I received a telephone call this morning from someone who said they were with the "Windows Group". Actually, the guy had such a bad Indian accent that all I was really sure about was the Windows part of the title, but I think the second word was group. He told me that my computer was sending error messages to Microsoft for the last couple of days, and he wanted me to run a program which would give him control of my computer so he could fix the problem. My computer was infected 3 days ago by the FakeRean trojan, which was removed by Microsoft Security Essentials. I told this guy that I wasn't convinced of who he was and I had no intention of giving him control of my computer as I had never before heard of such a request. Is there any chance that this was a legitimate call???
Strange call from "Windows Group"
- Thread starter toad
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Originally Posted By: toad
I received a telephone call this morning from someone who said they were with the "Windows Group". Actually, the guy had such a bad Indian accent that all I was really sure about was the Windows part of the title, but I think the second word was group. He told me that my computer was sending error messages to Microsoft for the last couple of days, and he wanted me to run a program which would give him control of my computer so he could fix the problem. My computer was infected 3 days ago by the FakeRean trojan, which was removed by Microsoft Security Essentials. I told this guy that I wasn't convinced of who he was and I had no intention of giving him control of my computer as I had never before heard of such a request. Is there any chance that this was a legitimate call???
how did he get your number? Usually a window pops and ASKS if you want to send an error message. ( At least on mine).
I received a telephone call this morning from someone who said they were with the "Windows Group". Actually, the guy had such a bad Indian accent that all I was really sure about was the Windows part of the title, but I think the second word was group. He told me that my computer was sending error messages to Microsoft for the last couple of days, and he wanted me to run a program which would give him control of my computer so he could fix the problem. My computer was infected 3 days ago by the FakeRean trojan, which was removed by Microsoft Security Essentials. I told this guy that I wasn't convinced of who he was and I had no intention of giving him control of my computer as I had never before heard of such a request. Is there any chance that this was a legitimate call???
how did he get your number? Usually a window pops and ASKS if you want to send an error message. ( At least on mine).
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Definitely not legitimate. Ignore the call.
He said that he got my telephone number from my Microsoft registration. When I said that I still was not convinced he gave me this 29 digit string that he said was unique to my computer and that only the manufacturer would know. He told me how to check the string on my computer and sure enough it matched.
I get the same nonsense periodically. Ironically, I haven't had a Windows box in over ten years. When I explain that to them, they tend to just hang up.
If Microsoft dispatched someone to make a live call to every Windows user that was having "error messages" they'd have to hire everyone from India (and half of the Chinese) to keep on top of the issue.
If Microsoft dispatched someone to make a live call to every Windows user that was having "error messages" they'd have to hire everyone from India (and half of the Chinese) to keep on top of the issue.
Well known scam. They call and want you to give them remote access to your computer; they'll infect it further.
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/microsoft.asp
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...9b-aec78b93f287
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/microsoft.asp
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...9b-aec78b93f287
I get those occasionally. They are a scam call, Mircosoft will never call. I was bored one time they called and started saying how my computer used Ubuntu and not Windows. Went round and round with them until I got bored and hung up.
DO NOT fall for this! I work for the fraud prevention department for PayPal and I deal with this particular scam on a daily basis. Microsoft does not cold call their customers to sell you anti-virus software. The scammers ask to take control of the computer to remove any viruses and actually install malware of their own. They usually ask for all of your info to pay for the service and then create a PayPal account from your computer that they remoted into to process the payment. This is difficult to prove since all the activity is coming from YOUR home. To make it worse, I have seen instances where they even processed other victims fraudulent payments through these bad accounts which on the surface to the untrained eye can make it look as though YOU (the victim) is the recipient of a bunch of stolen credit card payments. The good news is that we are very well trained on this and I know I can spot this scam from a mile away. Glad I may have stopped one of these before it happened. I am usually explaining this to people after the fact when I am calling to tell them that they were a scam victim but I am refunding their credit card.
JHZR2
Staff member
^+1
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer. They get a little info of not much consequence, use it to find you, convince you and then get in and get everything, probably passwords too by a logger of some sort. Id be really careful and not trust your computer if they really had a code UNIQUE to YOUR computer... Id probably wipe it at minimum.
Good luck.
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer. They get a little info of not much consequence, use it to find you, convince you and then get in and get everything, probably passwords too by a logger of some sort. Id be really careful and not trust your computer if they really had a code UNIQUE to YOUR computer... Id probably wipe it at minimum.
Good luck.
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
^+1
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer.
Maybe they hacked and stole info from some Microsoft Windows registration database?
^+1
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer.
Maybe they hacked and stole info from some Microsoft Windows registration database?
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
^+1
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer. They get a little info of not much consequence, use it to find you, convince you and then get in and get everything, probably passwords too by a logger of some sort. Id be really careful and not trust your computer if they really had a code UNIQUE to YOUR computer... Id probably wipe it at minimum.
Good luck.
I agree. Clean reinstall. Your computer is majorly compromised if someone was able to get your windows registration.
^+1
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer. They get a little info of not much consequence, use it to find you, convince you and then get in and get everything, probably passwords too by a logger of some sort. Id be really careful and not trust your computer if they really had a code UNIQUE to YOUR computer... Id probably wipe it at minimum.
Good luck.
I agree. Clean reinstall. Your computer is majorly compromised if someone was able to get your windows registration.
100% scam.
Think about it. The guy is probably in India or some other nation where dollar currency has a lot of value. He can spend weeks or months pinging several computers or wireless routers to get some sort of access. Once he does that it's easy for him to either find an IP address or registration number and direct the victim to "verify" that it is the same.
Even if he gets couple hundred bucks, when exchanged for rupies his efforts have a huge payback.
Think about it. The guy is probably in India or some other nation where dollar currency has a lot of value. He can spend weeks or months pinging several computers or wireless routers to get some sort of access. Once he does that it's easy for him to either find an IP address or registration number and direct the victim to "verify" that it is the same.
Even if he gets couple hundred bucks, when exchanged for rupies his efforts have a huge payback.
He is obviously a fraudster.
I love it when these guys call. I will tie them up as long as I can asking "ridiculous" questions and then eventually let them log into my VM where I will constantly interfere with them by moving the mouse and typing on the keyboard. It's great fun if you have the time
Originally Posted By: scurvy
Well known scam. They call and want you to give them remote access to your computer; they'll infect it further.
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/microsoft.asp
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...9b-aec78b93f287
+1
It's just like the best way to thwart any scam; YOU have to initiate the call!!!
Well known scam. They call and want you to give them remote access to your computer; they'll infect it further.
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/microsoft.asp
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...9b-aec78b93f287
+1
It's just like the best way to thwart any scam; YOU have to initiate the call!!!
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
^+1
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer. They get a little info of not much consequence, use it to find you, convince you and then get in and get everything, probably passwords too by a logger of some sort. Id be really careful and not trust your computer if they really had a code UNIQUE to YOUR computer... Id probably wipe it at minimum.
Good luck.
I just checked and it was not the windows registration code. I think spacard got that one right: it was probably some number that is the same on all Windows systems of a certain vintage. This is supported by the fact that he asked me how old my computer was just before he did the 29 digit number thing.
I'm pretty sure the windows registration number is highly encrypted so that if he did have it he couldn't have gotten it from my computer; it would have had to have been from a hacked data base.
^+1
29 digit number? Like the windows registration code? Seems to me that if they have that correct, they probably already DO have access to some element of your computer. They get a little info of not much consequence, use it to find you, convince you and then get in and get everything, probably passwords too by a logger of some sort. Id be really careful and not trust your computer if they really had a code UNIQUE to YOUR computer... Id probably wipe it at minimum.
Good luck.
I just checked and it was not the windows registration code. I think spacard got that one right: it was probably some number that is the same on all Windows systems of a certain vintage. This is supported by the fact that he asked me how old my computer was just before he did the 29 digit number thing.
I'm pretty sure the windows registration number is highly encrypted so that if he did have it he couldn't have gotten it from my computer; it would have had to have been from a hacked data base.
Thanks to everyone that responded to my post. I was pretty sure it was a scam and I avoided falling for it, but now, thanks to BITOG, I'm certain and can put the whole thing behind me.
I doubt that I could have received a better response to this question anywhere else on the web: pretty good for an oil forum!!!
I doubt that I could have received a better response to this question anywhere else on the web: pretty good for an oil forum!!!
I got a call also; I have not used windows since 1999.
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