Everyone has heard of Microsoft. It is the biggest software company in the world and everyone has either used a Windows computer at one time or another, used a Word Documents or checked eMail through a program like Microsoft Outlook or Mail.
Subconsciously Microsoft being such a big part of our computer and technical life, it seems to lower our defence sand give us over expectation on the what company actually delivers, to the point when people call us out of the blue saying they are from Microsoft, many people believe it.
Who are Microsoft
Microsoft, as well as having the fingers in many pies, are primarily a software developer.
They do not go around monitoring everyones computer in the world and call you when something is wrong; they just do not do that.
Microsofts headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA and was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975.
Microsoft do not make random house calls and if someone calls you claiming to be them, they are scamming you. Hang up immediately all do your own research and call Microsoft directly.
How the Scam Works
Your sitting in your home, minding your own business and the telephone rings with someone sounding far of in the distance with a two second delay telling you they are from Microsoft and your computer has some sort of infection on it.
You being a honest and trusting person believe it could be a scam, but also know you have a computer in the house with Windows on it, so think there might be some truth to it.
This is the first part of the scam, its called Phishing and if you throw enough lines out sooner or later they get a bite. And just about everyone has a computer with Windows on it, so there are a lot of lines being thrown out.
The scammer on the other end of the line asks you to follow his instructions and before you know it they have control of your computer to the point you cant even see your screen, but they are working on it in the background.
There demands are simple, give them the money they request and they will delete the viruses which are on your computer. Which there are probably none on there, but you do not know that.
After you have paid them, the problems just keep getting worse. You get locked out of your computer, files go missing and you are held to ransom.
All which has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft.
What can you do
If someone calls you claiming you have a problem with your computer hang up.
If it is too late and they already have control of your computer, pull the power straight out of the wall and give Townsville computer repairs Nerds a call.
The less you run your computer the better. If you have back up we can recover the data. If not there might be away of saving your hard drive and files without actually running the computer.
Absolutely under no circumstances give someone you do not know your credit card details and if you do call the bank immediately to discuss your options. It will get used over and over again and passed around.
