"Microsoft Support Call Scam"(Event Viewer)

Anonymous
2014-08-13T14:31:05+00:00

I received a phone call today from a private caller with an Indian accent saying he was from Microsoft Support.

He told me my computer was constantly sending windows errors to Microsooft and we needed to fix it.

He went on to ask me how many computers I have in my home and said all of them had to be fixed.

He had me go on my computer, type: EVENTVEWR in the box and look in options,all of this sounded strange as he kept asking me what i was seeing on my screen at the time.

I went on to ask him to hold and googled "Microsoft Support Call Event Viewer" in which I found a blog with lots of people having the same thing happen to them(http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-security/phone-call-scam-received-call-from-a-technician/6ed2b99c-20ff-468b-a69b-aec78b93f287?page=22&tm=1407939072026 )

I then hung up the phone and he kept calling back(4 times)and this time it was a local number(15129633287), of which I googled immediately, bringing up a list of local numbers on a list with a foreign language as the titles.

I then decided to call Microsoft Support directly to confirm it was a scam and was informed that Microsoft never makes calls without a customer request and that Microsoft has its own set of programs it uses to fix computers instead of "event viewer".

I was told I could submit a post on here to let Microsoft know of the Incident, which is the purpose of this post..in addition to help anyone else from having to go through the experience many people have had with this issue.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-01-17T11:28:27+00:00

    17 January 2017. Exactly the same MO as above. It appears this scam is not over. I asked to phone him back.

    It will never be over so long as gullible people fall for it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-01-17T04:47:05+00:00

    17 January 2017. Exactly the same MO as above. It appears this scam is not over. I asked to phone him back. The number he supplied was 1800 049 064 and that his name was William. Optus advises that this number has been disconnected.

    Carl

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-01-06T01:11:07+00:00

    I have had same call on my old computer ,sorry to say when it first happened I was not to bright & did go to my computer because it was an H.P. I got thru Microsoft computer did not act right from then on I now have a new computer I bought from Micro soft store [a good price but not cheap] when I got it in mail it came with1 sheet of paper I tried to set up myself but do not believe I did correctly I still have issues & my printer is not connected & cannot reach a person to help I did get a call back from a machine a person came on line said he could not hear me hung up. Microsoft has my money & I do have computer which I believe is very good if I could just use properly & print what I need. the problem of scammers claiming to be Microsoft are quite common now the adage buyer beware is VERY true now I am beginning to think we should all deal with ONLY AMERICAN MADE products now help our own people no one else does. Money made in U.S. stays in U.S.

    I assume you are serious and will not use anything that comes from outside the USA. Particularly those things the USA doesn't manufacture. How many diamond mines are there in the USA?

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-01-05T17:50:10+00:00

    I have had same call on my old computer ,sorry to say when it first happened I was not to bright & did go to my computer because it was an H.P. I got thru Microsoft computer did not act right from then on I now have a new computer I bought from Micro soft store [a good price but not cheap] when I got it in mail it came with1 sheet of paper I tried to set up myself but do not believe I did correctly I still have issues & my printer is not connected & cannot reach a person to help I did get a call back from a machine a person came on line said he could not hear me hung up. Microsoft has my money & I do have computer which I believe is very good if I could just use properly & print what I need. the problem of scammers claiming to be Microsoft are quite common now the adage buyer beware is VERY true now I am beginning to think we should all deal with ONLY AMERICAN MADE products now help our own people no one else does. Money made in U.S. stays in U.S.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-11-10T09:31:09+00:00

    Same happened here, about one hour ago.

    The number was apparently a local Swiss number (069854258), but after a check with my provider we realized it's probably spoofed (in their registry, even local calls appears with +41 in front, and no leading 0).

    I just let them guide me through the whole procedure (without really doing anything, at home I just have a Mac), and he was quite surprised about something not working. He must have realized I was just pulling his leg, and suddenly passed the phone to his "colleague", that told me I wasted their time, since they were just trying to help, and they'll call again and again because "it's their duty".

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