Phone scam from windows
I believe I have just had a call from a cybercriminal. Some people calling themselves windows operating tech support centre wanted me to check my system logs for errors and when I found a few errors they claimed that this was evidence for massive infection of my system. The then wanted me to type a url in to the run box. at his point I googled the url and came up with the PC Pro website below.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/359233/the-unstoppable-tech-support-scam
The chap was still insistent that he was genuine and gave me his address (genuine microsoft) and phone number (not in agreement with the microsoft website). I phoned the microsoft help number on my mobile while keeping him on my landline. They said they do not make this kind of call and that iof I had such a call it was almost certainly spam. I thanked them and told the spammer what had happened. He continued to insist he was genuine and that the help line had been mistaken. Eventually he understood that I would not be signing on with him and giving him any access to my system. At his point he said that I should get my machine tested by someone I could trust because it was about to fail drastically and hung up. I 1471ed the call and was surprised to find that instead of number withheld he apparently phoned from 0000 0000
twenty minutes of entertainment and a warning for all. Unexpected calls are often not what they purport to be.
Microsoft have this page about phone scams
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/359233/the-unstoppable-tech-support-scam
The chap was still insistent that he was genuine and gave me his address (genuine microsoft) and phone number (not in agreement with the microsoft website). I phoned the microsoft help number on my mobile while keeping him on my landline. They said they do not make this kind of call and that iof I had such a call it was almost certainly spam. I thanked them and told the spammer what had happened. He continued to insist he was genuine and that the help line had been mistaken. Eventually he understood that I would not be signing on with him and giving him any access to my system. At his point he said that I should get my machine tested by someone I could trust because it was about to fail drastically and hung up. I 1471ed the call and was surprised to find that instead of number withheld he apparently phoned from 0000 0000
twenty minutes of entertainment and a warning for all. Unexpected calls are often not what they purport to be.
Microsoft have this page about phone scams
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx