- #I GOT A CALL REGARDING MY MICROSOFT WINDOWS LICENSE INSTALL#
- #I GOT A CALL REGARDING MY MICROSOFT WINDOWS LICENSE PC#
This is the only way to know that whatever the scammer might have left on your machine is truly gone. If you don’t have such a backup, then backup your data, reformat, and reinstall Windows. Revert to a system image backup taken before the access was granted.
#I GOT A CALL REGARDING MY MICROSOFT WINDOWS LICENSE INSTALL#
If you saw them install software in the guise of tools to help repair your system, it’s very possible that software’s really a bundle of malware that’s now residing on your machine.Įven if you didn’t see them download something, they still could have placed malware on your machine.Īnd there’s no way to prove that they didn’t. The short answer is that you have no idea what they did. If you allowed the scammer access to your machine … well, things get ugly. Immediately contact your credit card issuer or other payment provider and put them on fraud alert. If you handed over payment information, you’ve just given that information to a complete stranger. If you’re concerned that there is a real problem, do the research yourself, or contact the technical resources that you trust and ask them about it.Ĭhances are there’s nothing to see here. Once it becomes clear that you’re not going to fall for the trap, it’s very likely that you’ll get hung up on, or that the caller may even become abusive. Let them know that you’ll have your local tech look into it (even if you don’t have one).
#I GOT A CALL REGARDING MY MICROSOFT WINDOWS LICENSE PC#
Ask questions, if you feel so motivated, but never ever give them access to your PC and never ever give them your payment information. Avoiding the scamĬlassic scam-avoidance 101: never completely trust someone who you don’t know who calls you. They’re wrong and using EventViewer to misguide you is a classic sign that someone is trying to scam you. Put another way, seeing errors and warnings in EventViewer does not mean that there is anything wrong with your system.ĭon’t believe anyone who calls you up and tells you different.
It’s completely normal to have lots of red stop signs and yellow warning signs in the list of events displayed by EventViewer. It’s highly technical, often incomprehensible, and honestly really only useful to experienced technicians and software developers.Īnd here’s the kicker: errors and warnings are expected in EventViewer. Or, rather, the information that is logged by applications in the system and displayed by EventViewer is a mess. What about those EventViewer messages?ĮventViewer is a mess. In the end you’re either left with a malware-laden machine (that won’t be “fixed”, by the way), bogus charges on your credit card, or both. Your payment information may be used not only for that quoted fee, but for other purchases you haven’t authorized.You’re quoted a high price for this “service”.The scammer “discovers” that in order to fix your (non existent) problem you’ll need to purchase something and at this point, they ask for your payment information.While accessing your machine several things may happen: They’re just web services that the scammer uses as a vehicle for accessing your machine. Important: Sites like and other remote-access services are not involved in the scam. Typically that means they have you connect to a remote access site, such as so you can give them access to your computer. The scammer asks you to allow them to access your computer. Or they have you open up the event viewer and point out the many, many errors listed there. To prove that there’s something wrong, they ask if your computer has been crashing recently. They claim that they’ve detected that your computer is causing many errors on the internet or that there are “problems with your account”. Microsoft, your ISP or any of the other companies these scammers claim to be from are not involved in any way. The scam is very simple: someone calls you claiming to be from Microsoft or your ISP or your anti-malware provider, or some other authoritative company. To start with, let’s not hook up that external hard drive just yet. Unfortunately, your family member having fallen for the scam puts you in a difficult and dangerous position. In recent years (yes, years) I’ve been getting lots of reports of this scam and its variants. Fortunately, many people are rightfully suspicious and cut it off before it goes too far. Neither do ISPs, security companies, or pretty much anyone else who might have some role of internet authority. Microsoft doesn’t call people because of errors on their computers.
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