65,000 Complaints Later, Microsoft Files Suit Against Tech Support Scammers

MojoKid (1002251) writes Tech support scammers have been around for a long time and are familiar to most Slashdot readers. But last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had issued lawsuits against several culprits responsible for tech support scams. Now Microsoft has announced that it too is going after tech support scammers. According to the company, more than 65,000 complaints have been made about tech support scams since May of this year alone. Bogus technicians, pretending to represent Microsoft, call the house offering fake tech support and trick people into paying hundreds of dollars to solve a non-existent issue. If successful in their ruse, the scammer then gains access to a person's computer, which lets them steal personal and financial information and even install malware. I managed to keep one of these guys on the phone for about 20 minutes while I stumbled through his directions, over and over, "rebooting," pretending to be using Windows, etc; the next one caught on more quickly. Have they called you? If so, how did the call go?

Comments

25-30 computers

[SledgeHammerSeb]

I usually say I have 25-30 computers, and ask them to tell me which one has the problem. Reasoning that they called me and must be able to know which unit it is. They will either be confused and pass me to the "next support level" or say it doesn't matter which unit I log in to. At that point I insist they tell me which unit it is. By this time they usually use some foul language and/or simply hang up. Mission accomplished.

Re: 65536

[O('_')O_Bush]

Your analogy misses the critical difference... A bum selling Rolexes on the street isn't a threat to the name or reputation of Rolex. If a jeweller claiming to be a Rolex authorised dealer was selling fake Rolexes as real, you'd better believe Rolex would be pressing charges, suing the living piss out of the shop, and working their PR department to save face. The issue isn't scammers, the issue is scammers claiming to represent MS, thereby harming MS.

Good luck trying to get resolution.

[Chas]

Most of these are little sweatshop ops out of India, China and Eastern Europe.

Microsoft can scream at the FTC all damn day. These guys, if caught, just uproot, disappear, and come back under another business name, registering new phone numbers, etc.