Windows Support Scam

I feel extremely foolish admitting this but I fell for the Indian "Windows Support" scam. At the end I would not pay the ransom and my computer was locked up. It is currently in the shop. It was a cold call that started, "I am a technician with Windows and I am calling about a problem with your computer." (heavy accent) Guys name was Mark Miller. (yeah right)

If you get ANY call and hear an Indian accent saying something about your computer, hang up! I have not been this angry in a good while!

Hope this will help someone.

 

With the above comments I probably should give more of my story. It started several months ago with the cold call. My computer was acting up and running very slowly, so I believed the agent was from windows and was calling to help. He actually did help. He worked on my computer for over an hour and installed several support programs; Webroot, CC cleaner, a defrag program, an anti-hack program and a couple others. My computer was working incredibly well! "Mark Miller" even gave me a phone number and an email address to reach him. Oh, and BTW I had paid $300 for lifetime support.

The next day another Indian agent called to tell me that Mark Miller had been fired for embezzlement and that he would be taking care of me. He asked me how much MM had charged me. Oh my, he had pocketed $100. This "good Indian" was going to refund the $100 to my paypal account. He bought up "my" PP account and ask me to read to him how much he had refunded. I read $1000! (I later found out that this was a screen shot and not my account as all) The "good indian" then went into panic mode, "oh my God, did I hit too many zeros??? I gave you $1000???" "Sir, I beg of you to help me make this right... I will lose my job!!!" He gave me an address and instructed me to go into town and have $900 sent to him via a cash card. The only businesses he gave me were other "foreign" owned establishments. (my observation)

He had hooked a big fish, but I was not going for it. He literally begged and pleaded for me to do this. I thought I was in some kind of big trouble at this point and hung up! I then called Mark Miller. He answered the phone. I said "you were not fired?" He said "what are you talking about?" He assured me all was well and that this other guy was trying to scam me. He gave me a customer ID number and instructed me that I should always ask for this when anyone called.

I then checked my PP account and found there had been no activity there. In retrospect, I feel that all parties were working in collusion.

The next day the "good indian" called me and greeted me cheerfully and asked if I was ready to get his money back to him. I used a few adjectives before scammmer and hung up on him! Another Indian called back and threatened me. I used the same names (no profanity) and hung up on him. I wondered how these other Indians new of my payment to MM, especially when the next phase of the ploy kicked in.

Now I get a call saying that the business was dissolving and they want to refund all my money. I asked for the customer ID#. They asked "who gave you that number?", and went back to the story that MM had been fired. I called him the appropriate names and hung up.

A month passes and MM had helped me a couple of times. I thought I had actually made a contract with a ligit company and that MM was actually a good Indian.

Then he, MM, called me and said my computer was in trouble. He showed me a couple places on my computer that confirmed his diagnosis and told me my windows certificate had expired. I could renew it for 1 year, three years or lifetime ( for this and all computers I would ever own.) Now I don't trust MM!!! I told him that I wanted to research this and he made it look like my certificate ran out right then and there, and my computer would no longer work, unless, of course, I renewed my Windows Certificate. I hung up! Sure enough my computer now required a new password to start up.

Long story, I know! I hope it will help someone.

 

I got my computer back! Almost as it was before. Some adjusting to do. I was at my Derm appointment this morning (cancer free) and heard an Indian arguing with a receptionist. Made me cringe! I know most are probably wonderfully respectable people, but that accent just brings up bad feelings! Conditioned response as Pavlov would say.

 

Yah ta hey! Pilgrim!