Some weirdos are calling me from "microsoft"

[ampersand]

Some weirdo with india accent are calling me from what they claim to be Microsoft in California. They say my computer is sending them error report and that its been downloading malicious software that I'm not aware of. He will help me fix it on the phone. Tells me to go to the event log viewer and look for red errors. I found a couple of those then he tells me to go to their official Microsoft support page at this URL

<snipped>

When I see the page I start to laugh and he tells me again this is the official Microsoft website. Then he wants me to click some links their and some weird .exe file is being downloaded. He wants me to click it and I tell him I wont and I hang up.

Then a few mins after he calls back, I don't answer and he calls and calls and calls like crazy several times :)

Anyone else experienced this ?

[Charisma Veteran]

lol, I think I got a call like that. I can't be sure because I hung up about ten seconds into the call.

[saltysaltybk]

I've had this a few times.

Sometimes I play along and tell them I use a Mac, other times I scream as loud as I can down the phone.

Have some fun with them.

[Crisp]

Play dumb, pretend to do what they say and then tell them you're using Ubuntu, they'll hang up on you.

Had the same a while back.

[Chris123NT]

I've never personally experienced this but damn this is one persistent mother...

As you've already figured out that site is definitely bogus lol.

Anyway I would ask for his employee ID and tell him you're going to report him to redmond for harassing you. See if that works. If it doesn't then I would say call the phone company and/or the police and report the number and the nature of the call.

[Brian M. Veteran]

Just scammers. It's quite a common scam. The links are teamviewer, etc download links - so they'll either:

- Take over your machine and install crap

- Take over your machine, pretend to fix something, and charge you for it

[Karl L.]

I have not experienced any of those calls personally, but I have read about them. There are a couple of related articles I read on ArsTechnica late last year that you will probably find amusing.

?Hello, I?m definitely not calling from India. Can I take control of your PC??

How Windows tech support scammers walked right into a trap set by the feds

[Nick H. Supervisor]

This happened to my mum a few months back. Thankfully I was visiting that weekend so she passed the phone to me.

Them: Hello, this is <X> from Microsoft. We're getting a lot of reports from your machine and we believe you have a virus.

Me: Ok...can I ask how you know which machine the warning is coming from? I have several machines running on this network.

Them: Ah, I can give you the <something>ID if you would like to check that?

Me: The what?

Them: The <something>ID.

Me: No, that won't work I'm afraid. But do you have an IP address? <note: I knew it was a scam, and I knew that even if they could provide an IP it wouldn't allow me to find the "infected" machine on the network.>

Them: No sir, but the <something>ID should be evidence enough...

Me: Ok, let's stop dicking one another around, shall we? I work in IT and I know that Microsoft would not contact me for a virus issue. I've asked you for a simple request, which if you are who you say you are you could either answer or tell me that the IP address wouldn't work.

Them: ...sooo, do you want us to fix the virus issue?

Me: There is no virus issue. You're trying to scam my mother.

Them: <disconnect>

I wish I had been more awake, I could have had some great fun with them.

[Knife Party]

" When I see the page I start to laugh and he tells me again this is the official Microsoft website. Then he wants me to click some links their and some weird .exe file is being downloaded. He wants me to click it and I tell him I wont and I hang up."

so correct me if i'm wrong

1. he directs you to a website that isn't the official MS website

2. it downloads a dodgy .exe file

3. you saved it

..... It might be malware and no as you described it be isnt from MS so........ keyloggers - no wonder he wants you to pick up, so he can direct you again and check for keystrokes

[beanboy89]

I want to get one of these calls and actually play along. I'd do it in a VM or spare machine and see what they actually are trying to accomplish and then call them out on it at the end.

[Eric Veteran]

Rule of thumb: Microsoft will only call you if you initiate a paid support request. :)

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I want to get one of these calls and actually play along. I'd do it in a VM or spare machine and see what they actually are trying to accomplish and then call them out on it at the end.

I've seen times where they have pointed the user to their driver folder under Windows and said, "you see all these files? Those are viruses. I shall delete them for you to clean the system." Sometimes they'll also install a program that will block your browser with a window that demands you pay "the government" ?150 to unlock it.

[Rippleman]

one of the sad issues about this too is the people doing the calling almost ALWAYS don't know they are scamming either. desperate for a job, they reply to a "call center" ad they see, meet with the scam boss, he trains them for a day, teaches them what to say, tells them Microsoft contracts out to him, and then they go to "work" and they make a commission based sale if they "make the sale". You ever notice the people you talk to don't sound very computer literate? its because they are new to the job.

[+DKAngel Subscriber²]

we have had that here too a couple of times, the second time i told my wife to tell them she was runnign linux, they hung up quickly

[Lingwo]

A while back we used to get them quite a lot and each times just drag it out as long as i can and then either say i'm using Linux or OSX. Another good one is pretend you're robbing the place. Amazing how some still keep calm and still ask you to check the PC :laugh:

[rr_dRock]

These idiots call me every week almost.

One time that these people called my house, he said he was from "In your computer". I asked him how he managed to get in there, and whether he would like me to let him out.

He hung up.

Other times I do the "how many times can you say meow before the other person catches on" routine.

It's fun to see how long you can keep them on the phone.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I received two or three calls like that since 2009. The first couple of times, I responded with "Sorry, there are no computers in my house." The last time they called me was on a bad day so I told them to **** off.

[+Warwagon MVC]

The way they usually trick the average user is have them look in the "Event Log" and tell them "See all those errors" ... either A) your computer has a lot of problems or B) You have a lot of viruses. I've known a few customers that did believe them.

I did get a call from them once. I told them they were bull****.

[Crisp]

Other times I do the "how many times can you say meow before the other person catches on" routine.

It's fun to see how long you can keep them on the phone.

Get your friend or someone else in the house to pick up the other phone and play repeat...

[BajiRav]

I want to get one of these calls and actually play along. I'd do it in a VM or spare machine and see what they actually are trying to accomplish and then call them out on it at the end.

Too late - ars already did it. :D

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

My mum has had a few of these, and each time she asks me if she was right to say no. The fact that a degree educated woman asks shows one thing...

These clearly work. Other people clearly do follow their instruction. Else they'd have stopped doing this years ago.

[_neutrino Veteran]

I read a post on Reddit once when a guy got a call from them and he booted up a virtual machine real quick and had them do their thing on the virtual machine, just to see what they wanted to do. And they were bringing up the event log and claiming that benign events were horrible errors and that they could "fix" if for you for a cost.

[Hum]

Some weirdo with india accent are calling me from what they claim to be Microsoft in California. They say my computer is sending them error report and that its been downloading malicious software that I'm not aware of. He will help me fix it on the phone. Tells me to go to the event log viewer and look for red errors. I found a couple of those then he tells me to go to their official Microsoft support page at this URL

<snipped>

When I see the page I start to laugh and he tells me again this is the official Microsoft website. Then he wants me to click some links their and some weird .exe file is being downloaded. He wants me to click it and I tell him I wont and I hang up.

Then a few mins after he calls back, I don't answer and he calls and calls and calls like crazy several times.

Anyone else experienced this ?

When I get these kinds of calls I just say ... "I'm sitting here naked ... are you ?" :shifty:

[+KibosJ Subscriber²]

I've had these a few times. They are a pain in the arse.

He asked me to click on loads of things, getting me into event viewer's system log and told me the errors and warning were viruses. (I can see how the uninformed fall for this).

He then got me to go to their website and type in the code.

I then told him I worked in IT and he is a scammer..

The next bit shocked me so much......

He admitted to it, told me it's a great way to earn money and then proceeded to tell me he holds the "Scamming Record" within the place :o

I couldn't believe it.

[Torolol]

and Google want me to tell them my Phone Number, only matter of time before scammer start claiming from Google.