Have You Ever Encountered a Tech Support Scam? Take Our Poll!
Tech support scams are everywhere these days. Whether it be the telephone scams where someone calls and says their from Microsoft and your computer is full of virus and malware, or online tech scams like this one we recently encounter.
Whether it be by telephone or on the Internet, tech scams can cause you a lot of grief… and maybe even a lot of money.
We’ve encountered tech scams, have you? Have you or someone you know ever been taken advantage by these scammers?
Take our poll and let us know! We’d like to know how many of your have encountered one of these tech support scams.
You can choose multiple answers or make a comment. Your vote is private and anonymous.
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Perfect timing to ask this question. Just yesterday I got a phone call from the phony Microsoft Tech Support… saying my computer was hacked and was at risk …. blah, blah, blah. Spoke with very “broken” English so couldn’t understand every word that was said. I thought, Ya Right!!!! and quickly grabbed my police whistle, that I keep by the phone for such malicious calls. And yes, I used it with great pleasure while he was still babbling. I hope I left him with a painful hearing problem. It’s the 2nd time I’ve used that whistle for this purpose but it sure made me smile with satisfaction.
Yes, I even paid money to an ongoing technical support site that I called after seeing their ad on the internet. They claimed to be “Microsoft certified”.
Within a day or two, I tried their 24 hour help line. There was no answer day or night. I called my credit card company and they got a full refund for me (from a bank in the UK) I’ve never again fallen for that scam or any other like it. I almost lost a substantial amount of money
i told the moron that i could barely understand him .. he was an indian i could hear the accent … i told him to drop dead and ___ off cuz i dont even OWN a computer … so not true i have a computer, of course i cant believe anyone would believe these scammer pieces of crap
My latest response is to ask for the IP address of the computer as this tends to elicit gobbledygook to which I reply that is not my computer.
I bet my husband and I have had a half dozen of these calls just this year, and I had one two days ago. When the man tells me my computer is infected, I ask which one, and that starts the babbling. I just tell them “nice try” and hang up, but my husband will let them go on and on (he has more time than I do!!) until he’ll finally say “NO!” and hang up.
They call me about 3 times a year from what they call “Microsoft Support” and the conversation usually ends when I tell them I don’t have a Windows device, that I use Macintosh (a lie on my part of course).
Yes, I have had a couple episodes of this. What I would like to know is HOW do you get them to stop??? Any sugestions??
You can’t stop them, Stanley. Seems like the scammers always win because they make million$$ from people who fall for their scam. Wanna borrow my police whistle?
My caller told me I had a virus on my computer and I said “What computer?” and he hung up.
The calls was a caller saying he was from windows, and my computer was sending out signals, and wanted me to turn my computer on, I asked which one, and that started the blabber. He finally quit calling after he found out I knew more than he did.
This message saves lots of unwanted phone calls “We don’t answer the phone until we know who is calling, so speak after the beep, and if we are available we MAY answer the phone”. It is unbelievable how many hangups we get during the day. 🙂 Family and friends know to “overtalk” the answering machine.
THEY CALL AND SAY THAT I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY COMPUTER. I TELL THEM “MY COMPUTER? I DON’T HAVE A COMPUTER” AND THEY HANG UP.
Here in Australia we have phone scam . the caller pretends to be from the Tax Office and proceeds to tell us, that we owe the tax office x amount of dollars and if not paid into so and so accounts , they’ll send the police to arrest us.
My standard reply:” Your call is being traced” results in a quick disconnection.
Yes – Microsoft scams several times. The caller always has a foreign accent, and they hang up when I ask them to hold on while I connect them with the IT department.
In California where I live like Robert I have gotten calls form a person saying they are IRS and are suing me
for back taxes. Now all the microsoft calls are a recorded message with a phone number to call back. I am
glad we don’t answer the house phone any more just let the answering machine pick it up.
Yes, several times
Was time to renew my electricity contract. I started getting calls which showed up on my phone screen as “forwarded call”. That immediately raised a red flag. She wanted my last 4 of SS. I refused. So my birthdate. I refused. Told her I was not sure that she was not a scammer. She said she could give me her badge number. I told her that still would not confirm to me that she was with TXU. This went on for days. I told them I had TXU’s number and when I got ready, I would call them. They still kept calling until I finally told them if they were with TXU then they should know that I renewed my contract last week. They finally stopped. And so glad Cloudeight does direct care as I truly trust them with my computer. Can’t convience my friend. He has lugged his to the shop “again” making second time in less than a year and first bill was over $200. Don’t know what it will cost him this time. I have a Direct Care Season Pass for when I need it. TC and Darcy gan fix me up!!! Great jobs guys.
I have received calls from “Microsoft” about “Windows 10” and I immediately tell them that they should be ashamed of themselves for participating in a scam. I usually tell them that they will be going to Hell if they continue.
They usually hang up after that. I have had no calls for 2 months since I started answering like that
Last year I got a call from Microsoft and was told that my computer had been hacked. I got on the computer and the man told me to look into certain files and see that there were X’s through some of them. He said these were the infected files. To make a long story short, I fell for this scam and lost $900.00. I was told to leave the computer on while I went to a store to wire the money to them in Malaysia. The man for sure was an East Indian. I even spoke to his boss who assured me that this was all legitimate. Imagine what they must have been doing to my computer when I left it on and went to the store. I am 75 and very literate when it comes to the computer. I cannot believe I was so darn stupid to fall for such a scam. My husband wanted to kill me. I reported this incident to the Police and the Government Anti-Fraud squad. Just remember that Microsoft will never, ever call you on the telephone. I know of other people who had the exact same thing happen to them and they lost money. These people are very, very convincing, so don’t let them fool you. I do have a Police whistle now and twice they called me after all of this and I did say that I didn’t have a computer and they hung up. I have put a CALL BLOCK on their number on my telephones and haven’t heard a thing from them since. Please be very careful of this scam.
Yes I frequently receive scamming phone calls but they are easily recognizable from their accent or dubious answers when asked about who and where they are calling from. Sometimes I will even use up their time by pretending to follow their instructions on which keys to press, etc., until they become so exasperated with my apparent inability to comply that they give up on me!
I had a agent that wanted to use AVG on my desk top. I got made and told them were to go~~
Yes…..I have had calls like those. I usually don’t answer calls when I can see (on one phone, or the TV, who is calling)but sometimes on other phones I do answer. I told the guy I was so glad he called and asked if he could come to my house that evening….even for dinner, then fix my computer. And he could bring the family with him. He did not know what to say.
I told one I was so glad he called because I was doing a search and needed help. I wanted to find out if Mary really did have a lamb, and HOW it could follow her to school because she took the BUS!..He did not know what to say.