"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
    2016-01-27T07:40:30+00:00

    "Microsoft and Dell need to look at their outsourced employees, for whom else could have access to customers names and phone numbers."

    They don't. They call random numbers. Most people have a PC in the house these days and most of them are online and a lot have jus updated to Windows 10.

    I got 3 in less than an hour yesterday. I like to play with them if I'm not busy.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-01-27T14:04:22+00:00

    "They don't. They call random numbers. Most people have a PC in the house these days and most of them are online and a lot have jus updated to Windows 10."

    Yeah, Right, d0gknees.

    This was one of the first explanations I got from Dell when I reported this scam. But I'll ask you as I asked Dell. What are the chances someone randomly calls your number and knows your first name? On top of that they call 100 people and get all of  their first names correct?

    They should be at the Casino instead of dialing phone numbers.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-29T05:50:50+00:00

    "for whom else could have access to customers names and phone numbers."

    Anyone with a phone book has access to those details. You can also get it for a lot of people by simply googling their name, address or phone number.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-01-29T13:52:59+00:00

    Anyone with a phone book would have access to your given name? What if your name is not published? How do they know to call you by a name that you rarely use?  You can Google a telephone number and  a persons given name and address appears alongside the number?

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-02-01T05:49:02+00:00

    Anyone with a phone book would have access to your given name? What if your name is not published? How do they know to call you by a name that you rarely use?  You can Google a telephone number and  a persons given name and address appears alongside the number?

    In a lot of cases, you can track down this information. I did it as a test by searching for a phone number of a friend of mine. I was able to track down his full name and address. Also the address of his ex-wife. You can't get everyones name this way, but with some effort, it's amazing what you can find out.

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