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Last updateSun, 09 Apr 2017 3pm

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Do Not Do This!

You received a phone call from someone with a foreign accent. That person identified themselves as part of the Microsoft support team explaining a severe issue with your computer that need to be fixed. That phone call will attempt to continue to get information and your charge card to "fix the issue". DO NOT DO THIS! This is a scam.

Microsoft and the Microsoft Partners do not do this! They do not hire sub-contractors or people or even get volunteers to do this.

In another case, a display comes up on your computer desktop. Many times, it may be a message when you start your browser. The message states that your computer has severe issues and recommends that you need to call the listed phone number. DO NOT DO THIS! This is a scam. If you call, you will get someone explaining their issue and offer to work on your computer. They will prompt you for payment with a credit card before working on your computer. They will generally will install programs and/or tools onto your desktop. AGAIN, DO NOT DO THIS!

You may receive a phone call stating they can see your computer with problems to fix. Many times it would be you having an illegal copy of Windows. HANG UP! This is a scam. They cannot see your computer. You can challenge them to ask the caller for your computer name and where are they calling from. They will not be able to answer the name of your computer. Most likely the caller will repeat the issue and ask for your information. They may be persistent and persuasive to get information. DO NOT GIVE INFORMATION! Just hang up!

When you start up your computer, you may experience an unexpected program scanning. These programs generally claim to scan for performance issues or malicious code. The performance scans may show issues but will require payment to resolve the issues if they are true. As for malicious scans, they are generally false. Many times, the unwanted programs will not show the program name. These virus scanners have been known to insert viruses for you to see in the scan results. Both types of unwanted programs will prompt you to pay with a credit card to resolve the performance issues or to remove the inserted viruses. DO NOT DO THIS! This again is a scam.

Where do these scams come from?

These scamming events are very common when you go to an infected website. You may get a popup from that site:

  • prompting you to do something
  • to get you redirected to another website
  • to download and install unwanted programs
  • to get you to answer questions and ask for your credit card

Emails is also another path of scammed and getting a unwanted programs.

What are some things you can do avoid this?

This hackers and scammers are working 24/7 to get to you. Here are some basic common recommendations:

  1. Above all, have a very good and well known security suite subscription. Using just simple anti-virus and computer firewall is really not good enough however better than nothing. A security suite should at least include anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, firewall, privacy protection, and intrusion protection.
  2. Try to avoid questionable websites with popups.
  3. When web searching, be specific what you are searching for.
  4. Check the websites before downloading free stuff.
  5. Try to get security suite that offers insights that may warn you of websites that may be a threat.