The scammers are at it again. Since we’ve all caught on to the tech support scam, they’ve started a new one to try to get into your computer. It’s still “Microsoft” calling, but this time they’re going to auto-bill you $599 for “your computer service subscription”. It also appears that they’ve given up on having actual people making the initial call, it’s a robo-call now.
“As your computer service subscription will be auto-renewed, there will be an auto-deduction of $599 from your bank account. In case you don’t want to be charged, please call us to cancel your subscription. Our toll-free number is 1-888-928-7888. I repeat, the number to call is 1-888-928-7888. This call may be recorded for training and analysis purpose.”
I didn’t call back this time, but others have. What they’re trying to do is get you to let them remote access your computer to “cancel your subscription”. Don’t do this. It’s a complete scam.
- Microsoft will never call you.
- Microsoft will never call you to renew anything, they’ll just let it expire.
- Nobody can cancel a Microsoft subscription by logging in to your computer.
- If you already have a Microsoft account (Office 365, etc), feel free to log in to your console and see if you need to make a payment. Don’t click any links that ask you to log in to this console, go directly there by going to either portal.live.com or portal.office.com.
- NEVER let random people remote access your computer, no matter what they say. There are legitimate reasons for remote access. We use it here all the time. If you’re going to let someone remote access your machine, make sure it’s someone with whom you have an ongoing relationship, like your accountant or your IT company.
- Never give out your passwords.
- If you’re still unsure, call your IT professional or on-site IT.
- Microsoft will never call you.
If you have any questions, Give us a call at 970-639-0629, we’d be happy to give you answers.
i received a phone call today saying that i was going to get an automatic charge of $299 to call 1-312-888-7366 so when i called it was a male with a strong Indian accent that wanted to guide me to the steps to cancel my membership. I asked him to give me the step and i would do them once i would get home, he said wait a moment and another male also strong accent came to the line to demand me to go to my computer to give me the steps to cancel membership hahahaha i laughed and he got upset. He told me it was not funny told him it was for me and i hang up.
I got a robocall call today from 291-342-7896. When I Googled this number I found a report that said it was also used for IRS scam robocalls. Everyone who gets scam robocalls should register with Nomorobo.org which can block many robocalls and is free of charge.
I received the same exact phone call today! I told them that I thought they were a scam and then I hung up on them. They immediately called me back three times, and I kept hanging up. The third time they called, they left me a voicemail saying that if I think I’m so smart that I can go ahead and try anything I want, but they will keep charging me $399…and if I call my bank to cancel it that I still have to pay. Nice try, suckas!
I really enjoy wasting their time (and $) also.
They Left a horrible distorted recorded call on my home phone. So I did the following:
1: Turned off caller ID on my Cell Phone.
2. Called the number from caller ID (1-203-902-9826) and, astonishingly enough, somebody answered (normally it is busy).
3., Tried to have a lengthy call with the person to waste about 60 seconds of his time… then he hung up.
4. I Called back immediately and got another slimeball on the phone…. wasted some of his time before he hung up..
5. Did this 7 or 8 times asking why they hung up on me…..I was just concerned that my licenses would expire.
6. One of the slimers said they were in Utah and that they recorded my conversations and were turning me into the FBI (for asking about my account?). Then swore at me and he hung up… not very professional for Microsoft!.
7. I called back and the line was busy (it has been busy now for 15 minutes meaning that they shut down that line and can’t be scamming people from it for a while (although I am sure they have multiple lines ….at least one is dead).
I may keep trying …….. you know, to get an answer as to when my “Microsoft Account” will expire.
……..
I hope others follow this as well….. if 2% do, they will be out of business.
😂🤣😂🤣 👍
I got a call today from an autocall telling me I would be auto-charged $399 to renew my acct and to press 1 if I didn’t want my acct charged, not thinking I pressed 1. Did this in any way give them a chance to enter my checking acct or credit cards? These scammers should be lined up, blindfolded and…….left wandering in a field of broken glass.
Hi Carolyn,
You should be perfectly safe. All you did was verify that you have a “live” phone number. It may cause you to get a few more phone calls, but you can safely ignore it. They can’t get your credit card or banking information from that.
I received the call today and pressed “1” and got a person with a very strong accent who wanted me to access my computer in order to cancel my renewal (l got a deal, mine was only $299 to renew). I told him that this was a scam and he hung up before I could take my next breath! Maybe it will get me off of the list 😁 .
They have called me 4 times today. thanks for this article.
You’re very welcome! I wish there was a way to block them.
I’m always a big fan of wasting their time. I kept the last one on the phone for nearly 10 minutes by playing dumb, then I asked him how he sleeps at night scamming people like that. I also asked him if his mother knew that he scammed people for a living.
He swore at me profusely and then hung up. Mission accomplished.
I receive these calls everyday. Today I decided to see what they wanted. I knew what I was doing so I played along. He had me run the cmd. Once that came up he asked me to type assoc. Once I did that he was looking for a number that was towards the bottom. I think it was 3rd from the bottom.
During this time, I never gave any info. He said he would give me the number that should be on my screen and let him know if it matches or not. He did read off the number and it did match my computer but I told him it was incorrect. He kept getting angry with me. He said I would be charged $300 if I didn’t cancel. I asked him how he was going to do that…He said they have all that info.
I know they don’t so at this point I was done playing and he was annoying so I pressed the star key to buzz in his ear and then finally hung up after a min or so…How would they know that number from my computer?
Does everyone have the same number?? That does puzzle me….Thanks,
Everyone has the same number. The “assoc” command doesn’t actually look for a unique identifier for your computer. Assoc.exe will display which file extensions are associated with which applications, and that long number is used to tell Windows the place in the registry that handles those file extensions.
So, nothing do with your specific computer, and everything to do with a scam. They don’t have any of your information, but they like to show you things that LOOK scary.
Here’s a great article from How to Geek that shows what they found when one of the scammers called THEM.
I do the same thing and l also get great satisfaction!
I just called them back to mess with them (I work remotely and resent the interruption). They said I could pay through “online banking” but when I asked for their routing number, the guy said we didn’t need it. Total scam but at least I wasted five minutes of this guy’s life and, hopefully, cost him some money.
Called me today. Was taken aback at first, then realized, 1-Microsoft never calls and 2-we have subscriptions through our schools, so I immediately googled for scams–Thanks SO MUCH for posting this and confirming my suspicions!
I’m glad we could help!
Thank you they have called me 3 times today.
Thanks for putting this on line – confirms I did the right thing. I called them back and basically told them where they could go.
You’re welcome! That’s always my favorite response. 😉
i recieved this call and called them back asking what are they talking about and how are you gonna charge me when you dont know my information or anything about my computer they got so frustrated with me called me something in another language and hung up on me and when i tried to call back they blocked my number
The best thing to do with this is to block the number if possible. They’re lying to you if they say they have your information because they don’t. They’re just trying to scare you.
will they actually charge ur bank account though? I just got this call and hung up as soon as it said it would auto-charge me… i just need to know whether they could gain access to my bank account
Hi Lily! They won’t charge your bank account unless you give them access. If you’ve called them back and given them your bank account info or a credit/debit card, you’ll need to contact your bank. If you haven’t given them any information, they won’t charge you. They don’t actually have your information, they’re just trying to scare you into calling them back.