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Microsoft Scam -Beware flashing warnings

(81 Posts)
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Teetime Thu 12-Nov-20 10:07:12

DH laptop yesterday was hacked by a scammer claiming to be Microsoft. A loud claxon alert was heard on his screen and a flashing message using Microsoft logo. He rang the number given and spoke to very plausible woman who was very knowledgeable about computers who said she would sort out the problem with him. suddenly the last four digits of his debit and credit cards came up on the screen and she asked for a payment of £30 to fix the problem. He agreed and he then received a text from our bank for him to authorise a payment of £301 which went through. Luckily I was at home at the time and got straight onto our bank while he continued to speak to this woman. Our bank told him to close his computer immediately. They then took him through a lengthy fixing and cleaning process freezing our account and cards. New firewalls were added to our laptops and we are all sorted this morning.
I would just say that DH is very computer savvy and he was taken in some of the way with this very clever scam. Please be aware.

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JenniferEccles Thu 12-Nov-20 22:58:07

It’s such a shame that teetime’s well meaning warning immediately attracted such an unpleasant response.

We should all be very grateful that people like her are willing to relay their story as a warning to us all.

Some scams are fairly easy to spot but criminals are employing more and more sophisticated methods to part us from our money, so we can never have too many of these warnings.

No matter how clever some posters obviously think they are, we can ALL have an off day when we are particularly vulnerable to these scams.

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welbeck Thu 12-Nov-20 23:07:04

maybe some people have been reading MN, and picking up their abrasive ways.
hope those who have logged out are at least still reading.
it's a pity if people feel they have to leave.

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FarNorth Fri 13-Nov-20 01:24:08

Recently, someone called me and didn't make any threats about TV licence or dvla etc - she was much nicer and gave me the chance of a special offer on Amazon prime, with the choice to sign up for two years or one (using my card of course).
With their eyes on a special offer, I think some people could easily be taken in by that.

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katanamir Tue 19-Apr-22 12:20:18

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

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volver Tue 19-Apr-22 12:23:29

This is new. A scam claiming to protect you against scams!

Reported.

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