ReversePhoneDirectory.com Offers Support and Education to Protect Public Against Microsoft Phone Scam
Bellevue, WA (PRWEB) July 09, 2011
ReversePhoneDirectory.com wants to raise awareness of the scam that uses the trustworthy name of one of the largest companies today. The Microsoft name lends credibility, and scammers take advantage of this to gain trust from unsuspecting victims.
Scammers claim to represent the software giant as technicians. The fraudsters guarantee technology fixes, and obtain credit card details for payment. This scam tends to be extremely sophisticated. Victims receive phone calls from people claiming to be “Windows technical support”. Callers have information such as name and address in order to validate their claims. Callers say that they see problems on the victim’s computer, and they will ask if the victim has noticed slowing recently. They then tell the consumer that they want to take over the machine and fix the problems – for a fee.
Victims are then asked for their credit card information as payment to fix the problem.
Unsuspecting targets will not only lose the money for the “payment”, but the credit card information now belongs to the thieves as well. The amounts sought for the “services” from the scammers range from $ 30 up to $ 600. In reality, nothing is wrong with the computer. The targets are even sometimes convinced to buy into a “one-year maintenance plan” offered by the crooks. If this were not enough, this scam allows the thieves access to the victim’s personal computer, giving them the opportunity to damage computers, install spyware, malware or viruses remotely.
Microsoft’s blog advises people to avoid these dangerous hoaxes. “We do not send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information or fix the computer. If a person receives an unsolicited email message or phone call that purports to be from Microsoft and requests that they send personal information or click links, delete the message or hang up the phone.”
ReversePhoneDirectory.com realizes that tech support fraud is a common scam, and wants to raise awareness of the services it offers to prevent fraud and protect consumers.
ReversePhoneDirectory.com offers the following tips to detect and prevent targets from falling victim to this scam:
Treat all unsolicited phone calls with skepticism. Microsoft does not offer technical support through unsolicited phone calls.
When such phone calls are received, be sure to record the 10-digit phone number that comes up on the Caller ID. Use ReversePhoneDirectory.com to perform a reverse phone lookup to find information about the owner of the phone number, and any public records associated with this number.
Never give personal information over the phone. Any phone calls claiming to be Microsoft employees that request personal information such as credit card numbers should be recorded and reported to Microsoft and the Better Business Bureau.
About ReversePhoneDirectory.com
Reverse Phone Directory provides access to the most accurate and up-to-date public records to assist with daily searches for information about people and businesses. ReversePhoneDirectory.com is committed to helping populate live better during technologically advanced clocking, believing that information is a powerful currency and people across the country should have easy access to information about everything and everyone they come in contact with.
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