Category: Geeks r Us
people, please be careful out there.
earlier today dad got a message on his surface pro screen that said to call Microsoft after looking to shop at walmart. he had by accident clicked on shop.wal.whatever, he didn't actually look to say it said walmart.
the message on his screen said Microsoft detected a virous and to call a toalfree number. he did this. lucky for him, mom came and got me. i was kinda pissed cause he had already called the number. so i went in there. the guy asked if there were other devices he could use in the house. dad says yes. then he had us go to the other laptop, login to a citrix server at fastsupport.com. then he wanted to review our network settings. he did go and look at a few things in the registrey but i stopped it. dad never verified that this company was indeed Microsoft. the guy didn't like me too much. i had dad hang up on the guy, shut down the puter... then go and do a reverse phone lookup for that number. after that, we did a scan with Malwarebytes and quorintied everything it found. now everything works fine as it should. but still people. don't just randomly call numbers that pop up on your screen. use a different device to verify what is this number. Microsoft wont just pop up something like that. but when dad saw Microsoft he thought "surely this is Microsoft, they know what they are talking about." not so fat. companies are out there to scam you, take your money and really screw your puter up.
keep all this in mind, please.
There is a similar telephone scam. The person , with a very obvious oriental accent but always giving a very American sounding name, claims he or she is calling from Windows and saying that your computer is sending them error messages. They want you to go to a website and let them take over your computer so they can remove the problem. But it is a scam, and what they want is to steal your private information. I don't care how many times I hang up on them, I get these phone calls constantly, and the number they call from is always different. They use one of those programs to hijack phone numbers, and one time it was my own number showing up on my caller ID. Please don't ever let these people scare you into thinking your computer is sending out error messages and that you need to let them fix it.
people, Microsoft will *NEVER* call you telling you of error's with your computer. *NEVER!* If you get a call from somebody saying they're from Microsoft and they're here to save the day, don't believe them and don't let them into your system.
No one period will call you about your computer.
When you need a phone number always go directly to the website you need that number from.
Example, if you need tech support from your computers company, go to that website to get the information.
This means for any reason.
No calls, emails, or other media should you trust for a telephone number or contact method.
Absolutely wayne. people fall for this shit all the time.
And sadly will continue too.
Social enginering is difficult to protect from.
These people use your fears, or lack of information to get to you.
I'd say it was nothing to be ashamed of, but it is always going to happen.
yeah it sure will. dad said he woulda figured it out eventually. he just didn't think that far.
John, I hope you warned your dad about the phone calls as well as the email scams.
I don't think the scammers who keep calling me have ever used the word Microsoft. They say they are calling from a Windows service center or Windows tech support. The first time this happened to me a couple of years ago I almost fell for it because I was having computer problems. But the more questions I asked, the more vague their answers got and I ended up hanging up on them. But years later I keep getting the calls even though I don't have the same computer. I can see how people might fall for this crap, but I hope this topic has helped some to understand that they should just hang up on these people.
cant remember if I mentioned the email scams, but most likely I have.
I've never heard of him getting an email though either.
I felt the need to post here. I know a lot of us do know our tech stuff and know this kinda stuff, but some may not.
This happened to a couple I know, both very bright people. The company claimed there was some error in certain Windows products and Microsoft gave them access to the names and info of people with that product and were authorized by Microsoft to offer assistance. My friends looked up the company and supposedly found it to by repal and reputable and paid $200 for some "fix". I was flabberghasted when my friend told me about it. These people had called me a few times around the same time period and I just laughed at them and hung up on them. I'm not particularly tech savvy, but there's no way I'm going to believe this kind of crap.
Although, we should all be aware that as we get older, it seems inevitable that we become more vulnerable to these kind of scams. Try not to be too hard on people who fall prey.
the thing that got me was that he didn't ask me first. I coulda told him this stuff before he got on the phone. no matter, all the puters are fine an everything is working as it should. plus they learned something. so its all good.
I think age doesn't matter. I know several people that should know better,
but didn't.
These can come by any means you are connected to. Even via our
smartphones.
The idea is, if your stuff isn't working correctly or if it is, just get support
directly from the company you contact, not someone that contacts you first.
If they call me, I'll ask if they can help me get laid.
They tried with me, and I'm like sure, let me start up my apple 2e and put in my windows diskette. The next time they tried calling I'm like you know that's very interesting, seen as I just started the reformat/instalation cycle. The final one was when they tried again and I'm like I lost everything in the house fire.
They have been calling me off and on for two to three years now. It doesn't matter what I say or how rude I am, they keep calling. I don't think they are even calling from the United States, so we can't use that "put this number on your do not call list" statement because that only works for U.S. companies. And it's not like you can ignore them if you have talking caller ID and recognize their phone number because they keep using different numbers.
I must be an oddball, cause I've never gotten the kinda calls being mentioned here.
we never got those calls either, but we are on an unlisted number.
I only have a cell phone, so maybe that's the difference.
John, I have an unlisted number too. And the callers always know my name. I have no idea how I got on their list, but it's impossible to make them stop.
You get on there list, because some place you've shared your unlisted
number with shares there list.
Example, if you've ever put that number in an email for your contact
information, or joined aany service you deal with that does business online.
Most places have privacy statements, but who actually reads them?
Next, even if they claim they won't share your information, how can you
check to see they actually haven't?
That is how they know your name.
The place you buy your computer from might share that list too.
It is difficult to say.
If you want that set of people to stop calling, you change your number,
and this time never put it in as a contact for anyone, but a number you
don't mind them sharing.
I personally have a Skype number I share, but I never share my cellular
number, so that helps.
I'm still trying to figure out how my grandmother did this, but here goes. I had just walked in the door, and I hear her computer talking, saying something about if you are seeing this message, you probably have a virus or spyware on your computer, call, whatever the number was. And this wasn't jaws talking, it was an actual person talking! So as she's starting to punch in the number, I'm standing there going, don't call that number!
Several ways.
You know when the message pops up that ask you to allow all content on a web page?
That message alerts you that some of the content is not secure.
Now, that doesn't mean it will be bad, but it might.
Next, she probably saw a message blinking, so clicked it.
That brings up the video and a person talking as you describe.
If you don't have pop ups blocked, these messages can show up as well.
She may have clicked a link in an email message to buy something or other, or about a discount on something.
When she got to that page several things come up, one being, your computer is infected, click here.
I can't think of them all, but that will help you understand it a bit more.
To protect your system from mishaps when others are using it, create an account that doesn't have administrative abilities. The account will not allow anyone to download or accept anything that comes to them over the internet without knowing the password.
A program can't install, because it needs the password as well, so sneaky programs won't install accidently.
Always use that account, unless you need to download something, then either type the password, or sign on to the admin account.
This way, when you are away, you don't have to worry about what gets installed.
Even if she calls the number, she ccan't do as they ask, because she doesn't have admin rights.
that might not be a bad idea wayne, unless you are like us and know you wo wont do s stupid shit.
It is the best method for people that share there computers with family or that have kids that use the computer.
Even for the owners, Microsoft suggest it, so you don't make mistakes without thinking about them.
When I have company, I log on to my second account. That way I can allow anyone to sit and not worry what there doing.
My laptop, I simply never share it.
I've gotten the same phone calls that Becky described.
But, their English was so bad I wanted to laugh at them, but I didn't.
I asked them if they could ssee my computer and they said they could. I asked them what operating system I was running and they said windows8 (I was running xp at the time).
I cussed them out and hung up.
They've called me a couple of times since then, and I try to shame them, then hang up.
There's all kkinds of scams out there. If you are taken in by one, don't be ashamed, count it as a learning experience (usually an expensive one).
Bob
Another one I did to them was when they called I was like There are no windows systems in this house, we all run linux.