An integrated threat protection solution designed to detect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats across Microsoft 365 services.
Use these steps to get the scam off the screen and then use Defender to check for malware.
- Close the fake “security” or “Defender” page
- Try closing the browser tab/window normally.
- If it won’t close, press Ctrl+Alt+Del and choose Task Manager.
- In Task Manager, select the web browser (for example, Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox) and choose End task for each browser process until the browser closes.
- If that still doesn’t work, press and hold the power button for 10–20 seconds to turn the PC off, then turn it back on. When the browser asks to “restore previous pages,” select No so the scam page does not reopen.
- Clear the browser history so the scam page doesn’t come back
- Reopen the browser.
- Clear history, cookies, and cached files so the malicious page is not reloaded from history.
- Avoid going back to the same site or link that triggered the pop‑up.
- Run Microsoft Defender to check for malware
- Open Windows Security.
- Go to Virus & threat protection.
- Run a Full scan with Microsoft Defender Antivirus.
- If Defender finds malware, follow the prompts to quarantine or remove it. Defender will block and try to remove detected threats.
- If any scammer had remote access or software was installed
- Uninstall any applications that were installed at the scammer’s request.
- Consider resetting the device using Windows recovery options if fake alerts keep appearing and make the device hard to use.
- Change passwords and apply all Windows updates.
- How to avoid these scams next time
- Do not call any phone number shown in pop‑ups; Microsoft error or warning messages never include a phone number.
- Microsoft does not make unsolicited calls or send unsolicited emails to fix a device or request payment.
- Use Microsoft Edge with Microsoft Defender SmartScreen and, where available, scareware blocker to help block known support‑scam and scareware sites.
If no phone number was called, no remote access was given, and no software was installed, the issue is usually limited to the browser and not a full infection.
References:
- Protect yourself from tech support scams
- Protect yourself from online scams and attacks
- Keep your computer secure at home
- Getting started with anti-malware in Microsoft Defender
- Tech support scams
- Prevent online scams with the scareware blocker in Microsoft Edge
- Microsoft Defender Scam or Do I have a virus on my computer - Microsoft Q&A
- Windows defender scam - Microsoft Q&A
- How do I report a possible scam from Microsoft? - Microsoft Q&A
- why can't you block AnyTech365.com....they are a scam company posing as Microsoft supported, stealing information? - Microsoft Q&A
- Disabled computer - Microsoft Q&A