SF LSM types are only just now learning about it?
Boilerplate scam. BFD.
I guess NBC Bay Area news needs something to fill the empty slots created by not reporting all the leftist scams, crimes and misc “wrong doings”.
(To the victim): Welcome to the party, pal! This scam has been circulating for at least a couple of years now, and I’ve heard of even earlier instances.
Most people just hang up, because as the article notes, MS will never call you to “fix” your computer (nothing they do is free); it’s a $250 charge just to talk to their support before they even try to fix something.
Some people, particularly those with non-MS operating systems, will play along and let the “caller” enjoy trying to “fix” MacOS or Linux (or occasionally something even more exotic).
And a very few will let the “caller” connect to their Tarbaby computer and turn the tables on the would-be identity thief/hacker.
I received that call two weeks ago. When I told the idiot I have already traced back to his terminal IP address there was a loud noise as he slammed himself off line. Hope he pissed his pants.
Same arsewipe called here last Friday, too! I really pissed him off when I kept saying I couldn’t understand him due to his heavy accent. I even told him to go find an American to translate. He finally got so mad he hung up.
This is a fairly well-known scam.
A good way to counter this scam is to play with their mind and say you have traced their computer and it does not appear to be in a Microsoft office, so you have placed it under remote control to determine if it has an authorized license by Microsoft. And that they should not turn off their computer while this information is being collected or it could damage their operating system and hard drive, leaving it exposed to hackers...
etc. Such individuals can be remarkably gullible.
Is “Mike Johnson” employed by the IRS, NSA, BLM, or political operatives for the Muslim Democrat Brotherhood at the White Hut?
Someone from “BarclayCard MasterCard” tried a credit card scam on me last week. An automated system told me that there had been some suspicious activity on my card. The next prompt asked me to enter my 16-digit credit card number.
Yeah, right.
My wife got the same call a few days later. The system sounded very professional, very like what you might hear when you call an actual credit card company.
I’ve gotten calls like that, too. Didn’t fall for the scam, though. Didn’t think microsoft would be spending their time calling up customers.
Things must really be slow in SF.
I receive these calls all the time. My fav response: “I’m a system manager and I’m sitting here looking at 27 servers, all running Apache. Which one did you say was broken?”
Then I lay the phone down and continue w/ my business. When the phone starts beeping, indicating they hung up, I hang up the phone.
‘mike johnson’ is from india
"Oh, so you work for Microsoft, do you? I'm surprised you're willing to admit it. Well, since I have you on the line, LET ME TELL YOU EXACTLY WHAT I THINK OF YOUR LATEST SO-CALLED OPERATING SYSTEM!"
At least once a month. I tell’em FU! Mrs.TaMoDee is a little more gentle, She says: “Screw avous!”
I didn’t know I should contact the news every time one of these clowns calls my house. They always sound like they are from India or Pakistan but they all have names like Mike Johnson.
They usually say my PC has been compromised in some way just before I tell them I don’t have a PC. There is dead silence after that. So I hang up.
I even had one call me to let me know that my Apple “device” had a problem. I know that Apple never makes phone calls like that, so I ask them the serial number. They hang up.
I get these same phone calls twice a week. Usually, the person has an Indian accent and is hard to understand. I usually try to waste their time by asking them to repeat themselves. Then I ask to speak to someone who knows how to speak English. Finally, I ask for a legitimate number where I can contact them because I am turning over the case to the FBI. I tell them that because someone has hacked my computer, I want to know who is doing it and want them prosecuted to the full extent of the law. By that time, I get a disconnect sound in my phone. They are not having any FBI checking in on them.
Last week I noted on the most recent statement, a fraudulent charge to a credit card of mine. Some unwashed OWS hippie in Seattle bought $117.95 worth of Starbuck’s with the card.
Now... this card, which is associated with a major department store retailer, was only used twice by myself since I was given this card... both times in the store.
I bought a battery for my car last year, and more recently a kitchen appliance. These were in-store purchases.
So...riddle me this... how did they get my card information? Seattle is 2000 miles away. I never used the card online...or in any other place but the store that issued it.
A bigger scam than Windows 8? I doubt it.
The losers call every couple of weeks. Sometimes I call them Haji nonstop. They get pissed and hang up. Haji Haji Haji Haji, you get the idea.