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Demartek Comments on Tech Support Phone Scam

8 July 2015

By , Demartek President

Earlier today I was called from the telephone number 213-910-8228 (according to the Caller ID) from a person claiming to be with Microsoft technical support. He asked for me by name and said that he was calling to help me because they had reports of “corruptions” on my computer. He asked if I was at my computer and if so, he could direct me to get help to fix these corruptions. I already knew about this scam, but decided to play along for a short while, so I said that I recently ran a virus check and Windows updates (which I did). He said that it wasn’t a virus but that it was a different type of corruption. Again, he asked if I was at my computer. I said that I was able to take care of my own computer and didn’t need his help. He offered to help anyway. So I decided to politely tell him that I knew about his company trying to take control of other people’s computers and hung up.

This type of telephone “tech support scam” has been occurring for several years and is well-documented. Although sometimes these scammers claim to represent other companies, they frequently claim to represent Microsoft, as there are many millions of computers around the world with Microsoft software.

Microsoft does not call people in this manner, has posted warnings about this type of scam and is actively pursuing these people in conjunction with law enforcement worldwide. The following links provide additional information on these scams and steps Microsoft is taking to help take down these scammers. The first of these links provides a nice video summary of the situation.

We received a similar call from somebody claiming to be from the Geek Squad in September 2015.

You may also want to read the Demartek Identity Theft Prevention Tips and Commentary, available in English and Spanish.

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