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Microsoft Customers Hit With New Wave of Fake Tech Support Calls
rjmarvin writes "A new surge of callers posing predominately as Microsoft technicians are attempting and sometimes succeeding in scamming customers, convincing them their PCs are infected and directing them to install malware-ridden software or give the callers remote access to the computer. The fraudsters also solicit payment for the fake services rendered. This comes only a year after the FTC cracked down on fake tech support calls, charging six scam operators last October."
I've received two calls from these scammers... and the example you provided is not far from the truth. When they claim to call from "The Windows" as the company name, it's painfully obvious what they are up to for about 99% of the computer using population. The problem is that 1%. They probably get a hit every once in a while that makes it profitable enough.
unless you're a commercial licensee, then you can't keep them out of the place with guard dogs and crew-served weapons.
cold calls on the phone? scam.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Hello valued customer. Remember last year when you called our help desk and then sat on hold for 25 minutes before hanging up?
We're very sorry about that and we're just now getting through our backlog and would like to fix your computer now...
or
Hello valued customer. With our brand-new AlwaysOnMonitoringTool (TM), we amazingly smart computer geeks in the cloud are able to see you are having some problems with your computer but we cannot see all of the problems and need some help getting in and fixing it....
I can easily see novices, grandmothers and wannabe CEOs falling for crap like that. Computing is magic to most people and if you don't sound like Voldemort, then you must be one of the good wizards.
In fairness, this has nothing at all to do with Microsoft, other than most people have it, and most people aren't really tech savvy.
This is just social engineering. Some guys calls up, claims to be from "tech support" or "the Windows Service Provider" and tells you a little techno-babble that sounds scary.
They don't actually have any information about you, and if pressed couldn't even tell you your IP address or even your name -- it's just a blanket approach.
But then they tell you to follow some steps to give them access to your computer, and they make some mumbling about how bad it is and attempt to either steal your files, or convince you that you need to buy some extra services.
A friends father in law got scammed with this a few years ago, and my friend was somewhat livid because he'd explicitly told them about such scams and to hang up on anybody who is telling you that. But people don't know that Microsoft doesn't really have your phone number and aren't monitoring your system.
If you know that 80% of everyone is running Windows, and most of them don't really have a good understanding of what's going on, all you think is some friendly guy is contacting you to solve problems you didn't even know you had. It's just like spam, hit enough people and some fraction will fall for it.
I've actually spent the last 5+ years explaining to my parents how to spot a scam, why they should never trust someone who calls them, and to be generally skeptical of such things. I've managed to turn my parents into somewhat skeptical, and a lot more street smart people by hammering home some of this stuff. But I had a great aunt who was a lot more trusting and got scammed several times.
And since every time someone tries to implement a Do Not Call list, the lobbyists cry "but what about our business model" and the protections get weakened to the point of being meaningless.
And since everyone can fake their phone number (which to me is a huge part of the problem) people see something on their call display and believe it. Which means some douchebag is whateverthefuckistan can call you and look like anything they want to, and the phone companies and the companies who believe it's their right to call you exploit that.
I've actually set my Panasonic cordless phone to say "Unknown caller id means hang up", "Private caller means hang up". I still get stuff that gets through (when you see a local number and hear a long distance ring) -- but I start out with the assumption that I don't trust incoming callers.
But getting everyone to understand how these scams work is hard. Getting people to overcome a belief that others are honest and good takes work.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I get sick of people and their "I'm not a computer person so it's not my fault" attitude. It's like getting in a car accident, taking your car to the shop, and then proudly declaring "I don't know how to drive!" to the mechanics. If random weirdo walks up to someone and says "You're sick! Bend over and let me give you this suppository!", are they going to do it? And then later say "I'm not a doctor, so how was I supposed to know?" It is beyond ridiculous in a world where computer use is such an integral part of everyday life.
Being a Microsoft customer isn't causing people to be targeted. The callers are posting as Microsoft technicians, making it relevant only to Microsoft customers.
There's a vast difference between the two.
My father was hit by one of these scammers. Thankfully, he got suspicious when they said he should go to a website to download a program that they would use to remote into his PC. He called me up (with the guy on another line) to ask me advice. My advice was to hang up. He kept saying "but he showed me this" and "but this guy said that." My advice didn't change. "I don't care what he said or showed you or told you to do. HANG UP on him NOW!!!"
This "tech" was also calling from "Windows" and showed my father "proof" of the fact that his computer was filled with viruses (the Event Log which will have errors on even the cleanest and most secure of Windows PCs). For someone not savvy with computers, this is proof positive that this guy knows what he is talking about and that you need to follow what he tells you. For some reason, people just don't realize that Microsoft (or "Windows") isn't looking at everyone's computers and helping fix every virus infection. If they were able to do that, Windows might have a much better security reputation. (For the sheer fact that building a more secure OS would mean devoting less man power to calling users to help fix their PCs.)
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
You forgot to introduce yourself as "Peggy".
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
And that's exactly why they start with something so stupid. If you're going to see through their scam, they want you to do it early and hang up so they can call a (they hope) softer target.