Microsoft license key/IP address scam

Any response to this, Microsoft?

I just received a call five minutes ago on my cell phone. Caller ID matched my home phone landline. Automated woman's voice (the older kind of automated technology, tempo not smooth,) said that my license key was going to be deactivated, because my IP address has been compromised, and in several countries too. I was to hold to speak to someone. I hold for no one when the caller ID is suspicious, as well as when it is in regards to one of my accounts. I can call the company back directly myself and if it's that important or legit, they'll have me on the line that way. (Same with emails. I refuse to click a link in any email, even those I am certain are legit. I'll go type the web address myself, thank you very much, and go to my account and customer service to deal with whatever.) However, Microsoft - you need to be aware this is happening. Obviously to a lot of customers since my experience matches exactly the OP's experience.

Apparently not. I've had all four of our cell phones and landline on the National Do Not Call Registry since the year of inception, and every five years I re-register just to be safe. I have never stopped getting unsolicited marketing calls since, but the past two years have been the worst. I checked the National Do Not Call Registry last year and sure enough all four of our numbers are still on it. I reported violations like we are supposed to, but nothing ever happens and those same calls keep coming. There has also been a huge increase in the fraudulent kind: scam calls, threat calls, caller-ID spoofing, and calls like this Microsoft one to scare you into something that you think is serious. The caller-ID spoofing is a way around the National Do Not Call Registry for a lot of advertising too. If you can't prove they were the caller, they can't get caught.

It just ticks me off that Microsoft is not responding to those of us earnestly trying to find out if there is something we do need to worry about in regards to our Windows licenses or not, and to confirm with us that yes, this is a serious scam just as we are assuming and we need to continue to ignore it, and they will report this to the proper governmental authorities, yada yada. if MICROSOFT reports it, I bet it will get a lot more investigative attention than if just lil' ol me from the pokie boonies calls. My complaint will just get added to some erroneous list that collects dust. But if a big corporation complains? Something tells me that they'll sit up and take notice and get on it pronto. It's the least Microsoft can do for its loyal customers, you'd think, and doesn't take much effort on our behalf. Post something Microsoft!  It's hard sometimes to know for sure if it's ok to ignore a call - so you need to reach out to your customers as a whole. I called you twice, but alas, I couldn't afford any more of the 45+ minutes it took to navigate through a stick-a-fork-in-my-eye-instead-pleaseautomated system just to finally get to the "someone will be with you in a moment" point to wait to speak to a real person.

There are a lot of news stories and forums today discussing the caller-ID spoofing problem and how a team of attorneys are confronting the government head-on to get them to finally really do something about this, like give the phone companies power to detect the spoofing caller ID numbers right up front and block them, which will eliminate both the crooks and the abusive advertising - unlike the government's previous attempts that had no impact.

As for businesses and advertisers that ignore the Do Not Call laws that aren't being enforced, we need more manpower to enforce that in a major and public way to really deter new violations. Make an example out of a lot of companies doing this, not just a few, and you'll find that you won't need to continue keeping as much enforcement manpower in place in the future. But I've never heard of any company getting in trouble for violating the Do Not Call Registry, have you?

DO NOT PANIC! There are many videos about scammers telling the trollers that their IP is "compromised" and (the trollers) expose them, find their IP and RAT their computer. They are trying to access your computer, (to steal your sensitive information through TeamViewer, GoToAssist etc.) lock you out from your PC (using a program called "syskey") to make you pay more money to theoretically "fix" it. The will tell you a price ranging from $300 to over $1000. It looks that the Caller ID is your phone number, but it really isn't. They spoofed their number to make it look like your phone number so you can't block them. Microsoft would never call you on your phone number. They anyways arent your ISP. Microsoft would also never deactivate your license key if anything happened. Your information is not compromised unless you gave it to them.

MastetKitty78

I just received a phone call on my cell phone, the caller ID was my own phone number. Was curious so I answered it, probably shouldn't have. I don't have a smart phone by the way. The robo voice said it was microsoft, that my windows license key was going to be deactivated because my IP address had been compromised from several different countries and they needed to set up a new IP address for me. I was then transferred to a person. Couldn't understand them so hung up. Is any of my information compromised, also concerned that the caller ID on my cell phone was my cell phone number?

Received same phone call twice today (9/11/2018)  it came through my land line which is forwarded to my cell phone, it was strange that the caller ID displayed on my cell phone was my land line #.   That should not happen so now I am very concerned.  I stayed on the line during both calls until the voice said I was being transferred to a tech person, at that point I hung up.  Then checked my email, but nothing from Microsoft.   I am now wondering if I should contact my internet server re my IP address.

I just received a call identical to the one detailed above.  Caller ID also matched my name/home's landline #.  I actually waited on the line to see if any customer service rep would talk to me (even though I knew better than to divulge ANYTHING, and figured this to be a scam) but the call disconnected despite being told to hang on the line for a customer service person.

Edit:  one letter/typo