The Microsoft computer scam has caused considerable anxiety for a senior couple who describe themselves as “pretty new to the computer world.”
Judy S. (we withhold the last name to avoid further embarrassing her and her husband) visited the Advance office on Monday to share her story.
“A loud noise just started along with a voice that kept repeating, ‘DON’T TURN YOUR COMPUTER OFF. YOU HAVE BEEN ATTACKED BY A VIRUS AND TURNING OFF YOUR COMPUTER MAY DAMAGE MICROSOFT WARE. CALL THE NUMBER PROVIDED IMMEDIATELY,’” she said.
The voice and accompanying sound affects were so loud and repetitive, she said, that they created fear.
Judy dutifully called the phone number on the screen and soon a very pleasant voice was asking questions—name, address, telephone number—and explaining he was finding things, “that we had a lot of garbage that needed to be cleaned out and that should be done once a month.” More questions came, asking for email addresses and passwords.
“Then he said there were protection packages we could choose from,” she said. Priced at $199.99, $349.99 and $499.99, the would work for the lifetime of the computer, but needed to be renewed annually.”
She gave her Mastercard number and then clicked “OK” on the screen to authorize an on-screen signature and agreed to purchase the lower priced package. The computer began to work again.
Immediately afterward, Judy’s husband called his credit card company, as the couple began to realize they might have been defrauded. No charge had been made.
The next day, a cell phone call came from a “boss” of the helpful man who had guided them through the process. He reported that they had found nothing wrong and wanted to reimburse the money, but needed banking information to make the repayment.
They refused to provide the requested info, so he instructed them to open a PayPal account. The caller said we would deposit $1,000 into the new account to activate it, and then directed them to go to Walmart to purchase $800 in iTunes gift cards, then enter their code numbers into the computer. Judy and her husband could keep the remaining $200 in the account as reimbursement for their previous payment.
When informed there is no Walmart in Creston the voice provided directions to Canyon Country Store, and instructed her to drive to the store while he remained on the phone.
She quickly used another phone to check whether any transactions had been made on her husband’s Mastercard account, and found there were no charges.
Judy then accused the man of pulling a scam. He got upset and demanded, “I WANT MY MONEY RIGHT NOW OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR COMPUTER.” Eventually he promised to call back after the weekend.
Judy then went into action, cancelling the credit cards, changing their phone number, reporting the incident to the RCMP and alerting email contacts to delete recent emails “to protect their identity.” She also took the computer into a shop to have it checked for viruses or malware.
Her advice to Advance readers is to do what Mastercard recommends—check with Transunion and Equifax, two services that monitor credit activity and can report fraudulent activity.
“I hope this will be helpful for others so they don’t make the same mistake,” Judy said. For anyone who gets a similar computer message, she recommends immediately unplugging the computer and modem.
“Installing safety software is a must,” she said. “And changing passwords often is also recommended.”