Microsoft Refund Scam

Suffice to say this thread has run its course, so will be locked.

FYI:

You might think a call is coming from New York, etc. but numbers are easily "spoofed".

And a lot of these calls originate from countries outside of Western Law Enforcement, so they can't be caught.

If you want to report it:

This is the advice given to anyone who has any phone calls, etc. like this about Malware, License Expiry, Refunds, etc..

And your machine does not send out messages to anyone saying that it has problems or is infected with Malware, etc.

We all have errors and warnings in our event viewer, which is another ploy they use to scare you

These so-called "Microsoft" Tech Companies either want to sell you worthless software, or gain Remote Access to your Computer to try and steal your Banking and Credit Card details and to also carry out an Identity Theft on you.

You are the only one who knows if you have given them Remote Access.

If you have given them Remote Access and if you do Internet Banking, contact your Bank, explain it to them and change Passwords.

If you use your Credit Card online, cancel it and get a new one issued to you.

And the only way that you willl know that you are free of them is to save your Data and do a clean install of your Operating System.

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And Microsoft does not contact you, unless YOU have made prior arrangements with them to do so.

There is a section in the link I am supplying you about this at the end of it

Read this Microsoft Information:

"Avoid tech support phone scams"

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx

Do not trust unsolicited calls. Do not provide any personal information.

Here are some of the organizations that cybercriminals claim to be from:

• Windows Helpdesk
• Windows Service Center
• Microsoft Tech Support
• Microsoft Support
• Windows Technical Department Support Group
• Microsoft Research and Development Team (Microsoft R & D Team)

Report phone scams

• Help Microsoft stop cybercriminals by reportinginformation about your phone scam.
• In the United States, use the FTC Complaint Assistant form.
• In Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) can provide support.
• In the United Kingdom, you can report fraud as well as unsolicited calls.

Cheers.

.

As of 9 Aug 2019 the scam is still going on though the most recent call seemed to be from a computer generated female voice and the the phone number is now an 833 area code.  Hard to believe these scams work well enough to support the staff, equipment and telecomm fees.

I wish it was not, but you are completely right.

This is a well-known and recurring scam that ranks right up there with the phony "IRS has issued a warrant for your arrest unless you call this number now."  The telephone numbers are useless since almost all scammers use spoofing software that generates a phony number on your caller ID.  We wouldn't keep getting these calls and emails if they weren't paying off for the scammers.  If they get "bites" on only one percent of their calls, they've had a good payday.

There are just way too many naïve and trusting folks out there, especially elderly people who were raised in an era when people trusted each other and phone scams and phishing hadn't yet been invented.

Same scam, different day and numbers! Two new scam numbers are 704-399-3785 and 704-476-0569. Same Indian sounding gentleman offering a refund of the Windows support that I never paid for. "Just click on a link to follow technical instructions and we can refund your money." I kept asking him to read me the link as I certainly wasn't going to click on anything he sent me. Unsurprisingly, he wouldn't do it and ultimately hung up on me.