Microsoft license key/IP address scam

I posted this on the previous page, but my posts were long, so I'll paste it here in a direct reply to you. I hope it helps!

the FTC site had a really good page to explain why it is so important to take the time to report each call. One of those reasons is to help the phone companies as they try to develop call blocking technologies. Not knowing how the phone industry tracks call origination, I'm not sure how they can get a handle on caller ID spoofing like this Microsoft one showing my home landline on the caller ID, but apparently we are supposed to report those kind too. Since you report it with date and time of day, they must have some way of tracking the call at that time? Logic would say there should be, but  I don't know if the various phone companies spent the time developing systems that can go that nitty gritty. Here's the article:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2017/08/heres-big-reason-complain-about-unwanted-calls

I would encourage anyone coming to this page having the same experience with the Microsoft license call to report them. Date, time of day, caller ID number shown, (in my case it's always my home phone,) if you answered - then report anything that the caller said and what the subject of the call was. In my case, I will be reporting the details for at least 25 calls originating from my "home number" for this Microsoft scam just from the past 4 days since they are still in my call history log. Maybe if all of us do the same it will be worth our time. Following is some help if you want it... 

Even though I find it relatively simple, others can find it to be tedious navigating through a website's many links to find just the right place to do this. Since I just did it for myself and navigated through all the many menus and descriptions, I'll place the link here for the computer related reports to help out should you want that, and you can just go right to it and save time. Click here for the FTC Link to that page for starting a complaint related to computer scams - and it will have the following three categories:  

1. Hardware or Software
2. Spyware or Computer Viruses
3. Someone pretended to be associated with a company offering to remove a virus or malware from your computer

I'm not sure which one our Microsoft scammer would be reported to because technically a Windows license problem is "software" (category 1) but they pretend to be associated with Microsoft (category 3) but it is not related to virus removal but to your IP address being compromised and placing your license at risk (IP-related not listed specifically.) So ... technically it is just as much of a scam about your IP address as it is your software license. Good luck deciding. LOL  There is a category for Internet Services, but I believe that is more about the call trying to sell you internet services and support, etc.

There is also a category under "Scams and Ripoffs" called "Impostor Scams: Someone posing as a well-known business, a family/friend, or a government agency." Here is the direct link to start a complaint under that category: Imposter Scams. I guess our Microsoft call fits this one just as much as a computer related category, and I might choose this one since number 3 above specifically states offers to remove virus/malware. I haven't decided yet, but hope I've helped point out a couple places where you can go.

One last thing to the desperately annoyed like me:  there are also call blocking services you can try to use. I have one but it appears that after five years it is not working very well anymore given I have over 15 unwanted calls each day. Scammers are constantly changing the number they use and most of those services just block previously reported numbers. In that case I could have a full time unpaid job reporting all the calls that I get. But here is a link to information about other services and methods that I haven't looked at yet:   

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0548-blocking-unwanted-calls

I am having the same exact issue today did you get any replys on how to stop the calls or how to report.  I just keep hanging up and the last time I did not pick up.

After two days of the calls, I contacted my landline telephone provider, A.T. & T....spoke with a tech person....explained what was happening...... who checked a few things on my line and then suggested I report the problem to the FCC.  He called it "Caller ID Spoofing".  He gave me a phone # 888-225-5322 for the FCC.   Received sporadic phone calls for several days after from this same source I assume because my phone # was on the caller id for some of the calls;  however I did not answer my phone, instead I let all calls go to my answering machine. Then the phone calls stopped.

I too just received a phone call on my land line, ( every 30 minutes or so today) the caller ID was my own phone number beneath a long curious number V0136194000012.   I was curious so I finally answered it.  

The robo voice (Shirley) said it was microsoft, that my windows license key was going to be deactivated in 48 hours because my IP address had been compromised from several different countries and they needed to set up a new IP address for me.  Iwas asked to press 1 to speak to someone.  I was then transferred to a person.   I hung up b/c it sounds like a scam.

The V0136194000012 is a phone number if you take off V013. Their area code is 619. It appears that they are near San Diego, California according to NANPA. (link: https://www.nationalnanpa.com/area_code_maps/display.html?ca) They spoofed their phone number to California. The scammers are usually near Kolkata, India. If you reverse phone lookup the phone number (without V013) on whitepages.com, you will see it is a valid phone number at San Diego, CA. If you go on YouTube and search "tech support scammers" or something like that, you will find many similar stuff that people have experienced. I have watched many videos about that topic for hours and it was very entertaining. They (the scammers) also do the same thing over and over again. I have never received a call from a scammer, so enjoy the moments (when you can) wasting their time and getting them angry because you said that they are scamming or you insult them. Sometimes they start acting childish! Hopefully they won't call you again after what you said to them!  If you can, try to spoof your number to keep annoying them while using a voice changer.

Sincerely,

MastetKitty78

P.S. It is a landline and no one has claimed the phone number.

P.S.S It is with CenturyLink.

Hello!

*Note* Criminals do not pay attention to Do Not Call Lists.  They break rules, that's why they are criminals.

I am not a Microsoft Empolyee, but I can tell you that YES, this is a scam.  I was called multiple times today.  I finally stayed on and was actually connected to someone.  He asked if I was the owner of 'the computer'.  I have two, so I told him, "Yes, I do own my computers." and asked which one had a problem.  (He can't tell me because there is no problem - IT'S A SCAM)  

He asked if both were connected to the same internet.  I told him (truthfully) that there are multiple computers connected to the same network here and again asked which one.  He advised me that all computers would be having the same issue (even this would mean it's a network issue, not a computer one).  I then asked why the caller ID showed it was my own phone calling.  He told me it was because they were calling through the internet and so it was normal and not a problem.

I used to work in a legitimate call center and so I am familiar with at least a fewlaws about these things.  I advised him that, in fact, it was not ok.   In the United States, companies need to have the express consent of the owner of the cell phone in order to call it.  Using a computer to make calls and playing a recorded messages are also highly regulated.  I told him that they would actually need to have my express consent in order to legally contact me on my cell phone and not with a robo-caller.  I said I would follow up with Microsoft on my own - and this is about when the call went dead.  

Having worked in a law-abiding call center, I can tell you that Do Not Call registries and requests are taken VERY seriously as they get VERY expensive VERY quickly.  If anyone ever questioned whether we were legit or a scam, we'd tell them we completely understood, gave them the company name and encouraged them to contact us back through a channel they trusted.  

Unfortunately, as Microsoft are not the people doing this, they can do almost nothing to stop or prevent it.   If you get a call from these people, PLEASE report it to the FTC.  And hope for no more government shut-downs.  The F in FTC stands for Federal so when the Federal Government shuts down, no one is or can work to stop these criminals.

https://www.ftc.gov/

Wifi-drues