Microsoft Security Phone Scam

Microsoft's advice: Hang up on tech support scammers ...

In light of the second client to fall victim to Tech support phone scammers, I am writing this post today to warn everyone to hang up on anyone calling to tell you that your computer is infected or sending viruses/Trojans.  An alternative method used by these criminals is to send an email claiming to assist you in receiving the Windows 10 upgrade.

If you receive an email or phone call from someone claiming to represent Microsoft, press ‘delete’ or just hang up. Never give remote access to your computer to anyone you don’t know, and don’t click on unknown links or files.

If you are willing to lend an ear to the scammer the next step is they will request access to your computer via Remote Desktop.  Once in they will steal information, erase restore/recovery points and encrypt the SAM hive of your computer and upon restart you will be required to enter a password that you do not know.

How these scams work

• You receive an email or phone call claiming either that you can get a Windows 10 upgrade sooner, or, that there is some problem with your installation of Windows 10.
• You will be directed to click on a link or visit a website to download software.
• The software is ransomware which will lock you out of your computer and demand a payment.
• If you pay, you will lose every cent that you send. If you have clicked on an infected link or file, you may also compromise your device’s security in other ways.

The client yesterday had 2 computers compromised. I was able to recover one of the computers using System Restore, he had hung up on the scammer while he was working on this computer after being presented the cost to supposedly fix the computer.


The other computer was unrecoverable since the scammer had erased restore points, disabled all programs and upon restart the computer needed the unknown password. We had to do a new install of Windows 10 on this computer.

*Remember that Macs do get malware and it highly advised that you install an Anti-Virus product on your Mac.

Since these scams use a website, any device that has a browser can fall victim to this type of scam. They’re not OS dependent so if your internet enabled-toaster has a screen and a web browser it could get this type of alert! Joking aside, since it’s a browser-based scam, it’s advisable to have a backup browser installed just in case you have issues with your primary browser.

Further reading,

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2998175/security/microsofts-advice-hang-up-on-tech-support-scammers.html

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001385.htm

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-security/does-microsoft-or-a-microsoft-call-center-ever/33968898-8371-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/mse-protect_scanning/phone-call-scams-claiming-to-be-microsoft/aefc50a4-d7a4-4c79-8db5-2fafcd6ad196?auth=1

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