Category: Website Scam

Louise and the Microsoft Support Scammer

Louise started up Internet Explorer browser on her PC and a screen popped up with a warning

WARNING – YOUR COMPUTER IS INFECTED

CALL Microsoft SUPPORT on 0208 3808 8964 IMMEDIATELY.

DO NOT TURN YOUR COMPUTER OFF OR ATTEMPT TO DO ANYTHING ELSE

Louise called the number immediately.

A very pleasant Indian man answered and he seemed very knowledgeable and assured her he would resolve the problem.

He asked her to install a piece of Citrix software which she did so he could take control of her PC and establish the nature of the problem.

He emphasised that the PC was badly infected and how important it was to remove the threat.

He warned her to turn off any other computers or mobile phones in the house as they could also become  infected.

At this point, his patter turned into more of a sales pitch for a package that would solve her problem and this made Louise suspicious.

Now Louise’s husband Charles was surprised at the request to turn off other computers and that made him suspicious so he turned the iPAD back on and searched for scams.

He found it – the “Microsoft Support scam”.

Charles then pulled the power cord from the PC to end any incursion by the support scammer.

What happened next?

The scammers called back three times and were ignored until they stopped calling.

Charles ran Kaspersky anti-virus to scan the PC for problems and installed Malwarebytes to also scan for any other malware. He also deleted the Citrix installation.

The PC was safe and they hadn’t been scammed but Charles and Louise had a narrow escape.

If continued, the scammers may have garnered credit card details, bank details, logins and passwords. etc.  as well as being paid for removing a non-existent computer virus.

If you see a warning screen like the one above – turn off the computer and contact a professional.  Do not call the number on screen as they are scammers.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

The Fake Zeus Virus Warning Scam

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You get a frightening message on screen saying that Windows has detected the Zeus virus on your computer.

It warns “Don’t Restart Your Computer”

But it also provides a solution – Call technical support on 0800-086914 and gives you a code to quote to the support agent.

Your computer does NOT have Zeus virus – it’s just a webpage designed to frighten you and get you to call the phone number. If you call, the agent (who is just a scammer) will lead you through a script intended to get you to pay to have the problem fixed and in the supposed fix process may well install software designed to steal your passwords and credit card numbers.

There is no problem to be fixed – just a scammer at work. Do not call the number. If you are in any doubt then take your computer to a professional for assessment. And don’t be afraid to restart the computer – the scammer didn’t want you to realise that the message goes away with a reboot (or just terminating the browser).

Everyone should take basic precautions with their computer – ensure that anti-virus is running and kept up to date and you need to run a complete anti-virus check on your computer once a week.

Use common sense – do not open attachments or click links in messages unless you are sure they are safe.

Three of the most popular anti-virus software packages are McAfee, AVG and Norton.

Don’t fall for the scammer’s tricks.

Stay safe

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Virus Found Scam

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You’re using Google or another browser and up pops a window that looks official.

It says

Some suspicious activity has been detected at your IP address.

Cydoor spyware may have caused a network breach at your location.

Personal and financial information may be at risk.

Call toll-free 0800-014-8212

Please contact a certified Microsoft technician to rectify your situation

Please do not attempt to close your browser or open another one in order to avoid corruption of your operating system.

A second popup claims that multiple high risk infections have been detected and my credit card information is at risk. So I must call the toll free number.

This is just a scam. The phone number isn’t for a Microsoft certified professional, it’s a scammers number and they will then convince me to let them take control of my PC and end up paying a lot of money to remove non-existent problems.

Don’t fall for this. If you see these kinds of messages – disconnect the Internet and shut down the computer then restart it and run an anti-virus scan.

If you are in any doubt as to whether your computer has a virus – then take it to a professional but do not call the phone numbers in the popups.