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General discussion

Is this a scam?

Oct 1, 2018 12:17PM PDT

I received the following message on my voicemail and am very skeptical about replying to it. Does anyone know is a scam?

Thanks in advance… Bob
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the Windows license key. Please call 866-978-0708. Let me repeat this is very important to call to notify you that your Microsoft Windows license key has been expired and your computer. So Microsoft Corporation has stopped the Windows Services in your computer to renew the Windows license key please call 866-978-0708. I will repeat 866-9780."

Discussion is locked

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It's MALVERTISING.
Oct 1, 2018 12:21PM PDT
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Is this a Scam
Oct 3, 2018 12:08PM PDT

I just received the same message on my land line telephone. My caller ID showed the call was from my phone number and listed my name as the caller. They were revoking my windows licence beause I had not responded to previous calls. What a piece of trash they are.

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Time to tell them (if it's a person)
Oct 3, 2018 12:50PM PDT

Pick your choice:

"I don't have a PC."
"I run Linux."
"FBI Field Officer John. How my I help you?"

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I have fun with them
Oct 6, 2018 8:46AM PDT

I wore many hats in IT for a major Federal agency justly renowned for its technological prowess. I was a Unix system administrator and network administrator, and data communications, later Internet services, administrator, and IT security administrator, for many years spanning the decde or so preceding the birth of the Internet until my retirement by which time it was ubiquitous in every home. I get these phone calls from "Microsoft Technical Support" all the time. It is always some guy with an Asian accent.

Sometimes, when I have time on my hands to kill (a frequent occurrence in retirement) I have some fun playing with these guys. I express alarm and tell them to wait a moment while I go up to my office and power up my machine, which I pretend is old and underpowered and therefore takes long minutes to boot (it is old but it is NOT underpowered and in real life it boots up from SSD in only a few seconds). I make him wait and ask him questions, like what is the nature of the malware that has infected me and how did they discover the breach.

After I have wasted a good amount of his time I inform him that I actually have several computers and I am not sure this one is the one that he is referring to. I ask him to tell me the name on the Microsoft account or, failing that (and he never knows that), the IP address of the infected machine. He will usually presume I do not know my IP address so he will often start the dotted decimal with "192.168...") which for many years was the almost universal default for home routers (mine are different, of course -- I know how to configure a router!).

I keep him on the phone with various other ruses until I get bored with it and then I tell him that I know what he is doing. It is really quite amusing to listen to his subsequent tirade, which can often be quite vicious, profane and threatening.

But while I've tied him up, he cannot try his ruse on anybody else, who might actually think that Microsoft calls people on the phone out of the blue for any reason whatsoever ever. They don't, and they never will.

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Same here
Oct 6, 2018 12:34PM PDT

I'd toy with them too, asking "which computer?" as I have 7 of them. Then, after he insists I have a problem, I'd accuse him of "spying" on me! Eventually he'd start grumbling & swearing then and hang up on me!
This never happens anymore, as I don't answer calls from numbers I don't know.

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Is this a Scam
Oct 5, 2018 10:23PM PDT

Scammers can convincingly imitate the logos and communication style of trusted companies. They are known to make fake websites, ID badges, letterheads and other materials to fool people into giving money or information. Just because the opportunity looks legitimate, doesn’t mean it is.

Irrelevant link removed by moderator.

Post was last edited on October 6, 2018 12:48 AM PDT

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Yes. This is a scam.
Oct 6, 2018 9:13AM PDT

All you have to do it think this: Isn't it safe to assume that Microsoft would at least know something about computers, and about marketing on computers, and would not send an ad that sounds like your classic scam ad? I rest my case.

The question is how did they get your name and number?

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(NT) YES
Oct 5, 2018 9:31PM PDT
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YES it is!
Oct 6, 2018 3:09AM PDT

These calls are very common, often purporting to come from Microsoft, your Telephone ot internet provider and so on. They are all scams.

Microsoft will not call you directly unprompted. If your software licenses from Microsoft or anyone else have a problem the most you will get is a pop-up of some sort when you start the program. They will never have a phone or website link to contact. If you have any suspicions that they may be real, call the provider directly on the phone number on their website. Type the website in, don't click any links, go directly to "Contact Us" and find the phone number there.

It's very easy to spoof a telephone number in a span/scan message and the rest of your details are in the phone directory.

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Microsoft calling?
Oct 6, 2018 7:16AM PDT

Where would they get my phone number? I don't remember being asked for it during product registration.

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Autodialer
Oct 6, 2018 8:49AM PDT

They do not get "your" phone number. They dial numbers sequentially, and eventually arrive at yours.