We are going with a little battle that I am excited to tell because it is the first time that something like this has happened to me, despite not being anything new. And when I say that this is how “Microsoft” tried to scam me, that’s exactly what I mean. In case I catch you off guard: I mean “Microsoft”, not Microsoft. Now yes?
What I am about to tell you happened to me on Monday for the first time. I was picking up the little one, who was finishing his first day of school, when they called me on the phone from an extra-long number. A first warning sign which I ignored, because although it was most likely some phone company giving the bag, sometimes the sausages also refer to doctors or other types of services.
So I pick it up and a guy who barely articulates a correct word in Spanish starts talking to me. He told me that he was calling me from Microsoft because they had detected problems on my computer. Second and final alarm. It took me five seconds to discern the scam, but it was the first time it had happened to me and I decided to play along to see what it all consisted of.
Anyway, the guy told me that he worked at Microsoft and that they had detected some suspicious downloads on my computer, which is why they contacted me: to help me fix the potential mess. But the conversation dragged on unbearably.
Between the lousy level of Spanish of the guy and that he insisted on following a script that was stricter than desirable, it was getting on my nerves. To all this we must add that I was driving with my hands free and with my son asking me to play music. At one point, I cut off the conversation and hung up on him: solving the mystery wasn’t worth a nervous breakdown. Even so, I was left wanting to know the entire scam process, since there are different kinds of them.
If it looks like a scam… it’s a scam
However, “I was lucky” and the next day they called me again, with the same modus operandi: a guy who barely vocalized gave me the same stuff. In short, they were calling me from Microsoft because they had detected potentially harmful downloads on my computer and they were helping me fix everything. This time he caught me in front of the PC and with a fresh coffee, so I gave him coba with the intention of reaching the end.
This is how this particular scam works: a barely intelligible note calls you telling you that it is from Microsoft, that they have detected some strange downloads and offers to help you. This help consists, first of all, in executing what it tells you: “Windows key + R and… e for Spain, v for Valencia, e for Spain, n for Navarra…”. The dictation is as exasperating as it is obvious, which is why I asked him to speed it up. But not: the script is followed to the letter.
What the guy is spelling is the command to run the Windows event viewer, so that the unsuspecting person in turn sees the administrative event warnings and freaks out. That is why it is essential for scammers not to skip anything: first they try to convince you that you have a problem and then they tell you what you have to do to solve it.
Do you see the errors?
– I see them. Please tell me what can I do to fix it. I am in your hands.
– I’ll go to our colleague to solve the problem.
And it happens to me with his first cousin, who makes me repeat the whole process… and I’m about to explode. Seriously, if someone is scammed it’s luck, because often lead. However, I was interested in knowing the next step, which was supposed to tell me how to fix the problem.
– Do you have Chrome installed?
– Yes.
– Open Chrome and type in the search engine…
At last the circle was closed. The scam consists of, after putting fear in your body with the alert symbols of the event viewer, make you download a remote desktop application that allows them to control your system. At that moment, already quite tired of the conversation, I told her that I had everything I wanted, that I wasn’t going to continue and that and thank you… But the girl insisted, with more and more impetus, that we had to finish what we had started.
When in doubt, call these and ask them for help
I wanted to hang up, she insisted… and in the end I was fed up and I let out a “go scam your fucking mother”. He finished. The girl also exploded and began to insult me as best she could. I hung up on him. She called me back to continue insulting me. She hung up on me. She called me back to continue insulting me… Meanwhile, I was recording everything, laughing and letting go of some too. I’m weak.
And so it all ended. I tell it in detail because she is still a battle, a story with which to pass the time. But also serve as a reminder that these things keep happening. What I don’t understand is how they are able to scam anyone with such a garrulous setup. I mean it from the heart: if you have half a brain you’ll get the scam instantly, and if you don’t have it or don’t understand anything about PC… I think they lose more money than they earn, because no one in their right mind can put up with such a veneer.
In addition, as I have already mentioned, this scam does not come from now, which from what I have read out there, also occurs in the form of email. Even Microsoft itself, the real one, warns about it. Now, whether in this case or in any other, it is possible keep in mind some basic things:
- Microsoft will never, I mean NEVER, contact you to offer help.
- Microsoft will never, I mean, NEVER ask you to install third-party programs to fix a problem.
- Microsoft will never, I mean NEVER, ask you for personal data such as usernames or passwords.
- Not Microsoft, not Google, not Apple, not any other company.
Be careful: another thing is that you call Microsoft, go to their forums, etc. But how does someone call you on the phone notifying you of PC problems? We are crazy?
To make matters worse, I turn Windows from grapes to pears. I use Linux. Not that it matters, but to give a nuance to the story and, now that you’ve read it, you can imagine my smile attending to such a pair of cyber hicks.
