Monday, April 29, 2013
I got a question from a reader last week who was very
concerned about a recent telephone call she received from a person purporting
to be a representative of Microsoft. The
caller was reporting that “their records” indicated that the version of Windows
on her computer had an expired license which needed to be renewed. The caller went on to say that since the
Windows license had expired her computer was susceptible to viruses and
malware. He noted that he could help her
renew the Windows license and would be happy to scan her computer for any
problems.
What these miscreants wanted of course was access to my
reader’s computer so they told her to go to a special website. Once there they could enable remote access
into her computer so they could allegedly look for and fix any viruses or
malware that might be there. Once they
have remote access they can examine or retrieve anything on that machine.
To be sure, this scam is one that can result in a real
hassle costing time and money not to mention lost data and stolen
information. Unfortunately, this is not
a new scam but every few months it seems to rear its ugly head.
There is no such thing as an expired Windows license for the
operating software on home computers.
For sure there are different versions of Window such as XP, Vista ,
Windows 7, and the newest, Windows 8. It is true that Microsoft does phase out
support for some of the older versions but the license does not expire and you
cannot renew it.
In most cases these scammers just want to sell you some
useless antivirus software but some have a much more sinister plan. They can harvest passwords, personal ID
information and even bank account data.
This, of course, is not good.
While accessing your computer they can even place a Trojan Horse app
that can continue to send data back to the scammers days or months after you
thought you were rid of them.
I told my reader that she should at a minimum change any
passwords that she might have stored on her computer and that she should make
sure that her antivirus software was up to date so it might be able to detect
any bad things that her guests may have left behind.
The best advice I can give is to never give access to your
computer to anyone you don’t trust and know to be from a reputable
company. There are times when it is fine
to give remote access to a person that is trouble shooting a problem for
you. In these cases you were the one to
initiate the relationship.
My reader friend should have been tipped off when the caller
said that they had identified her computer license as being expired. Even Microsoft with its thousands of
employees can’t keep track of the millions of versions of their software
installed throughout the world.
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