Yeah, we've never met anyone on the Indian subconmtinent named
"Justin".. We asked him, "You said my Microsoft key will expire?" and
he replied:
That's right today is to inform you that license key that runs in your computer
will expire and you need to renew it otherwise your computer will shut down and
never restart.
What if we had an apple computer? He replied:
No, no, no, I'm talking about your Windows computer.
Which windows computer?, we asked.
How many computers do
you have?"
We told him "3". To which he responded:
No, I'm talking about this computer which IP Address is 69.60.110.199.
Messing with him, we asked "Is that the MAC address" (A MAC address is the
computers machine address, permanently builting to the CPU..) He replied:
It's a windows computer, sir.
We asked, What does that number mean? At this point, he hung
up. A quick look-up of the alleged IP address showed it was a server
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
You can hear a recording of this scam here: (the recording
will download and then you can open it and play it - it is just a
recording)
It is a scam
Don't fall for it. It is a scam. Think about it for one
minute: have you ever heard of ANY company calling up and saying
they owe you a refund? And this recording claims to represent
2 different companies, apple and Microsoft, who are direct
competitors. If you call them
back or follow their instructions you will lose money and possibly
your identity!
What to do
Just ignore it and block their number. Generally, it is helpful
to avoid answering any calls you do not recognize, so you have time
to consider and research any demands that might have been left on
voicemail. There are now free phone apps that help to interecpt
calls that are know to be coming from scammers. One that we
have found to be very effective is
TrueCaller. It displays any known information about callers as
the calls come in, and alerts you about calls coming from numbers
that others have reported to be scams.
Apple offers the following advice:
If you get a suspicious phone call or voicemail:
Scammers spoof phone numbers
and use flattery and threats to pressure you into giving them information,
money, and even iTunes gift cards. Always verify the caller's identity before
you provide any personal information. If you get an unsolicited call from
someone claiming to be from Apple, hang up and contact us directly.
Microsoft says:
Tech support scams are an industry-wide issue where scammers use scare tactics
to trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services that
supposedly fix contrived device, platform, or software problems.
Scammers
may call you directly on your phone and pretend to be representatives of a
software company. They might even spoof the caller ID so that it displays a
legitimate support phone number from a trusted company. They can then ask you to
install applications that give them remote access to your device. Using remote
access, these experienced scammers can misrepresent normal system output as
signs of problems.
Cybercriminals don't just send fraudulent email
messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on
the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer
to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software
license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the
following:
Trick you into installing malicious software
that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user
names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove
this software.
More information
There are several websites that focus on reports of scam phone calls.
The links below go to pages on these other websites were you can read reports
about the scams associated with this phone number (855-687-1444, claiming This is Microsoft. This call is to inform you that your Microsoft license key has expired):
Related Scams
There are a number of common telephone scams, such as:
and some new and as yet, uncommon scams.
What to do about it
See these pages for guidance as applicable to your specific situation:
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.