCall (http://www.truecall.co.uk/) which is designed to stop nuisance calls (Sales calls, marketing surveys, election pollsters etc.) That gizmo works like a charm and discourages pretty much all automated calls. (Pitty it's not available in North America)

[genej313]

How they get names is beyond me. But I've gotten one such call, months ago, Indian accent, same spiel as noted above, I let him talk for a while as I was not busy and he was entertaining, when he got to the "remote in" part, I said, look pal, I'm a computer professional (which is not true) and I know Microsoft can't do what you are claiming and he hung up on me. :^)

[Drew1903]

I had them hang up when & as soon as I asked for contact info, lol.

Drew

[RedDawg]

I have had several calls from them. If I have time I play along and waste as much of their time as I can. I was told I was blasting maleware all ove the net and they wanted to help me ( a guy with an Indian accent I could barely understand )..... LOL Oh OK great what do I do? Oh you want me to (instructions to see hidden files), ok done, go to "C:\Windows\inf" and delete all files ending with .inf because they are infected files. OK Done now what ? Ok delete all files ending with .pnf Well I have no idea where this was going but I was tired fooling around (and had to ask to have instructions repeated again and slowly because I couldn't understand him so many times) so I asked why I was deleting all my hardware descriptor files and what it had to do with a virus infection. then I launched into a monologue telling him he was well I'll keep it clean here, but I did suggest his mother and father were btother and sister and unmarrried leaving him a congenital idiot defect; well you get the idea. He hung up. I also recieved one from what sounded like a young Indian woman, I immediately turned it into phonesex call LOL she hung up very quickly.

All this leads up to: don't complain or hangup. Make the calls so uncomfortable for the people doing it they quit working for the company.

I actually had someone call back and start swearing at me LOL, I must have touched a nerve somewhere. Oh I knew more dirty wirds than him, WAS HE MAD, he actually htreatened phsycial violence.

THese idiots can be gotten to. If enough people do it who knows they may actually stop.

[bcoop]

One would think that being called specifically by name by these hoax telephone scammers should be far more concerning than the calls themselves.
This would indicate a far more directed and intrusive form of telephone scam than previously random scamming.

The fact that scammers like this, if it is indeed true, are calling you by name should make you wonder how they are getting your name & number in the first place.

Our information is all over the place and privacy is a myth. Google has integrated all the sites we're on, and owns quite a few of them. My information from FB and my blog appear in surprising places. Which is why there is not much information - but I am in the phone book, and on-line phone books are available to the world. I shudder when I see some of the things people post publically ... their holiday plans, location with map, family information, job, etc.

I assume that anything I post anywhere on the 'net, can be seen by anyone in the world. Be careful out there.

btw, I do the "I'm so stupid" game with these callers. Time wasted with me is money lost (I hope) to them, and while I'm having some fun, someone else isn't getting scammed.