Current Technology Scams

Please be mindful of technology scams.  They can cause harm to you or your computer equipment.  See below for current scams . . . 

Microsoft Support Scam 

From what I can tell, this scam was being used two years ago and has had a recent resurgence.  Below is an article reported this week on KKTV.com, a southern Colorado news station: 

Norma Charles recently got an alarming phone call from a man she said had a heavy accent. 

"I'm always a little bit wary. You hear about this all the time, and I said 'I’m not sure I trust you or not,'" Charles said. 

From the start she said she knew something was wrong. The man on the other end told her he was from Microsoft, and said that her computer might crash any minute. 

"He said ‘oh I’ll show you how bad it is,’" Charles said. 

The scammer directed her to a website (teamviewer.com) and from there, Charles said he just took over, controlling her mouse from his end of the phone. 

He told her he could fix the problem, but it would cost her more than $300. It was at that point Charles had enough and hung up. 

"I knew it, I knew it (was a scam) right away. I just kept telling him I didn't trust him (he said) ‘oh but you can I’m Microsoft,’" Charles recalled. 

Because of Charles’ limited mobility, she relies heavily on her computer to shop and get necessities. Although she didn't completely fall for this scam, she just wants everyone to be careful when getting calls like these. 

We contacted Microsoft about this incident and here's what they told us: 

“This is a known scam. Criminal organizations are using Microsoft's name to try to gain your trust. I can categorically confirm that neither Microsoft nor our partners make unsolicited phone calls to help solve your computer problems. If you receive an unsolicited phone call that purports to be from Microsoft and requests that you send personal information, hang up the phone.” 

If you have already fallen victim to a scam, and feel that your computer's security may already be compromised, Microsoft provides a free security scanner that you can use to help identify and remove malicious software. We've linked below and to our homepage, just click on “Find It.” 

Smart Phone Scam 

I received this text message on my smart phone recently, and it stated the following: 

Dear Walmart shopper, Congratulations you have just won a $1000 Walmart Gift Card. Click here to claim your gift. www-VIPwmart-com STOP2end 

The part of the message close to the end was an actual link, and I'm sure it lead to malware for smart phones.  The message was received this morning by several staff members.