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An Urgent security message appeared after clicking a photo on Facebook

Anonymous
2024-04-09T18:13:30+00:00

My wife clicked on a photo on FB and a page opened warning to call Microsoft Support at 1-888-452-2607 because the computer has been infected with a Trojan that will take over her computer if she tries to shut down. An audio message kept playing over and over again, telling you to call that number. We believe its a scam but wanted to verify this with you (please see screenshot).

We shut the browser down and ran two scans with Microsoft Defender (our only protection - i.e. we have no third party antivirus). We ran a Quick Scan and the Offline Scan. The Quick Scan reported all is well. The Offline Scan did not show a report but we assumes all is well. Her computer seems to be functioning fine. Is this one of the newest scams? Thank you for your time.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Security and privacy

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Anonymous
2024-04-09T18:29:13+00:00

Your wife did the right thing. It was a scam. Let me expand on this a little:

Microsoft will never contact you with a number to call about an alleged malware infection. They simply don't work that way. The repeated scary warnings - a sure tipoff that this is a scam - are to create a sense of fear and urgency.

The scammers who do this will probably lock your keyboard, to prevent you from following the procedure we used to advise here to safely escape from the scam, which is to open Task Manager and 'End task' on your web browser.

Instead, you'll have to completely power off your computer by pressing the power button and counting to 5. Then wait 10 seconds for the power to drain from the motherboard (although that may not really be necessary) and power on your computer. Nothing bad happened, and you're safe. Obviously, don't fill in your Microsoft account username and password - that just gives it to the scammers.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-04-09T18:41:15+00:00

    It has a phone number, so yes, it's a scam, they all are since Microsoft would obviously never do this.

    Protect yourself from tech support scams - Microsoft Support

    It's actually one of th3e oldest scams, though delivering them through advertising networks is relatively newer and via Facebook is even more recent. since I've only seen a couple of those here recently. Probably because Facebook deals quickly with their own name being abused, but not with others like Microsoft, so the scammers have changed to that tack instead.

    Almost none of these will ever be dete3cted by security software, since they're really just an HTML page being displayed through advertising and in a tight loop that's difficult to exit because of a script or similar code.

    Usually, you can close these by opening Task Manager using either Ctrl-Shift-Esc, or Ctrl-Alt-Del keys, or right-clicking the taskbar and then highlight your browser and either right-click and select or click the End task button on the Processes page that first displays in the Task Manager screen. If not, shutting down the device often works as well.

    Rob

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-09T02:23:45+00:00

    Yes 100% a scam, On Facebook you get advertisement down the sides. With the messenger and Facebook bell notification bell, once you click on that (fb.messages.net) the second screen pops up for you to ring Microsoft support. They get you to download app for remote access and then they hack your bank accounts etc

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-04-10T17:05:31+00:00

    This is the same that happened to my wife. We turned off the computer several times and waited the time required and then restarted. The message remained as before as soon as we entered the pin and re-entered. What can we do from the opening page?

    My wife clicked on a photo on FB and a page opened warning to call Microsoft Support at 1-888-452-2607 because the computer has been infected with a Trojan that will take over her computer if she tries to shut down. An audio message kept playing over and over again, telling you to call that number. We believe its a scam but wanted to verify this with you (please see screenshot).

    We shut the browser down and ran two scans with Microsoft Defender (our only protection - i.e. we have no third party antivirus). We ran a Quick Scan and the Offline Scan. The Quick Scan reported all is well. The Offline Scan did not show a report but we assumes all is well. Her computer seems to be functioning fine. Is this one of the newest scams? Thank you for your time.

    Image

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-04-11T01:20:03+00:00

    Hi coach 96, I opened Task Manager and highlighted the browser line and then clicked "End Task". This naturally shut down the browser and it also got rid of the fraudulent message - it has not come back. If you continue having an issue then I would post a new question on this forum in order to get attention from the pros.

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