Strange Call from "Microsoft" -- name needed?

[Victor Steinbok]

This kind of scam comes in waves. A few years ago, it was appliance
warranties. Then it got replaced with car warranties. The current top
scam--for about a year now--is the credit card interest lowering.
Perhaps Microsoft recall is the next big thing. It makes no sense--why
imitate someone else's scam? If you've figured it out once, you're not
going to bite again--and we've been getting 3-4 such calls a week, from
different sources (not just different phone numbers, which are spoofed
anyway).

     VS-)

On 2/8/2012 7:24 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> Is there a name yet for this type of phishing (via telephone)?  Or is
> it just a variant on older cons that already have a name?
>
> Although hardly plausible (How many users would Microsoft have to
> call for this "recall"?  What does one phone call from India --- or
> was it only an Indian-sounding guy -- cost?), it apparently took in
> at least one person.
>
> Joel
>
>>> This is a heads-up, for what it's worth. I just had a call from
>>> "Microsoft," complete with an Indian-sounding tech guy, telling me
>>> that I had acquired a dangerous virus, and that I could lose my
>>> computer at any moment, and would I please turn it on and let him
>>> guide me through "fixing" the problem.
>> This very scam was thoroughly covered on the ABC affiliate in Northern
>> California, by the consumer advocate Michael Finney. A woman was taken in
>> and told her tale of woe. I don't remember how the guy got any money from
>> her, though I can certainly imagine.

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