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Microsoft Scam (not The Real Microsoft)

J

jimbo

master brummie
Not sure if this is the right place to post this as it is more of an ask for advice. My father in law who is 97 has had a man supposedly from Microsoft phone him several times informing him he has a virus on his laptop. He asks him to work through a series of exercises to eliminate the said virus. My father in law is very hard of hearing and so far he has not been able to complete the exercise and so he has asked the man to phone tomorrow when I am there so that I can follow his instructions. My ask is, does anyone think this is genuine or a scam? All help will be greatly appreciated .
Thank you.
 
Hi Jimbo,
It is definitely a scam. Microsoft never phone anyone. Tell your father in law not to answer the phone and completely ignore the scammer.
oldmohawk
 
A scam of the highest magnitude. It should be ignored and no information - repeat no information given.
 
Thanks for the tip off and advice on this scam. Urge everyone to read this thread. Viv.
 
Many many thanks to you all, I shall heed you sound advice and ignore the phone and inform the father in law that it is a scam.
Much gratitude
jimbo
 
Hi Jimbo. I've added 'scam ' to the title now that members have confirmed its a scam. Also people are more likely to read it. Thanks for bringing it to the forums attention. Viv.
 
had the same phone call several months back,played the (asian sounding ) guy along & told him i did not have a computer or a tablet what made him think i had a problem.........he slammed the phone down
 
I had the call, I knew it was a scam and just kept saying 'Hello' over and over to annoy the what sounded like chinese woman, she hung up.
 
This issue often crops up here and many other places. I used to get these calls from time to time but since I started to ask them to speak in Dutch they seem to have stopped. :D
 
I used to do the same thing Alberta. But we found the answer to the problem came when we removed the landline altogether (obviously). We didn't remove it for that reason or because of nuisance calls, it was mainly because we never used it except to answer nuisance calls ! The only reason we'd been hanging on to our landline was we were under the impression we needed to keep it for broadband. Not so. Viv.
 
Vivienne, I am just the opposite to you, the only reason I have a hated mobile is in case my car breaks down and I can call the AA, when I pack up motoring in the bin it goes. Had my landline since 1963 when PO Telephones (now BT) put it in (rent free) so they could call me out to attend after hours emergencies (Doctors, Hospitals etc... Much prefer a real 'phone. Eric
 
I tell them the computer is in another room, upstairs. When they tell me to do what is basically setting it up for them to take control of it (and then demanding a payment to restore it to you) I say you'll have to wait while I do that, and put the phone down. 3 mins later, if they're still there, I get the next stage, often "what's showing on the screen? I say , Oh I didn't look give me a couple of minutes to go and see - and lay the phone down again. They've usually given up when I pick the phone up again, but if they're still there and want something else I say hang on while I go and do it = but I've got to go to the toilet first. Always gone five minutes after that!
 
cookie273uk said:
Vivienne, I am just the opposite to you, the only reason I have a hated mobile is in case my car breaks down and I can call the AA, when I pack up motoring in the bin it goes. Had my landline since 1963 when PO Telephones (now BT) put it in (rent free) so they could call me out to attend after hours emergencies (Doctors, Hospitals etc... Much prefer a real 'phone. Eric
Click to expand...
Hi Eric - I could not agree more. I have now stopped driving but have not yet binned my mobile because I cannot find it.
Chris Beresford (Old Boy)
 
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