Worried could be a scam, been told need to upgrade XP

paul2louise

My mum had a phone telling her that her computer is at risk as she using windows XP. The company wanted her to upgrade to windows 8 and transfer the money via Western Union ???? She tried to pay them but it was rejected. I don't like the sound of this at all. I told her to ignore them if they call again but to make sure no bank transactions have took place and phone her bank.

Any advice thank you

Voyager2002

You have done the right thing: that kind of 'phone call is indeed a scam.

enfield_freddy

scam , scam , scam , why would Microsoft contact you? did you tell THEM your full name and address , and more importantly your phone number?


advise your mum its a scam , and not be talked into installing any software from links they send her too , infract tell your mum to say she is using a MAC

Alter_ego

paul2louise wrote: »

My mum had a phone telling her that her computer is at risk as she using windows XP. The company wanted her to upgrade to windows 8 and transfer the money via Western Union ???? She tried to pay them but it was rejected. I don't like the sound of this at all. I told her to ignore them if they call again but to make sure no bank transactions have took place and phone her bank.

Any advice thank you

If she gave card/bank details. Warn the bank that her details have been compromised.

paul2louise

Thanks, she has cancelled her card and the bank are going to watch her account for the next couple of months. She was worried they have put something on her computer so I told her to take it to the computer man she knows and get him to make sure it is ok.

Thank you for your quick replies

enfield_freddy

no , save some money "they" would not have put something on , your mum would have gone to a website they suggested and run a programme , study the internet history for that day and also check for new programmes loaded , then just do a good AV scan and an adaware + other scans


make a new posting when you are at her house , and people will give you the links to spyware removal she needs.


or take it to a computer man ,

paul2louise

enfield_freddy wrote: »

no , save some money "they" would not have put something on , your mum would have gone to a website they suggested and run a programme , study the internet history for that day and also check for new programmes loaded , then just do a good AV scan and an adaware + other scans


make a new posting when you are at her house , and people will give you the links to spyware removal she needs.


or take it to a computer man ,

Thanks, she lives quite far so wasn't planning to visit for a couple of months, I would help her over the phone but she was getting a bit upset with all this when I just spoke to her, so I just feel that she wants someone who knows what they are doing check it out. She feels she understand computers and they scare her a bit.

Thank you and hopefully it will be ok

ifstar

Run a virus scan and then run a malware program such as Malwarebytes.

I would also tell her that if anyone ever calls saying they are from Mircrosoft then tell them that she doesn't have a computer. MS won't phone up out the blue. It's also hilarious as they don't have an answer to that on their script they are reading from. I also sometimes tell them I'm still using my ZX spectrum too.

Moneymaker

Buy your mum an iPad so she doesn't have to worry about such scams.
And buy her a call blocker that stops all "International" and "Unknown" numbers.

macman

If she intends to continue using XP, then install her an alternative default browser to Internet Explorer. It's not fully secure, but should be less vulnerable than obsolete IE8.

paul2louise

Moneymaker wrote: »

Buy your mum an iPad so she doesn't have to worry about such scams.
And buy her a call blocker that stops all "International" and "Unknown" numbers.

Ironic because she had a call blocker and it was blocking all calls including me and her friends ( she didn't really want to block me), so she stopped using it a few days ago.