Microsoft bogus cold calling.

[Estrella]

Hi,
I have no idea if anyone else is aware of this, but one of my customers has just called me to tell me they had been contacted by Microsoft because they had malicious software on their PC.

The caller asked for the ladies husband by name, but proceeded the call with her as he wasn't in.

The caller was very forceful in his manner asking the lady to turn her PC on so that he could connect to her PC so he could rectify this problem for her. Thankfully although she knows nothing about PC's she is the suspicious type, so she asked the gentleman who he was and who he worked for. He said the name of the company he worked for so fast that after getting him to repeat it three times she still had no idea what company he was from. The only bit she did catch was 'on behalf of Microsoft' . She also asked for his number so she could call him back. Needless to say that this number is ' currently unavailable' when you call back.

He repeated told her to start up her laptop and became very forceful when she was reluctant.

Obviously money is the motivation for this, but I don't know if he would fix her PC (even though its fine) and then bill her accordingly or try and access bank/credit details. Who knows?


Just thought I would post this as I've been doing this job for over ten years and never come across this particular scam.



EDIT: Just found this > http://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/85702/police-issue-warning-over-microsoft-telephone-scam.aspx

 

[holmslaw]

I've had similar calls from people "on behalf of BT".

 

[45yearsagasman]

I had a very similar call today from someone from Microsoft (yeah right) asking me if my pc was runing correctly ie not freezing,running slow etc.My answer was to "eff off". No problem.

 

[daneski88]

Just talking to my son - he said we had a call from someone telling him that our sky satellite is broken. My son told him that we didn't have sky (even though we do ), and the man on the phone went away

 

[Infidel]

Yes it's a scam but had some nice gentleman on the phone for nearly 15mins the other day talking me through the process, and of course I kept getting it wrong he was very persistent and patient,up until the point I got bored and said "but my machine runs Linux".
But what is more worrying is it seems to be a UK/Europe based scam as the quality of the phone call was excellent not the usual Asian based crap.

 

[dave.m]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/phishing/msname.aspx

 

[Mickymoody]

Regarding the OP - I recall this being mentioned on NW TV news, and users were directed to a website, and took control of the users PC, about 12 months ago? It originated in Blackburn/Burnley area IIRC, maybe he served time, and is up to his old tricks?

Regarding Sky TV - that's been on Watchdog I believe, or similar program, there was a dodgy company doing Sky TV repairs, but not affiliated to Sky, but said they were Sky. And obviously overcharging. Any TV repair place can fix your Sky, you don't need to go to Sky themselves if you have a fault.

1st line of defence is to register with TPS, it means that it is illegal for unsolicited calls to be received. Their website is a simple form, and takes 2 minutes to fill out. And when you get an unsolicited call, tell them that you are registered with TPS, and they soon hang up. I don't get ANY unwanted calls now touchwood!

2nd line of defence is, if you get unwanted emails, spam etc, is install a program called CCleaner, it flushes your computer of all the crap, frees up space, makes it go faster, but zaps your passwords too, so make sure you remember them, and not have them on autofill.

Both are free, illogical not to do, as it stops random calls, and frees your compy. I don't work for either company.

 

[dave.m]

1st line of defence is to register with TPS, it means that it is illegal for unsolicited calls to be received.

I think you will find that scammers who are operating an illegal operation to con people will not be too bothered about making 'illegal' phone calls, which inevitably are untraceable.
The TPS has no teeth to stop people phoning you if you cannot trace the number.

2nd line of defence is, if you get unwanted emails, spam etc, is install a program called CCleaner, it flushes your computer of all the crap, frees up space, makes it go faster, but zaps your passwords too, so make sure you remember them, and not have them on autofill.

I think you have the wrong impression of what Ccleaner does.
Ccleaner will not do anything to unwanted emails or spam. If you delete them using your spam filter or by using your email client, then they are just that, deleted.
Ccleaner clears out temp internet files and other dross that has been accumulated by programs and system operations.
Not sure how you have it set but in five years it has never "zapped" my passwords.

Perhaps this may help you set it up correctly, and if your passwords get zapped again, may I suggest you look at your browser settings not at Ccleaner.

Download and install Ccleaner
When installing, watch out for the tick box that will install the Yahoo Toolbar if left ticked
Once installed, click Check For Updates (bottom right of the screen)

Ccleaner. Initial Setup and Operation.

After initial setup, all settings will be saved and only the Instructions In Bold Underline need be
carried out to run Ccleaner on a regular basis

Options -> Cookies
Transfer all the cookies that you recognise and use to the righthand column. (This only needs to be done
once OR prior to cleaning when you have visited new sites that may have lodged cookies for sign-in
purposes).

Options -> Settings
Tick -> Auto check for updates
Dot -> Normal File Deletion ( You can change this if you want to over write the deleted files for securer
deletion)

Options -> Advanced
Tick -> Only delete files in Temp. . . older that 48 hours.
Tick -> Show promt to backup.
Untick -> All other Options.

Tools -> Uninstaller
Handy for uninstalling and also if you have uninstalled using Add/Remove but the name remains in the list, click it in this list and click Delete Entry.

Tools -> Startup
Saves going into Start -> Run -> msconfig to disable programs from running at Startup and you can remove items from the startup list.

Cleaner -> Windows Tab
Tick IE to put a tick in all, then Untick Autocomplete form history
Tick Win Explorer to put a tick in all.
Tick System to put a tick in all, then Untick Clipboard, Start Menu Shortcuts & Desktop
Shortcuts.
Leave Advanced unticked.

Cleaner -> Application Tab
Tick All Boxes except Saved Form Information if there is a non-IE browser section.

Click Registry, Tick Registry Integrity to put a tick in all boxes in the list.


Operation

With all browsers shut down click Cleaner then Analyze.
When complete, click Run Cleaner, the Are You Sure screen will popup, click OK

Click Registry, then Scan For Issues
When complete, click Fix Selected Issues.
The offer to Backup will show, click Yes.
It will offer to save in My Documents, click Save.
Then click Fix All Selected Issues, OK.
Then Close.


NEW For 2009!

The latest version now has System Restore points listed in the Tools section.
The list enables you to remove restore points if you wish.

I recommend that you only delete the older points and not delete randomly in the list. That is, unless you have tried to do a System Restore to a specific date and time and it failed, then use Ccleaner to remove that point and try again with another date.

Clicking the column heading 'Date and Time' will force the list to appear in chronological order so you can check the oldest restore points if you wish to delete some to save space on your hard drive.