Did i get scammed?

Question

So earlier in the day today i clicked on a link sent by a friend, when it was opened i was met with multiple pop ups saying i needed to call the phone number Removed phone nr and it being my first time dealing with such a situation i did so because i was scared. Whilst on the call the man i was originally working with named Robert from a location in Memphis, Tn he asked me to put all of my money on an applied gift card so the hacker on my ip trying to down load removed on my ip address couldn’t access any of my banking or personal information. Not knowing to do i went to my nearest store and did so and Robert said make sure to tell the cashier that the gift-card is for me and nobody asked me to buy it because they’re supposed to ask which now looking back at it seems suspicious. When i gave them the giftcard thankfully it didn’t go through so worst case i still have my money on apple but im wondering if i could still be at risk of being hacked and was under the work of a scam? Anything helps please respond if you know anything on the topic.

Answer 1

Yes you were scammed. There are no legitimate businesses that would require you to buy a gift card to protect your money.

Answer 2

Hello   Joshua Moffett，

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. It sounds like you may have been the target of a scam. Microsoft does not typically ask customers to purchase gift cards or provide personal information over the phone. It's important to be cautious when receiving unsolicited calls or messages and to never provide personal or financial information unless you are certain of the legitimacy of the request. I recommend contacting your bank and monitoring your accounts for any suspicious activity.

Additionally, you may want to consider running a virus scan on your device to ensure that it is not infected with any malware.

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any question or concern, please feel free to let us know.

Best Regards,

Haijian Shan