Yet another phone call from Microsoft telling me that I was being hacked etc. I know Microsoft does not phone us but this was a bit worrying as the lady insisted that she new my Internet ID number and told me my name. She wanted me to go to cmd and she would prove that she knew my ID number. I hung up and she promptly phoned back I hung up again. This happened about four times before she gave up. Should I be worried? (Win 10 21 H2)
Don't worry about it.
Microsoft will NEVER call unless you set it up with them beforehand.
Even IF, one day, a virus went around and infected everyone's computers, and Microsoft decided to call and help.
Even if every phone call took only one minute (assuming the 1 billion customers, they claim), it would still take 1,920 years to reach all their customers.
And that's just for Windows 10.
What do you mean "internet ID number". All they know is you external IP address which is what I think you mean, but changes frequently. They just have software that pings zillions of numbers. They probably picked your number up from a zillion online poorly saved databases.
I would ignore her completely - nothing can happen unless you are silly enough to give passwords to them. No reputable company ever asks for passwords. The just tell you to login to you own account and do not even provide links.
Re. 4 times - they only ever ask me once, as I tell them to engage in "physical enjoyment and travel" in more colourful language.
Never ever pay attention to this type of phone call.
In your case, you have no reason to be worried, but I recommend you do a malware scan in case a hacker installed something, but odd are low. These phone scammers just smooth talk you into giving them information normally.
If you are really concerned, change online passwords e.g. to bank etc. I cannot advise you to do this or not - you would have to decide if you potentially compromised yourself by giving out login details etc. The only advice I can give is play safe if not sure.
Oops, my bad. Microsoft is claiming 1.3 billion Windows 10 users.
https://news.microsoft.com/bythenumb...windowsdevices
Many thanks. I receive so many of these calls. I usually ask them if they have family and does their family know that this is how they earn their living, they usually hang up. I didn't give any information but was concerned that she was determined to prove that she knew my "IP address" if that is what she knew, can't remember exactly what she said but wanted me to write down a number. I hung up. Thanks for your reassurance.
This is probably what would have happened:
One trick that is mainly used when they call you however is the assoc command. The scammer will use this command to trick the user into believing that they know the ID of your PC. This could not be further from the truth. It is just a scam tactic they use as part of their script.
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How the scam works
The scammer will quote a large string of characters (a GUID in computer terms) which they will tell you is the ID of your computer. The scammer will get the user to open the run box by pressing the Windows key and R together. You will then be asked to type cmd which will open the Windows command prompt. From here, they will get you to type assoc and press return.
Once the user has pressed return, a string of text will scroll up the screen. The scammer will then draw the user’s attention to a line towards the bottom of the text called .zfsendtotarget . The scammer chooses this line as it will be present on every Windows PC and even though they will convince you otherwise, the GUID will always be the same. The scammer will tell you that this is your unique computer ID which gives them credibility to continue their scam. In reality, the string of characters will always be {888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}.
The assoc command will not give any unique information about your computer. It is purely used to show associations between file types and applications. Because users do not deal with guid values, the scammer can be fairly confident that you wouldn’t know this is the same on each PC. If you are being asked to run this command, you can be sure there is a scammer on the other end of the line. The assoc command scam is a powerful tool for the scammer. Users can be easily convinced when someone is able to provide information about their system without being connected.
Confidence Tricks – The Assoc Command
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