Don't Fall For These Scams!

 

When it happens to you, don't panic!

   

The Popup Message

You're using your computer when out of the blue a "virus" or "suspicious connection" warning pops up on your screen. It will probably use a variety of technical-sounding phrases to tell you that there are problems, and warn that you are at risk for all kinds of scary consequences ("computer damage," "data corruption", etc.). You might see multiple pop-ups. At the end of this text there is a phone number you can call to get help. In addition you may see a "blue screen" or other colorful text and images, claiming there is a problem with your computer. You may also hear a siren or a man's or woman's voice coming from your computer, telling you that this is urgent, call immediately, you are at risk, etc. Most times you cannot exit out of these screens. This is a scam, pure and simple. These messages and sounds are all designed to scare you, make you leave your common sense aside, and intimidate you into calling that number. Don't fall for this! Just because it says there's a problem on your computer screen doesn't make it true. Your computer is not going to self-diagnose itself and present you with an 800 number to call for repair. The popup with the telephone number you are seeing is the malware issue on your computer. It isn't even on your PC. It is merely a webpage trying to frighten you. These scammers are trying to get you to call them and have you grant them access to your PC. Then they will try to show you things to prove that you do indeed have a serious infection. Every computer will have some of these messages and warnings in the Event Viewer just from normal use. If you have antivirus or antimalware software, wouldn't that software identify itself or just take care of the problem? If you don't have any protection software installed, why would a protection alert appear at all?

 

 

The Call from Microsoft

Someone will call claiming to be from Microsoft and tell you they have detected problems on your PC. They will offer to fix these issues for you if you let them connect remotely to your PC. If this happens to you, simply hang up the phone. There is no reason to be polite or explain yourself.

Microsoft has said it does not make unsolicited calls to charge you for computer security or repairs.
Click here for more info from Microsoft.