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English-speaking fraudsters target Windows users
The Belgian Federal Police are alerting Windows users of an alleged con scheme targeting their personal information.
Police report that consumers are being contacted in English by supposed Microsoft call centre employees phoning to notify them of a computer virus. Through a series of questions assessing the consumer’s level of computer knowledge, the caller is offered solutions to deal with the problem.
Victims have been encouraged to download new software, and even persuaded pay fees of up to 100 euros to have the virus removed, resulting in malicious software being introduced to the computer, allowing access to private information.
Microsoft officials have confirmed seeing a rise in fraud cases over the past 10 days, the first time since a similar problem surfaced a year ago.
Police encourage anyone who is contacted to immediately end the call and to never follow instructions provided by the likely con-person. They also stress to never disclose personal details, such as passwords, pin, or credit card numbers over the phone.
Comments
We were phoned about 1000 this morning, obvious Indian accent, sounded like a typical call centre ... Luckily I was home ... oddly enough the day before I had a problem with jumping from htts to http but resolved the problem. when I told the caller to shove his AV solution up his telephone he turned quite sad and said I had cheated him and his family out of Commission.
Now why did I know it was a scam? When have Microsoft ever phoned you to help you before you even knew you needed them?
Anyone know though how they got a home phone number?
It has been going on for the last three to four weeks, and some of my friends have been inconvienced too, mainly they attack the older generation.
Last week, I told her to run up a gum tree and enjoy herself when she got there.
Today I told (another) her, That she spoke French like a Spanish cow with her eye's closed;
She hang-up,, There was as normal no VOO 1919 number available on this or several occaisions ?
Richard.
I've received several calls from them over the past 3-4 years. I reported them to the Belgian police system that handles these type of calls. Not sure what they can do.
Last time they called in October, I told them I had a Mac instead of a PC so Microsoft had nothing to do with my computer. I also told them I knew about the scam and would turn them in.
Tell all your friends to "beware" of these kinds of calls.
Have received a couple of these calls in the last three months. Call display indicates the calls are from Brazil, Portugal and Egypt. Usually just tell them we don't use Microsoft products so perhaps they need to check their systems, not mine. Probably should have reported the one who became abusive, called me back, shouted and told me to remove my clothes! Can anyone provide the number to call to report these calls, please?