So, in the first week in December, I got a call from a number listed as being from “Seattle, WA”. I was greeted by a gentleman with an East-Indian accent:
Caller: “Hello. This is Samir from Microsoft Tech Support. I’m here to help you with your login problem.”
Me: “I have no login problems.”
Caller (with less of an accent): “So you have no login problem? Are you absolutely sure that everything is working OK?”
Me: “Yes, thank you anyway.”
<HANG UP>
I called the number back and got a recording “Sorry, that mailbox is full, please try again later”. I added that number to my phone’s Block Call list.
Listen up! Microsoft Tech Support would probably need a staff of a million people to handle all the people that are having problems with a particular Windows or other Microsoft product. Nobody from Microsoft is going to call you up just to help you. Period. Don’t fall for these types of scams.
But there are genuine companies that will take advantage of you also – if you let them. There was a woman I knew a couple of years ago that was having problems with her AOL Email account. It was corrupted an AOL rebuilt her inbox for her. The AOL technician was convinced that she had a virus because she had more than one “Service Host” process running. She hands me the phone:
Me: “I’m counting at least 10 processes, probably more. Why do you think she has a virus?”
AOL: “Because there should only be one of those running. You can download a free trial of our new….”
<HANG UP>
Since almost anything that’s network-related runs under “Service Host”, I just took a look at my Windows 10 box. Out of the 89 background processes that are running, 75 of them are “Service Host”.
Look, the fact is, she had no virus. For those of you living under a rock or without clue, AOL is owned by Verizon. As such, you’re going to get a hard sell when you call AOL’s tech support number; like the barkers at the Verizon store at the mall. Don’t be a victim of this crap.
Yes, AOL has an anti-malware product. I know that because they send me an email about it every couple of weeks. It might actually be good; but alas, I’ll never know. I buy stuff based on merit, rather than fear. You should also.