scam or no scam?

I am up visiting my mother and I get a phone call on her land line.

Heavy indian accent with him claiming to work for microsoft. He tells me that my system has a piece of malicious software, has be open the command prompt, run "assoc" and reads off a long number that is in the second to last line. Tells me that is my windows ID# and that he wants me to open the system up for him to fix through remote desktop.

I stop here and hang up because I pretty much have no proof that he works for Microsoft other then his word. (caller ID read "private : Blocked")

AVG scan came out clean, getting ready for a defender scan.

I dont trust it. Is this a standard procedure thing? What the hell?

Should I do another wipe and reboot to my system to be sure?

I smell scam of some kind. I dont like this....

Yep, one of the most recent scams. Gives them access to all data on your computer (acc#s and passwords). Luckily you caught the call.

scam. How would they have your mom's number? MS might track a lot of things, but they have not, to my knowledge, ever asked for my phone number or my mom's number

Well, she has her phone and internet bundled and my computer was online on her connection at the time of the call.

One hundred percent scam-a-rooni.

Annnnd defender caught a trojan...

Probably how they got the windows ID number.

yep. scam scam scam

honestly, I doubt MS gives two E36 M3s about a home user

Grtechguy wrote: yep. scam scam scam honestly, I doubt MS gives two E36 M3s about a home user

^Quoted for truthiness.

rule of thumb .... never NEVER ever do ANY kind of business with ANYONE that calls you without your having called them to start with ... ALL WAYS a scam ..especially if the caller ID is blocked ...... SCAM

Yep, I got one of these the other day that said they were from Google and my accounts had been compromised.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrreeee.

mad_machine wrote: scam. How would they have your mom's number? MS might track a lot of things, but they have not, to my knowledge, ever asked for my phone number or my mom's number

She has a phone. If you dial enough 10 digit combinations, eventually you will phone everyone in North America. Add a few digits, and eventually you will phone everyone in the world. If you ask every single person who answers the phone, and one person in 1,000 is dumb enough to believe the caller, they make money.

Every single phone call in the world is a scam or a salesman now.

Whelp, I wanted to double check, I thought I smelled something.

Let this serve as a warning to others to watch out for it!

In reply to Apexcarver:

Good thing you hung up. Until you gave that caller remote access to your computer, he's unable to do anything to you.

And don't worry about the virus he told you about. It's merely a ploy to get you to let him access your computer. Maybe to steal the sensitive information stored on your computer or install malwares and get you to pay for him to remove them. There's just no way somebody would know what's happening on your computer unless he's got access to it.

From this point on, warn your mom to be cautious about calls like that. If she gets any suspicious call, advise her to hang up. There's no point putting up with this type of callers. It'd only give them a chance to convince you to give them your money.

Old scam. The computer is fine.

In reply to terri23:

Indeed, based on the complaints posted at http://www.callercenter.com, it's typical for these scammers to keep their numbers hidden so even if they're discovered, they would not be tracked.

But thanks for sharing this information. We may not know the phone number but at least we are made aware. This post will serve as another reminder that we should be vigilant at all times because scammers are just out there.

Dang, I hope I get one of these calls. I love screwing with scammers.

Apexcarver wrote: Annnnd defender caught a trojan... Probably how they got the windows ID number.

They probably didn't get the ID number. They were giving you an IP address that was theirs and that would allow them to connect to the computer. The "this is your windows ID number" thing was a lie.

Have we ever had a "scam or no scam" topic where the answer wasn't scam?

I had a "free vacation" place call me this week and I acted so excited and yelled across the room; "honey, this is great. We get to go on vacation this summer. WhoooHoooo!!!"

Then they hung up on me.

Otto, probably not...

Reason I hung up on the guy was that it was just too fishy..

First off, microsoft has internal direct update stuff on computers. They dont need to call you. (right? I forget the name, but problem reporting or whatever?)

Second, blocked caller ID is a BIIIIIIIIGGG warning sign to me. (actually, talking to my grandmothers nursing home because their caller ID is blocked when they are calling with a problem, dont like that.)

Third, guy was getting pissed when I was asking for proof, he said that number was all the proof I should need and treating me like an idiot. (engineering degree with a few programming classes...)

My mom is under STRICT orders to just hang up on ANYTHING like that. If someone calls claiming to be from a company, she stops and asks how they can be reached through the COMPANY'S hotline (published numbers, not given over the phone) NO banking info given if they call her. No personal info, etc.

I dont have a landline, havent since I moved out. Part of it was that I had forgotten what it was like getting scam calls all the time. Don't think I will ever have a landline again for this reason, too scammy. <- isn't that a screwed up fact?