Important Consumer Information Watch out for Bogus Microsoft Tech Support Calls

One of our team was contacted today by a gentleman calling from a call centre.  The caller pretended to be from Microsoft and told him that his computer was infected with Malware and that they would help him remove it.  Thankfully the team member contacted was one of our IT guys would knew this to be a scam and so played along…

…just to see what they would do.

The indian gentleman went through a couple of ‘verifaction statements’ and asked our man to open various windows on the computer and then “proved” that there was a problem by reading back a string of numbers and letters called a “CLSID”, implying that it was unique that computer and therefore the computer must be compromised.

After about fifteen minutes he told them that he thought they were scammers and that Microsoft never contact anyone with regards to technical problems detected on a pc.  The pc owner is responsible for his or her own online safety so they don’t need to. 

Also CLSID’s are not unique, every computer has them and every computer using the same operating system will more than likely have the same CLSID.  It’s not unique at all and this scam has been ongoing for a couple of years.  It’s been reported elsewhere on the web that these people doing this are probably getting your details of a big database and calling you as a result.

Don’t be Duped!  Don’t Give any Personal Information and most importantly, don’t pay for their solution as there is probably nothing wrong with your PC!  

Do a full Virus Scan, Just in Case!  

Update Windows Defender and Run that if it’s Installed.  Check your firewall to make sure that only allowed programs are accessing through it. Do change your passwords regularly and Do not use the same passwords for everything.  Remember that your safety and security on the web is down to you!  If you’re unsure get an expert to help.

This is a known issue and fully reported here at

http://www.webologist.co.uk/internet-security/pc-support-security-scams-zfsendtotarget-clsid-trick