Microsoft Files Suit Against Tech Support Scammers

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It's nice to see Microsoft taking action against these scumbags but I have a feeling this is going to be a game of whack-a-mole. Every time they smack one, another pops up in its place. :(

In its first big strike against technical support scamming companies, today Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit will file a civil lawsuit in federal court in the Central District of California against Omnitech Support and related entities for unfair and deceptive business practices and trademark infringement.
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Educating the consumer would probably be a better place to start. These people are only in business because of the people who pay them for their "support"
 
I get those calls at work all of the time. They always say they're from "Windows Support Center."
I do my best to mess with them when they start telling me to do things. Eventually after 5-10 minutes of nothing working as they expect, I start talking about how I hate the Mac I'm using and that I want an iPhone. I've had them hang up on me a couple times, but sometimes they're troopers and will stick with it.
 
Domingo said:
I get those calls at work all of the time. They always say they're from "Windows Support Center."
I do my best to mess with them when they start telling me to do things. Eventually after 5-10 minutes of nothing working as they expect, I start talking about how I hate the Mac I'm using and that I want an iPhone. I've had them hang up on me a couple times, but sometimes they're troopers and will stick with it.
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Pure gold!
:eek::D
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
Educating the consumer would probably be a better place to start.
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Education is an essential tool in combating all scams. Indirectly these kinds of law suits are part of the education process as they tend raise awareness.
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
Educating the consumer would probably be a better place to start. These people are only in business because of the people who pay them for their "support"
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Exactly. I have customers who get these calls and at best usually give them access and end up getting viruses put on their computers and at worse give them credit card info. I just flat out tell them Microsoft would never call you and ask if you're having problems with your PC because they don't care. A lot of these companies actually flat out lie and say they work for Microsoft.
 
heatlesssun said:
Education is an essential tool in combating all scams. Indirectly these kinds of law suits are part of the education process as they tend raise awareness.
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"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it"

For some people the only way they're going to learn is by being scammed. I warned my brother about a scam that got me. Three months later they got him. They tried again a couple years after that and he didn't bite then.
 
Well never had a problem myself, cause my basic philosophy is "I'll call you, you DON'T call me!" Anyway, these scammers try to be relentless. My Sister and family had an fire in their home and had to find other lodgings for about 3 months, before they could move back in. They hadn't even been back 24 hrs., when they got one of these calls. She explained to the guy that her computer was residing inside a box and was not only was not connected to the net but, wasn't even connected to power. Do you think this deterred the scammer? Not at all, he still tried to convince her that her computer was infected and was spreading viruses. She laughed in his face and called him an idiot.
 
I have a stack of printouts up front in the customer area describing the scam. I hand one out to every customer who will take one. We have had them create paypal accounts, send out emails, create email addresses, all in the customer's name.
 
I've like worked with some people that are legitimate tech support that should probably be sued as scammers.
 
Nice. Trying to hit their forum results in this error:

An error was encountered

Unable to connect to MySQL and select database.
MySQL reported: Access denied for user 'shyam'@'248247-web1.customerfocusservices.com' (using password: YES)

The error occurred on line 44 in /var/www/vhosts/omnitechsupport.com/html/forum/include/dblayer/mysqli.php
 
Ruoh said:
Nice. Trying to hit their forum results in this error:

An error was encountered

Unable to connect to MySQL and select database.
MySQL reported: Access denied for user 'shyam'@'248247-web1.customerfocusservices.com' (using password: YES)

The error occurred on line 44 in /var/www/vhosts/omnitechsupport.com/html/forum/include/dblayer/mysqli.php
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bleeping computer is a great site, home of combofix, play nicely with it, she is unforgiving.
 
Jim Kim said:
bleeping computer is a great site, home of combofix, play nicely with it, she is unforgiving.
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I wasn't referring to Bleeping Computer. I'm talking about the forums for the scammer.
 
I've had a few calls like that come through to my house. One of those times I let the person ramble on and asked him if Microsoft supports FreeBSD and he hurriedly said yes. I think that it was the supervisor monitoring the call disconnected him. I haven't received a call since.

Part of me, only part of me, would like to have them enter one of my old WinXP VMs in VirtualBox. It has a snapshot that can always be reverted to and in a worst case scenario I could revert to the backup VM image. Realistic me wouldn't let them on my network.

I wonder if they have taken into account something like WireShark to find the IP address of the support person who will want to log in.
 
My wife and I have fun when these guys call. We used to tell them off, but decided it was better if we waste their time.
A few scenarios we have done:
-You have to talk slow and get them to repeat themselves. Play along. When they ask you to press the Windows key, ask if that is next to the Apple key. They will hang up.
-I was told I had a bad virus by them. I asked how he knew I was viewing pictures of naked men with goats. This was pure gold. I then told him my dad was going to kill me if he found out. He kept saying "It's ok buddy, I will help you". My wife and I were laughing so hard, I hung up on him. He called back and I starting "baaaing" to him until he hung up.
-My wife started meowing. Every second or third word, just say meow. It takes them a while to catch on. Loads of fun.
-My little daughter (she's 6) told them she couldn't type because she was pooping. I guess poop doesn't translate well to their language as he had no clue. He then asked to talk to a parent, she said they were both pooping too. She told them they were thieves and they hung up on her.
 
They call and tell me they are from "The Micro Soft" here to assist with problem in computer.

I tell them I support the CIA orchestrating a war between Pakistan and India, and when it goes off and he is frying in nuclear flames, I will be sitting here laughing my ass off. :rolleyes::eek::cool:

This usually elicits a lot of "mudder fucker" "you mudder fucker". :)

At which point I say ... So I won;t be getting my tech support today for computer? :eek::p
 
Had one of these idiots call the other day. His English was worse than mine! Always, I simply told him that I was 80 years old and didn't have a computer and would not know what to do with one if I had one. This seemed to confuse him. It took him a few seconds for that to sink in and then he said "OK" and hung up. Maybe I got off their list. ;)
 
These scammers, who intentionally target the elderly, are the absolute scum of the earth. Plus, they create suspicion of real, honest tech support people.

It sucks that MS has to use their own funds to combat them, shouldn't this be a matter for government to take care of?
 
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