Residents Warned Of Windows Phone Scam
Bermuda residents are reporting a telephone scam affecting some people on the island, with callers pretending to work for a company that supports the Microsoft Windows operating system and attempting to gain access to users’ computers.
Calls Received By Local Residents
Two local residents have emailed Bernews to report this, with one saying: “At around midday, I received a phone call that showed up on my caller ID as ‘Unknown Number.’ The voice at the other end of the line had a very heavy foreign accent and quickly identified himself as a nameless representative of some obscure and unintelligible ‘Windows support system’.
“He claimed that my computer had numerous issues and was running terribly slow, even though it is fine.
“I was immediately suspicious as there is no way anyone but my local ISP can have my phone number. I told him what I thought and hung up on him.”
Another Bermuda resident reported a very similar phone call, saying, “I received a phone call from someone purporting to be from Microsoft Windows, inquiring about my computer. I’ve gotten a few of these scam attempts before, but always by email, never before by phone.
“Obviously, I did not keep the caller on the line, but I believe this was a scam that I’ve heard about on the news, where callers claim to be fixing your computer, but in fact are merely looking to obtain remote access. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to this.”
Consumer Affairs Comment
Asked about these calls, a spokesperson for Consumer Affairs said, “This type of scam is not new. It has been around for years and continues to target individuals and businesses. Everyone must be very careful and skeptical regarding any sort of unsolicited communications.
“Go on the internet and do your research about the various scams that are out there. If you get a strange call, especially from an unknown number, be very skeptical. You can always take the name and number and then offer to call back, but the best thing to do is to hang up.
“Do not give out any information. Visit the Consumer Affairs website for more information about scams.”
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Category: All, Crime, News, technology
Bermuda = Wealth. If you have a Bermuda email address you will be a target.
Got this very same call last night. When I said to the person, “I don’t believe you” the call went silent and I hung up soon after. I hope a lot of the “non-techy” people see this article, and take a lesson not to trust these phone calls. Crossing my fingers.
This may sound like a stupid question, but where do these scammers get your phone number from? Are they calling BTC customers, or cellular customers as well? I’m just curious as to how well these corporations protect customer information.
A telephone book.
There are still thousands out there that do not have a cellphone.
Happy Sunday.
My mother got a scam call about a year ago (not this particular scam). Her number is unlisted, so they couldn’t have gotten it from a phone book. I also got a call some time ago on my cellphone from somebody purporting to be doing a survey. I got suspicious halfway through the survey and asked some questions. The person hung up.
There was no need for the sarcasm, as I am asking a genuine question. I know sometimes in the US your information is sold to companies. I was curious if it happens here.
I don’t think that the answer is as simple as a phone book. Something tells me these scammers are much more sophisticated than that.
I’m always wary about “inside jobs”. I have seen situations happen that cannot be coincidental. For example, one day I did some banking transactions and a short time later was contacted by a Nigerian scammer. It really made me wonder if somebody was giving out customer’s private information.
Yes, I agree. Every time I change something with my Butterfield Bank I get a scam email. It’s even happened with the New Clarien Bank. Someone is watching our transactions.
Any person visiting the island can collect a phone book from a variety of places.
You would be surprised at how many people their private info out there.
My mom got a similar call and her number is unlisted. I have often wondered the same thing. Are local companies selling customer info?
Well did not we hear recently about the millions of credit and debit card hacking. When they get your info they get all your info. More than one way to scam people.
Some scammers sequentially dial all numbers in an exchange, and when a real human answers that’s when they jump in. Most of the dialing is done automatically by software that can detect wrong numbers, voice mail etc. I get these calls all the time – when you answer you hear nothing on the far end, but if you say “hello” there is a click, a short delay and then a person comes on.
That makes sense. When the person called me there was a weird pause on the line. I was just about to hang up when the person jumped in-it sounded weird the way the call connected.
My dad got this call recently. He has been having lots of ‘issues’ with his computer but is also discerning enough to be suspicious of this caller. He told they guy that his son-in-law is in IT (which is true) and he would help him with any problems he had. They hung up right away.
When he told my husband about it, he said that’s there no way Microsoft or an affiliate is contacting you directly like that.
Since then he’s been contacted by some other company as well. Scammers are out there.
Don’t fall for it people. Question EVERYTHING.
Its a phone scam known as the Ammyy scam. They’ve just got a list of Bermuda numbers. We got the call too. Read more about it here. http://netsecurity.about.com/od/securityadvisorie1/a/Beware-Of-The-Ammyy-Security-Patch-Phone-Scam.htm
Do not click on unknown links people! That’s one way for you to get hacked. Google the topic first.
Last night while playing Call Of Duty online someone called me. Told me my computer was sending malicious email to their servers. They went to say that they could help me if I log on to my computer and follow a few quick easy steps under their direction.
I knew it was a BS call so I played along, told them we have 200 computers at the Base and 4 of them are sending unmanned aerial vehicle Drones to their location to perform a “Surgical Strike”. I assume they cut the line. hahaha
Lol nice!
Actually , I wouldn’t mind getting a follow up call from them if they forgot that they’ve already tried.
I’m going to say .. ”Ooh, that’s very strange , I don’t even have a computer” and then see what happens on the other end.
Or alternatively tell them I have an Apple .
LOL! Thank you for this laugh!
Brilliant!!!
FYI folks, they use a computer system that generates random numbers. They know the area code and then dial random numbers until they get a human on the phone.
Thank you! Finally an answer that makes sense.
I knew it couldn’t be from telephone books, as people have been scammed that don’t have listed numbers.
People tend to sign up and register on nonsense websites, forums, games etc.. information which is normally sold to the highest bidder on it.
Even those cards you fill out to “win” that awesome car you saw parked inside the mall….you never hear of anyone winning one, so what do you think happens to such information?
I got the call too. I thought it was funny so I played along for a bit. When I asked her a simple computer question the lady got very upset. I told her don’t worry I will have my IT over to fix it later then hung up.
Anyone online can find Bermuda telephone numbers http://www.bermudayp.com/whitepages/search
I got the call too and I told them I just bought a new bottle of Windex and that my windows are nice and clean. Also thanked them for their concern and support.
I got a call from this con artist today. I missed this article a few days ago but my sister told me about it so I’ve come here to have a look-it’s definitely the same scam artist. They called at 12:50 p.m. and a guy with a thick accent said he was were calling from Microsoft something or the other (I didn’t catch exactly what they said, either-they obviously deliberately spout off some nonsense in an unclear manner). I immediately knew it was a scam, but decided to listen to what they had to say. They gave me the same spiel that they have noticed my computer running slowly and asked if I noticed this. I said “Yeah” just to see what they would say.
The guy sounded excited (which confirmed it was a scam) and then asked if I was sitting at my computer and then asked me to sit to my computer. I was going to string him along just to mess with him and get his hopes up, but then I started to get worried that it was some kind of scam involving my phone so I didn’t want to stay on the line, so I just said “Look-I don’t have time for this. You are lying and this is a scam.” He started blubbering and saying “No, Ma’am…this is Microsoft whatever.” I said “This is bull****. Explain how you got my number, then. How did you get my number?” At that point the person hung up.
I was really mad that I didn’t get a chance to tell him off properly and to tell him what a lying crook he was. I know the police say not to engage these people but I just like stringing them along to get their hopes up only to tell the creeps exactly what I think of them!!!
BTW-my number is unlisted.
I also received a scam phone call from a man and asked for his number to call back….The number is 6617716568 he told me his name was Alex Dixon (This is most likely not his real name) When I called back, I could hear many voices in the background as if there was a whole scam operation going on. Hopefully, someone out there in authority..police service can investigate this and close this operation down! I realized right away it was a scam but wanted info on him. He said he was calling from California but had a very strong accent, maybe Indian…not sure exactly. That is all the info I got from him before hanging up!