Beware calls from Microsoft

March 12, 2012

By Tess Wagner There`s a phone scam that`s going through Boudary County right now. Beware someone claiming to be from Microsoft calling and saying that they have detected malware on your computer. I got such a call Friday morning. When I asked him how they knew, he told me that my computer was sending reports back to them ... you know that little pop up window that says debug now or send report. He claimed they had recieved a large number of these from my computer, which was why he was calling. I haven`t seen this dialogue box in months, nor do I ever hit the "send report" button. I can`t tell that it does anything, so I usually ignore it. I told him I didn`t have time to put my computer on and that I was in the process of leaving. He told me he would call back. We`ll see. He`s supposed to call today. Shame on him. Several people in Bonners Ferry have reported to the police that they had been hit with this, according to an article in the Herald, which printed an article about it in the B section, not front page where it should have been. I did some research, and here is the link to Microsoft concerning how they want you to deal with these type of calls. They main point that needs to be shared is that Microsoft will NEVER call people at home. Thought you might find this interesting news to use.