Probably already been discussed but I've been getting calls for the last few days so I thought I'd make a PSA......
Everything was fine until a fake Windows telephone scam started calling five times a day, trying to convince me to give them my money. The caller, in a Indian accent, will claim to be either a member of the “Windows Technical Care Department”, “Windows Service Department” or a “Windows-certified support agent”. It changes every time, but the word “Windows” will almost certainly be in there.
The "technician" will then explain that your version of Windows is sending them error reports, and they are phoning to help fix it. For anyone who isn’t already suspicious: Microsoft has never had a policy of phoning customers because their computers are reporting errors. In fact, Windows (as yet) has no facility for reporting non-anonymous computer errors to Microsoft without your explicit say so.
If you continue with the call, the scammer will talk your through various Windows-based commands which are supposed to highlight security errors in your system. In actual fact, these are normal Windows information boxes, and have nothing to do with any security breech. Every Windows system has them, the caller is just pretending they’re malicious errors, trying to destroy your PC. After 10 minutes or so after trying to get you really scared your computer has been hacked the scammer will ask you to install LogMeIn – a software that lets the caller access your computer – or go to their website and buy a fake virus scanner. Doing either of those things is a bad idea. Of course, LogMeIn isn’t a virus in itself – it’s actually a useful business tool – but allowing these guys access to your computer with it would be stupid.
The scam itself has been widely reported to both the the FBI, police, and various scam-watchers, but if you fancy some vigilante justice, there is one thing you can do, if you have the time, that I did on the 5th call today: waste the callers time. The more time you spend on the call, the less time they can go around scamming less technically-savvy users. When you begin to bore of the whole process of they finally ask for money absolutely unleash a tirade upon them. THEY WON"T HANG UP! They'll stay and try to talk to you. Just keep swearing and yelling. It is very liberating and a great stress buster.
In fact, it’s becoming a bit of a hobby for some people, many of whom have submitted recorded versions of their phone calls to this website: http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/supportonclick-systemrecure-scam.
Anyway, I got the calls so it must be starting up again around Ontario.
Everything was fine until a fake Windows telephone scam started calling five times a day, trying to convince me to give them my money. The caller, in a Indian accent, will claim to be either a member of the “Windows Technical Care Department”, “Windows Service Department” or a “Windows-certified support agent”. It changes every time, but the word “Windows” will almost certainly be in there.
The "technician" will then explain that your version of Windows is sending them error reports, and they are phoning to help fix it. For anyone who isn’t already suspicious: Microsoft has never had a policy of phoning customers because their computers are reporting errors. In fact, Windows (as yet) has no facility for reporting non-anonymous computer errors to Microsoft without your explicit say so.
If you continue with the call, the scammer will talk your through various Windows-based commands which are supposed to highlight security errors in your system. In actual fact, these are normal Windows information boxes, and have nothing to do with any security breech. Every Windows system has them, the caller is just pretending they’re malicious errors, trying to destroy your PC. After 10 minutes or so after trying to get you really scared your computer has been hacked the scammer will ask you to install LogMeIn – a software that lets the caller access your computer – or go to their website and buy a fake virus scanner. Doing either of those things is a bad idea. Of course, LogMeIn isn’t a virus in itself – it’s actually a useful business tool – but allowing these guys access to your computer with it would be stupid.
The scam itself has been widely reported to both the the FBI, police, and various scam-watchers, but if you fancy some vigilante justice, there is one thing you can do, if you have the time, that I did on the 5th call today: waste the callers time. The more time you spend on the call, the less time they can go around scamming less technically-savvy users. When you begin to bore of the whole process of they finally ask for money absolutely unleash a tirade upon them. THEY WON"T HANG UP! They'll stay and try to talk to you. Just keep swearing and yelling. It is very liberating and a great stress buster.
In fact, it’s becoming a bit of a hobby for some people, many of whom have submitted recorded versions of their phone calls to this website: http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/supportonclick-systemrecure-scam.
Anyway, I got the calls so it must be starting up again around Ontario.
