Have you received a phone call recently from a partially legible call center representative who proceeded to tell you how your Microsoft Windows computer has been sending critical error notifications to their service center and that on behalf of Microsoft they are calling you to offer you a solution? As you may have guessed – they’re not really calling on behalf of Microsoft, and there’s probably nothing wrong with your computer at all. At least nothing they know of anyway.
This scam first originated somewhere around 2009 and since then it’s only grown in popularity. The scam works in a couple of ways. Firstly the scammer calls you, and asks for you by name. They say they are a computer security expert from Microsoft and that your PC or laptop has either been infected with a virus or it has been sending critical error messages and needs to be fixed.
Next things will differ depending on the exact scam being played on you. Some crooks will ask you to give them remote access to your PC or laptop, and then use the access to collect your personal data. Others get you to download malware that will do that task for you. A more straightforward scam is to simply ask for money in return for a lifetime of ‘protection’ from the malware that wasn’t on your machine in the first place.
I have always heard about the infamous Microsoft Service Center scam however it wasn’t until the past couple of months that I had received several of these phone calls myself and it prompted me to write this post. First off for those of your curious the number that was used to call me was 516-986-6288. Last I checked it still accepted incoming phone calls – so while I won’t encourage you to dial the number and have some fun – I surely won’t prevent you from it 😉
Now as far as what you should do if you get one of these phone calls. HANG UP. Microsoft makes it extremely clear that “you will never receive a legitimate call from Microsoft or our partners to charge you for computer fixes”. Furthermore help Microsoft bring these guys down by reporting your scam details to Microsoft here.
Aside from reporting to the authorities, I strongly suggest sharing the info of the phone scam at Callercenter.com too! It’s where most people get updates on different phone schemes so it’s the best venue to spread the word and share a warning.