Got a call from microsoft saying my pc is hacked/virus

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dullard

Elite Member
May 21, 2001
26,066
4,712
126
http://www.bbb.org/blog/2012/01/scam-alert-microsoft-is-not-calling-to-fix-your-computer/


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/20/1279130/-If-you-get-a-call-about-your-computer-it-s-a-scam#


http://blogs.microsoft.com/cybertrust/2014/06/26/is-that-call-from-microsoft-a-scam/


I could go on and on. It is a scam. Those are normal error messages. All Windows computers have them. For example, error #7009 in your computer usually means something didn't start because a password wasn't typed in. That is a very common issue and not a problem with your computer.

Oh, and they'll call monthly for the rest of time (a coworker of mine has had it going on for a couple of years now).
 
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sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,492
3,163
136
If YOU found a virus and needed assistance from MS, do you have any idea the time and trouble you'd have getting the attention of a legit MS tech support?
You could be on the phone for days, and once connected, on hold for hours.
So that right there tells you or should tell you that MS is never gonna call you.
And good luck if you need to call them.
Silly thread. Silly.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
^ hell I'd be wary if contacted by a cybercrime division too.

Thankfully, nomorobo.com has been great for me. I know it works against non-robo call advertisers too because Big Brothers Big Sisters have been blocked too judging by the caller ID. They are not robo callers, but still unsolicited.
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,157
1,804
126
Got my wife, almost.

Yahoo! Mail was having serious issues with their servers, so my wife wasn't getting her email consistently. So, she Googled a support number for them, and called it. Turns out it was an ad out there in internetland leading to a third party, who told her her computer was infected and they have three options to fix her Yahoo! Mail. She called me to ask if she just needed a one-time fix, or a monthly subscription.

I told her to cut him off and hang up, and then I wiped the user account, which luckily was on OS X, and also was non-admin account. I think most of the scams are designed for Windows.

Yahoo! fixed its servers a couple days later, and all was fine.