Online Tech Support Phone scams have this uncanny habit of influencing novice computer users into giving their personal details to get remote access to their pristine machines and charge hundreds of dollars for fixing imaginary problems. The story has remained the same for years but is getting only uglier. The callers have started issuing death threats!
Normally, scammers pretending to work for big establishments like Microsoft Tech Support, call potential victims, politely inform them their computers are infected, convince them to provide remote access, and then charge them some hefty amount to fix problems.
Microsoft Tech Support Scam calls
Smart users well understand the fact that a caller that calls you up claiming to help ease your computer woes is out to scam you. When the call goes wrong he just hangs up the phone. However, recent incident suggests scammers do not hesitate in taking things to a new level by threatening to kill a user who successfully manages to point out that the scammer is trying to steal money.
A call recorded by smart Dulisse reveals that things at times do go wrong. When he accused the scammer of trying to install malware on his computer that would steal banking information, passwords, and PayPal credentials, things turned ugly. The caller upon learning his evil intentions are being gauged by Dulisse became irritated, kind of nasty and angry.
He warned Dulisse of the dire consequences he would have to face if he refused to agree to his conditions.
“You do understand we have each and every information, your address, your phone number. We have our group in Canada. I will call them, I will provide your information to them, they will come to you, they will kill you.” He said in the course of conversation.
Tricking people into spending dollars on non-existent computer problems has become a regular practice for Microsoft Tech Support Scam operators. Microsoft has found that approximately 200,000 of victims have lost money in such scams.
It makes me feel like my youth action hero figure 🙂
I often feel like saying this words to these scammers.
“Go ahead, make my day” (Harry Callahan=Dirty Harry)
I love to mess with the people from “Windows Technical Support Department,” or whatever they are calling themselves. It seems to differ each time they call. Anyway, this is what happened the last time they called…
Scammer: Madame, it is very important that you do exactly as I tell you or else your computer will continue spreading a very dangerous infection —
Me: I would love to, but I can’t. I don’t even own a computer.
—–
All things considered, being tech savvy means knowing what your system is doing, why your system is doing it, and when to end the phone call that could ruin it.
Thank you for letting me have my say.
Sincerely,
Ms. Debby Hanoka
USA
Thanks for taking time out and reading.
Had this happen to my wife just moments ago. Man called the house claiming to be Windows Tech Support and asked her to go to her computer – I told her to play along. (FYI – I am a Software Engineer) Once this caller gauged the fact that we were playing him for a fool – turn of the tables – his attitude flipped a complete 180.
He started threatening my wife saying that he will kill her, calling her every dirty name in the book (even the ones that scorch the earth as they are said) lasting for about 5 mins…
i tried calling the number back to scare them (scam them) with the FBI Sound Board but no luck 🙁
so you were giving them a taste of their own medicine!
Exactly! It is almost like Obama`s initial reaction when he found out Sony was pulling the plug on the movie “The Interview” – don’t bow your head in the instance of a cyber threat as that shows the attacker your weakness & they ultimately win. Fight back, give them a taste of their own medicine (if you’re equally tech savvy) and don’t be afraid 🙂
Just an FYI for people reading this – Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Dell and others DO NOT call their assumed customers to provide technical support on a whim. Unless you register your device after purchase, the Silicon Valley giants don’t even know you exist – they just know their profit margins on a quarterly basis 🙂
I had it happen to be this week. After being called by them for the last three years consistently at least once a week and me telling them im not interested i know it is a scam and to stop calling me, he went ballistic and started calling me every foul name you could think of and then said he was going to kill my husband I hung up and he called back and said he was going to shoot my huband between the eyes
I had a call from a persistent scammer today. I told her she was a scammer and should be ashamed of herself and I put the phone down. She rang back and threatened to call the police if I didn’t listen to her. I am a pensioner and I’m wondering if she was targeting me a vulnerable person and trying to frighten me. Is there nothing we can do to stop this?
Tell her that you will report her to the Police if they call you again, and do it if they do.
Stay safe.
Hi Anand, What I did was; I told her I worked for Microsoft and Microsoft NEVER calls people at home. I couldn’t believe how fast they hung up! :0)
You can also report it to Microsoft too.
That works for sure, too! Smart thinking 🙂