Microsoft Windows Support Scam Call

[RumpleMom]

I told the man he should be ashamed of the way he was making a living.

He should get an honest job.

He hung up on me.

 

[shocker]

I've gotten this call about 4 times, no caller identified. One time giggled the whole time until he asked me what was so funny. The next time played along with everything he said. The whole India thing reminds me of the scene from "Slum Dog Millionaire" call center where they are smashed into a small calling room and sharing chairs and sitting on the tables, about 20 people in the space for 6. But good to know how efficient they are at getting ALL of us called. But, like most of you I'm concerned for the elderly and those without their BS radars on that could get sucked into this. I do like the idea of keeping them on the line with me to prevent them from having someone else on the line.

Another elderly scam, a "utilities company" calls to claim your account is overdue and wants you to make "even a small payment" over the phone to keep the utility on. This happened to my 93 yo grandpa, who notifies my 65 yo mother who handles all his accounts. She calls utility company, no overdue account, simple scam. They didn't fall for it, but how many people will?

 

[Mrs.Malone]

This is an interesting video that shows what can happen if someone falls for this scam. A scammer happened to call a senior researcher from an anti-malware company. The researcher decided to play dumb and go along with the scammer's instructions to see what would happen. In short, the scammer took over the researcher's computer and very deliberately trashed everything on it (while calling the rearcher some very nasty and un-DIS words) when the researcher wouldn't pay the huge fee the scammer demanded.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/11/malwarebytes

 

[kymom99]

my DH just got a call last nite--

he said it was a thick middle eastern accent--probably India

same story--issue with computer--DH was on the computer at the time and said everything is working great and hung up

first and only call so far--


now if I can get the credit card lowering people to stop calling--

what I do now is hit whatever to talk to someone and when they come on the line I hang up on them--more like slam the phone down--

I hang up on them before they hang up on me--there so rude and don't listen to anything you have to say!!!

of course slamming the phone down only works on a corded phone otherwise youre just hanging up on them

just for the look out

watch out for the "grandparents" scam

my folks got called twice same story both times

caller--this is your oldest grandson--Im in Canada and just got arrested or in an accident or something along those lines

my mom said this doesn't sound like you (well now they know my mom has a grandson--

caller Im talking funny cause in the accident I hit my mouth

then they procede to tell you where to send money--both times it was in Canada

my mom took down the info--a few hours later the idiot calls back saying you didn't wire the money yet

my mom said that's right and Im not going to!!!

she just wanted the info to turn over to the police!!!

my mom pretty sharp for 83!!!

so be careful

thanks for the warning

This EXACT thing happened to my mother-in-law. Saddly, she sent them money, not once, but TWICE!

The caller said this is your oldest grandson and she said, "S?" then another caller came on saying her grandson was traveling in Greece and got in a fight. He was in jail and needed $1500 to pay the hospital bill of the guy he fought with. She went to Kroger where they have Western Union and wired the money. Then they called back and said they needed more so she sent $1500 again. Then they caleed a 3rd time and she said she didn't have that much money so they asked for a lesser amount. When she went to Kroger, the clerk questioned her and got her to allow her to call my brother-in-law who said S was not in Greece and was not in trouble. They called the police and the number was from Canada. very, very sad and sick.

FWIW, my nephew, who is the oldest grandson, has traveled the world. So it wouldn't be far fetched for him to be in Greece, and it also wouldn't be unbelievable for him to be in a fight. Also, the caller told MIL that the grandson didn't want to tell his parents about his trouble. That was believable too. So, even though I would not have fallen for it, pulling it on an 82 year old worked.

 

[njmom47]

Yeah, my dh answered the phone when they called our house and he told them our computer was brand new (which it's not).

Of course it was a scam because I get notifications about every new email scam through my employer and I had let him know.
(Macy's $25 gift certificate is another new one)

 

[amcnj]

Have had two of these calls in the past year. First time I asked some questions to try and determine what exactly they were talking about (some vague security matter) and to see if there was any chance this was at all real (the conversation just went in circles and they kept repeating the same one or two lines). From then on I decided the best course to take is tell them "hold on while I turn my computer on" and set the phone down.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I get this one all the time. I've tried threatening to call the cops and just gotten yelled at and/or taunted for it. Now I just say I have no Microsoft Computers in my home so I have no idea what they're talking about and hang up. I keep hoping that by saying this they'll stop calling but they don't. It's so annoying.

 

[ssawka]

I do not answer phone calls from any number I do not recognize (some times even ones that I do! ) I figure if it is important enough, they will leave a message.

 

[PrincessKimmy]

We get these calls all the time. My DH always tells them he works for Microsoft and asks for their employee number. They always hang up after that.

But in all seriousness, my sisters MIL fell for the scam, paid them $500 to do whatever they were saying they were going to do and access to her passwords. They went in and locked her out of everything and demanded another $800 to regain access... so it was a big mess. She is elderly and very trusting obviously... so please don't fall for this!

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

My mom got one of these calls the other day about "Windows 6". Mom didn't fall for the scam and told the guy to quit trying to scam her because she wasn't falling for it. He then turned around and cursed her out. My mom told him where to go...