Several months ago I started keeping closer tabs of customers who fell prey to foreign callers claiming to be from Microsoft. About one third of the people who walk through our doors have allowed these phone representatives access to their computer. To my best estimate one half of those people paid upwards of $300.00 to fix problems that don’t exist.

For those who don’t know, this simple scam is rampant. Foreign call centers make a series of random outbound calls representing themselves as Microsoft Technical Support claiming their servers have received “signs of malware.” The hard to understand foreigner then says something like, “in order to diagnose the problem we will need to log onto your computer.”

After taking control of the computer the caller proceeds to open Windows error reports to point out the reason for the alarming call. During the pitch they inform you of your options which usually include a range of repair prices. Typically the scammer tries intimidating the victim into one of the higher priced repairs which includes software.

All of this can seem legitimate to people unaware of actual Microsoft practices of not contacting end users. Microsoft does not monitor individual computers for malware infestations. You, as a computer user, will never be contacted by Microsoft. With that being said, let’s take a closer look at the scam.

During the initial part of the call the representative opens a series of windows to illustrate the many issues with your computer. Really what they’re showing you is a list of normal Windows services and errors that run on every computer. Even the computer I use solely for word processing has services and errors that could look pretty scary.

Paying customers are the somewhat lucky ones. If you pay their ransom they will usually turn a bunch of stuff off and on in order to make it look like they’re actually fixing issues. “Premium” customers get some great software titles like PC Keeper or Registry Fix that are really nothing more than viruses and malware.

Non paying customers are the unfortunate ones. During the first part of the call the scammers start turning off Windows services, create a registry password and turn off system restore. Non paying customers are typically left with a computer that needs to be reloaded. Luckily most data will be intact, but settings and software will need to be reconfigured.

The very best solution is to hang up on these types of calls prior to letting them onto your computer. Damage is done as soon as you follow their instructions to download their connection utility. Not entertaining their call and instructions will reduce the number of scam calls you receive in the future. Remember, the goal is to not engage them.

My prompt for writing this article is one of my Brattleboro customers who had $2,000.00 taken from her bank account by one of these scammers after she paid $250.00. She provided her routing and account numbers to the caller with the naive expectation her problems would be fixed. Instead of fixing any issues they cleaned out her account a week later.

I don’t believe this to be a police matter and experience tells me the police will suggest contacting your bank if you are scammed. The sad reality is banks and credit card companies are powerless because you authorized the payment in the first place. Save yourself the headache of having to deal with this and simply hang up the phone.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner.  You can read past articles at www.localcomputerwiz.com.)