Windows Support Scam - I was called by someone who said they were windows support and my computer was sending them warnings and messages!

Anonymous
2012-03-06T00:43:31+00:00

March 5, 2012

Windows Support Scam -

I was called at home by someone who said they were windows support and my computer was sending them warnings and messages!

They asked me to open Eventvwr (Event Viewer) to look at the errors. I was to count the errors and warnings.

Then they wanted me to go to www.support.me (don't go there BTW) and a microsoft certified technician would log into my computer and help me fix the problems.

Obviously a scam

I persisted on asking what company they were:

First they said "Windows Operating System"

Then "Customer Care"

And finally

"Softnet Communications for Windows"

They said the phone number was 209-813-0133 (don't call this BTW) and they were in the United States of California

They never could explain what the warnings and messages were.

Someone needs to stop these guys

--- Update ---

August 8 2015

They called again and gave me the same basic pitch.  This time a person with an Indian accent who called him self Kevin said that my computer was calling them because of a massive problem (infection by malware).  His company was Technical Support for Windows users and that the R&D group at Microsoft had a program that notified him of the problem.   After 5 min he wanted me to go to a web site (please do Not go here and click anything) www.121usahelp.com - which if you look at the web page source code will load TeamViewerQS.exe for windows or TeamViewerQS.bmg for Mac.  Do Not Fall for this scam they want you to pay them money and they load software on your computer that is Bad.  

Microsoft Please stop these types of scams - they are hurting less skilled users and older people with computers who don't know better.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2012-03-06T13:28:12+00:00

Hi,

Microsoft will not make unsolicited phone calls to help you with your computer. If you receive a phone call like this, hang up.

If you think you might be a victim of fraud, you can report it. For more information, see What to do if you've responded to a phishing scam.

**For your reference:**Don’t fall for phony phone tech support. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/securitytipstalk/archive/2010/03/09/don-t-fall-for-phony-phone-tech-support.aspx

Hope this information is helpful.

Was this answer helpful?

30+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2015-06-17T14:10:03+00:00

I had a call at 10:00 p.m. last night that my computer was "sending out error messages."  The woman had a very foreign accent and told  me she was from Windows Support.  I immediately went ballistic as I was in bed and told her it was 10:00 P.M.!  She said she knew it was late, but this was very, very important.  I then told her to take my number out of their system and to not call again and she said quite forcefully that they would continue to call me about the "problem."  I told her I was probably 10 times more intelligent than she was, I was very computer literate, there was nothing wrong with my computer, etc., etc., etc.  When I asked her where she was at, she replied "Windows Support," but when I told her I wanted to know what country she was calling from, she hung up!  I knew it was an obvious scam and called her quite a few choice names during the brief conversation.  Probably should have put her on "terminal hold" for the rest of the night!

Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2015-02-14T22:31:45+00:00

@ climatechangeisreal

I have no idea why that link suddenly doesn't work anymore...

I've asked here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/feedback/forum/fdbk_commsite-feedback_other/why-is-official-msft-link-report-a-scam-broken/7c98c1f7-c788-4f53-8247-0d4b5e6815fb?tm=1423952532535 if somebody knows if it's a temporary glitch or something else...

Thanks for pointing it out :)

J

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments

86 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-11-29T20:51:21+00:00

    I had the same call a few minutes ago 11/29/14 @ 3:15PM.   The voices were English with an India accent.  Not very good English.  They kept saying they were Window Support and my computer was broadcasting errors to their servers.  I click on record on my phone to record the conversation.  I followed their instructions but did not load or run anything I know was dangerous to my PC.   The asked me to load eventvwr from the run command window and click on Custom Views then double click on Administrative Events were I do have some normal errors listed.   At that point I was pass on to someone else but I did tell them that they were being recorded and I got them to claim they were Microsoft support after asking several times.    I believe this can be investigated with my recording but I need to know where to send this recording and info so someone can investigate.   The phone number that called me was 212.354.9627 which is a NY area code but I don't believe they guys were in NY.   I recently made purchased and quite inquires via Dell where I had to speak to someone with a similar accent.   I believe they are connected and I will bring this up with Dell also.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments