Windows Tech Scammers Continue Haunting Customers

Scammers pretending to be Microsoft Tech support technicians continue to haunt people on phones and off late have become very bold and aggressive.

An alarming thing about these scammers is that they do not find any signs of slowing down, says the executive head of Microsoft’s customer service and support group, Kirsten Kliphouse. She also added that they have been hearing about the scammers through friends and family and the tier one technicians, that the scammers are getting stronger every day. It is not only individuals that they are targeting but also business people.

They call up customers and scare them talking about a possible viral attack, befriend them and offer to help with the issue. Later when they get into the customer's computer, they mess up with things leaving the customers helpless but express their grief and concerns to Microsoft.

These scammers are good at convincing the customers about the vulnerability of their computer system to viral attacks with the help of Windows logs. Since these Windows logs usually show the scores of errors with less impact, the scammers are able to convince the customers with the same and urge them for buying their product.

The helpless customers are charged with the worthless services. They are cunning enough to slip in malwares and spywares while they still have the customer’s system under control. Thus, with this, a good system turns into a useless electronic device. 

Back in the year 2010, these swindles were common and slowly picked up pace in the year 2011, with more and more such events occurring in the same year. Microsoft immediately warned the customers on this regard and asked them to be aware of such issues. In October 2012, Microsoft impelled FTC, federal trade commission to file charges against six fraudsters. Then later with the investigations, FTC found out that the virtual turmoil has reached another level because of the scammers.

In the year 2013, FTC settled with three alleged swindlers, imposing a judgment of 964,000 dollars in one of the instances and a 14,000 dollars fine in another one. Nevertheless, the investigations, penalties and the accusations could not do much to stem the tide of fraud calls.

This has affected the customers so adversely that they are not ready to even rely on genuine Microsoft tech support representatives. The tech support representatives find it difficult convincing the customers in order to gain access into the computer to render support.