26/01/11

MICROSOFT HOAX CALLS

The following email was sent by IT specialist company Rascom with regard to Microsoft Hoax Calls – please be aware…

From: Robert Stokes [mailto:robstokes@rascom-it.co.uk]
Sent: 26 January 2011 09:17
To: Robert Stokes
Subject: [Scam Warning] Microsoft hoax calls
Importance: High

All,

It’s not often I do a mass email to all of my contacts but there is a scam going around and I know some people have been caught up in it – the scammers are very persuasive on this one and apparently sound very genuine.

I’ve just gone through my entire address book on this one so if any of you get this email more than once, I’m sorry but it’s better to make sure everyone I know gets it rather than miss someone out and risk that they could be the ones that get stung.

The scam involves you getting a call (at home or work) from someone saying they are from Microsoft and that they have seen a number of reports of errors and system crashes from your system.  They then direct you to go into the Event Viewer program in Windows and highlight any warnings or error messages that are in there.  It is actually perfectly normal for Windows to log and report some errors but most people don’t realise this.  Once they’ve alerted the caller to these error messages, the scammers say they can take over your computer system and fix the problem for you….  but at a cost.  Now I’ve heard stories of anything between £150 and £350 being charged but these scammers have been working all over the UK as well as in Southern Ireland so they’re making a fair chunk of money off unsuspecting victims.

Once they get access to your system, they install some software on it that looks to be genuinely fixing the problems but is, in actual fact, key-logging and reporting software which sends information back to them about what you’ve been doing on your system, what sites you’ve been to and, more importantly, banking and credit card information.

Let me assure you that Microsoft will never contact you.  They don’t have your contact details and, more to the point, don’t have the time and man-power resources (or woman-power if any Sky Sports presenters are reading this) to contact people out of the blue to tell them something isn’t right.

These spammers are very persistent and I’ve even known them ring people up to try to con them but been told it wasn’t convenient for them to look at right now and then to arrange a more convenient time to call back – which they’ve stuck to!!  They sound very plausible and give the caller enough cause for concern to make them appear genuine.  They’re not.

They use numbers that either cannot be traced or come up as withheld or, sometimes, just ‘0’ so there is little that you can do.

If you receive such a call, simply hang up and do not part with any money or let them onto your computer.

There has been reports in the media all across the country about this but people are still be affected by it and losing money because of it.  Don’t get caught up in it.  If you have concerns or problems with your computer, phone someone who specialises in IT support (yes, like us!).  Don’t accept help from someone who calls you out of the blue just because they claim to be from a company you recognise the name of.

Kind Regards

Robert Stokes
RASCOM I.T. LIMITED
desktops  …  laptops  …  touchscreens  …  point-of-sale solutions  …  support  …  repairs  …  upgrades  …  internet security  …  networking  …  consultancy