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"Microsoft Support Call Scam"(Event Viewer)

Anonymous
2014-08-13T14:31:05+00:00

I received a phone call today from a private caller with an Indian accent saying he was from Microsoft Support.

He told me my computer was constantly sending windows errors to Microsooft and we needed to fix it.

He went on to ask me how many computers I have in my home and said all of them had to be fixed.

He had me go on my computer, type: EVENTVEWR in the box and look in options,all of this sounded strange as he kept asking me what i was seeing on my screen at the time.

I went on to ask him to hold and googled "Microsoft Support Call Event Viewer" in which I found a blog with lots of people having the same thing happen to them(http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-security/phone-call-scam-received-call-from-a-technician/6ed2b99c-20ff-468b-a69b-aec78b93f287?page=22&tm=1407939072026 )

I then hung up the phone and he kept calling back(4 times)and this time it was a local number(15129633287), of which I googled immediately, bringing up a list of local numbers on a list with a foreign language as the titles.

I then decided to call Microsoft Support directly to confirm it was a scam and was informed that Microsoft never makes calls without a customer request and that Microsoft has its own set of programs it uses to fix computers instead of "event viewer".

I was told I could submit a post on here to let Microsoft know of the Incident, which is the purpose of this post..in addition to help anyone else from having to go through the experience many people have had with this issue.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-01-06T01:11:07+00:00

    I have had same call on my old computer ,sorry to say when it first happened I was not to bright & did go to my computer because it was an H.P. I got thru Microsoft computer did not act right from then on I now have a new computer I bought from Micro soft store [a good price but not cheap] when I got it in mail it came with1 sheet of paper I tried to set up myself but do not believe I did correctly I still have issues & my printer is not connected & cannot reach a person to help I did get a call back from a machine a person came on line said he could not hear me hung up. Microsoft has my money & I do have computer which I believe is very good if I could just use properly & print what I need. the problem of scammers claiming to be Microsoft are quite common now the adage buyer beware is VERY true now I am beginning to think we should all deal with ONLY AMERICAN MADE products now help our own people no one else does. Money made in U.S. stays in U.S.

    I assume you are serious and will not use anything that comes from outside the USA. Particularly those things the USA doesn't manufacture. How many diamond mines are there in the USA?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2015-09-21T15:33:45+00:00

    I just want to report that I received the same Eventviewer scam calls today on 9/21/2015, so here I'll share it, hoping this helps somebody.

    The company's name: Microsoft Technical Support

    The caller's name: Max

    How they got my contact info: Because I'm a registered customer

    Caller's phone number: "UNKNOWN" was displayed on my phone. But one time "876-543-212" was displayed, and it was from Jamaica.

    What he want me to do: to type "eventvwr" in RUN box to "remove malware"-- he said Microsoft is getting so many error report due to this malware

    I thought the call was suspicious so I googled and found this community posting. I was not going to do anything with my conmputer anyway. When he called me again I told him that I found his call a scam and remove my name from their calling list. He called me 5 times in total, but I haven't gotten calls from him or UNKNOWN after that (so far).

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2015-05-28T17:04:00+00:00

    I've had the same problem, in fact I just got off the phone w/them.

    I keep telling them that I don't have any issues w/my computer, which I don't, and even if I did, I tell them that I can fix it myself, and to quit calling me.

    Of course one thing that isn't helping things, is w/companies like Microsoft, Dell, and many others, going to India to do their service calls, which could be the core of the problem to start with, giving these people phone numbers and technical information about your system.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2015-05-06T13:14:25+00:00

    Do not take any more calls from these people. They have nothing to do with Microsoft or Internet Explorer. I finally got through to someone at Dell ( who was also out-sourced) in the Fraud Department who took a report. You may try calling Dell or Microsoft and insisting on making a Consumer Fraud complaint.

    This is a link to Microsoft that addresses this issue >http://blogs.microsoft.com/cybertrust/2014/09/18/how-to-report-the-microsoft-phone-scam/<

    Also the number that these scam artist are calling from appears to be a MetroPCS number. I am thinking of reporting these scam artist to the Metro PCS Carrier.

    Keep us informed.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2015-03-27T23:30:12+00:00

    Thank You Jim. I don't understand how they knew my name but I did make a report with Dell.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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