phone call from Microsoft engineer

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booksurr
booksurr Posts: 3,700 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
Is this for real?

I have just received a phone call out of the blue from someone claiming to be a microsoft engineer calling because I had not responded to the "many" notifications they have sent me

he told me to look at my system configuration utility screen and note the very many applications listed on there whose status is "stopped"

I was then told to hold the line whilst he transferred me to a technician. Said technician then asked me to type https://www.showmypc into the run programs box off the start menu

I suspect the call may have been genuine but how would I prove that myself as I m not going to allow someone from an Indian call centre to tell me to connect to the internet on the basis they called me

they did have my name and address ....

I hung up on the caller for obvious reasons so does anyone have any advice on how I confirm that MS technicians do make cold calls and can I find a UK contact point who I can check with myself

Please, there is no point telling me it is a fraud unless you have concrete evidence to support your statement as I hung up on them because I do not need to be told not to respond to cold calls!
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  • ballyblack
    ballyblack Posts: 5,068 Forumite
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    edited 26 March 2015 at 8:43PM
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    Did U bother to Google your own words;?


    'phone call from Microsoft engineer'


    A SCAM phone call


    Were U born yesterday??



    ,.
  • Browntoa
    Browntoa Posts: 49,305 Forumite
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    It's a fraud

    Or a scam

    Call it one or the other or both
    Ex forum ambassador

    Long term forum member
  • Marktheshark
    Marktheshark Posts: 5,841 Forumite
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    booksurr wrote: »

    Please, there is no point telling me it is a fraud unless you have concrete evidence to support your statement !

    So what do you want telling ?
    Of course its fraud and if you did anything they said at all they now have all your password files stored on your computer.
    I do Contracts, all day every day.
  • ballyblack
    ballyblack Posts: 5,068 Forumite
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    http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/security/3378798/microsoft-phone-scam-dont-be-victim/
  • enfield_freddy
    enfield_freddy Posts: 6,147 Forumite
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    booksurr wrote: »
    Is this for real?

    I have just received a phone call out of the blue from someone claiming to be a microsoft engineer calling because I had not responded to the "many" notifications they have sent me

    he told me to look at my system configuration utility screen and note the very many applications listed on there whose status is "stopped"

    I was then told to hold the line whilst he transferred me to a technician. Said technician then asked me to type www.showmypc into the run programs box off the start menu

    I suspect the call may have been genuine but how would I prove that myself as I m not going to allow someone from an Indian call centre to tell me to connect to the internet on the basis they called me

    they did have my name and address ....

    I hung up on the caller for obvious reasons so does anyone have any advice on how I confirm that MS technicians do make cold calls and can I find a UK contact point who I can check with myself

    Please, there is no point telling me it is a fraud unless you have concrete evidence to support your statement as I hung up on them because I do not need to be told not to respond to cold calls!


    did you use your phone number when you registered windows , or did someone in india guess it?


    they had your name and address? , did you list that as well when you entered a user name and password?
  • victor2
    victor2 Posts: 7,607 Ambassador
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    I played dumb with one such call and strung him along for a good 20 minutes. He was actually trying to get me to run TeamViewer and give him remote control, but I seemed to be having terrible difficulty trying to install it. I mainly put it down to the virus he said I have got.
    In the end I just told him I'd wasted his time for 20 minutes to prevent him spending that time trying to hook in another victim. He hung up, didn't even swear at me...
    I know of people without a computer (there are some!) who have been called. I suspect the scammers just have a system working its way through numbers in sequence and connect it to a person if somebody answers.

    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the In My Home MoneySaving, Energy and Techie Stuff boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. 

    All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.

  • Fightsback
    Fightsback Posts: 2,504 Forumite
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    I had my first one of those ever a few days ago, see thread here:

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5197814&highlight=

    Are you on talktalk as they did have a data breach of phone numbers and addresses, I suspect thats how I was called.

    see here

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/27/talktalk_admits_massive_data_breach/
    Science isn't exact, it's only confidence within limits.
  • MsCasey
    MsCasey Posts: 12 Forumite
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    ballyblack wrote: »
    A SCAM


    Were U born yesterday??



    ,.


    How can people be so stupid to not know this is a scam.


    I had one years back, kept him on the phone for 20 minutes and then told him I had an Mac!
  • Fightsback
    Fightsback Posts: 2,504 Forumite
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    MsCasey wrote: »
    How can people be so stupid to not know this is a scam.


    I had one years back, kept him on the phone for 20 minutes and then told him I had an Mac!

    There's a sucker born every minute.
    Science isn't exact, it's only confidence within limits.
  • maggy50
    maggy50 Posts: 783 Forumite
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    My elderly neighbour had one a while back.

    She listened to everything he said and followed instructions asking him over and over to repeat what he said after 45 minutes she let him have the news that she had no pc. He hung up within seconds , that will teach him .!!

    Thank goodness this scam has been warned about on a large scale even at Age Concern meetings.
    Light travels faster than sound.

    This is why some people seem as bright until you hear them.
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