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Microsoft Support scam 1-800-672-2659.

Michael_Keye

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I hunt for scammers online and found the phone number 1-800-672-2659. I called the number several times, each time the other person indicates Microsoft Support. Under the Microsoft Support website https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-numbers-c0389ade-5640-e588-8b0e-28de8afeb3f2, this telephone number does not exist and if you call Microsoft Support using a number in your region or area, they will indicate to you that the phone number is not Microsoft Support.

If you do call this number, the person will want to connect to your computer system so they can obtain your personal information, banking information, credit card information and any other information on you. They may also place a syskey on your system preventing you from using your system, then will demand payment in return for obtaining the password to unlock the syskey. This may not work either. These scammers may keep your payment and not provide you with the correct password or any password.

Do not let any unknown person access your computer system, under any conditions. Also, Microsoft Support will never call you indicating they are receiving error messages on their server from your system. Microsoft Support will never contact us. We have to contact Microsoft Support, which can be found on the Microsoft.com website.
 

Chrispy

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My favorite scammer hunters on YT are Jim Browning and Scammer Payback if you haven't checked them out....
 

threni

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We have to contact Microsoft Support, which can be found on the Microsoft.com website.

I use Linux. Do I have to contact Microsoft support?
 

deprogrammed

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I use Linux. Do I have to contact Microsoft support?
It's Linux. You go to forums and search or ask. (kidding)
I found most are very helpful when I screw something up. Only the very occasional snark.
 

anmpr1

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Even after you've paid for Windows, there's no support for it anyway.
The way the MS model works is that you are supposed to obtain 'support' from your PC vendor, available during the warranty period. At least that is how I think it is. Maybe if you buy a retail boxed version of Windows you might get some limited support, but who does that? Every Windows oriented company I worked for had its own IT staff, responsible for trouble shooting the network, and local PCs.

Linux support is available, but usually requires a subscription. RHEL, SUSE et al. Of course you're talking enterprise solutions at those prices.

I haven't used Linux in years, at least since Windows became pretty stable (it took a long time for them to figure that out--by NT things were getting usable). I found that many on-line user forums had great Linux 'support' for pretty much any issue I ever had. With Linux it was usually a hardware driver thing--getting a printer to work; installing video drivers; wireless and so forth. Back then it was all command line if you wanted to get anything working. I'm sure that today the GUI is used for all of that now.

If you were looking for on-line help, you sometimes had to deal with smug user status hierarchy stuff. Hardcores running Slack or maybe Debian, living inside an Emacs shell. Getting info from them was thankless, since they looked down on anyone who didn't want to do it the hard way--just because! Those guys were in their own way looked down upon by the 'real unix' BSD crowd. And the different BSD versions had their own hierarchy of acceptability--"PC-BSD? What kind of pussy are you?" Then, at the extreme end, you had the true believers over at GNU HURD; or even Plan 9 guys who didn't relate to any of that 'popular' stuff, although word has it that some of the remaining devs have come around, and in their spare time are working to modernize the OS, getting a port of Netscape Navigator 9 to run on top of rio.

As far as the scammers? If I'm feeling perverse, when the on-line MS scammers call, I act like I'm depressed, ready to commit suicide. Then I start asking them 'mental health' questions, and ask whether they would stay on the phone to talk me out of it? Usually, after a few seconds of silence on their end, they hang up, and don't call anymore.
 

maverickronin

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The way the MS model works is that you are supposed to obtain 'support' from your PC vendor, available during the warranty period. At least that is how I think it is.

It's not even a "model". It's just what they can get away with, because to a first approximation, nothing runs on Mac or Linux so they basically have a monopoly.

Every Windows oriented company I worked for had its own IT staff, responsible for trouble shooting the network, and local PCs.

I know. That's what keeps me employed. I work for a small MSP. We're an official Microsoft reseller and we still have no support on any of the license types we can reasonably sell to small or medium businesses. If we can't solve a problem our own then we have to pay $500 to open a single ticket and then usually just get told the problem is unsolvable anyway since they don't really know any more than you can research yourself.
 
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Michael_Keye

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My favorite scammer hunters on YT are Jim Browning and Scammer Payback if you haven't checked them out....

I have seen a lot of their videos, as well as from Pierogi, Scammer Revolts. Deeveear, Kitboga and Scambaiter. I would post my calls on Youtube as well, but I use techniques that I do not want the scammers to know. What I can say is that I tell the scammers their phone number is being shut down so they will need to get a new phone number. They respond with different garbage and nonsense, but within half an hour, their phone line is disconnected.
 

Tks

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Is there anything worse than scammers and thieves honestly in day to day crimes one needs to be wary of (please don't tell me watch out for murderers, those aren't knocking down your door all day).

You got drug dealers, and prostitutes that get heavily penalized in this country for example, but it doesn't make any sense to me. With thieves for example, you're screwed, and feel violated.. Menawhile ho's and dealers, if you don't want a high or to get sucked off, you simply tell them NO, and you're still fine.

So dumb how countries be like: Zzzzzz to where we need Robin Hood vigelanties on YT to feel like some sort of payback is going toward the scammers and thieves. We can have international lines being dissolved to combat things like copyright violation with not much problem. But these worthless scammers, we somehow can't eradicate? What the hell man..
 

anmpr1

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We're an official Microsoft reseller and we still have no support on any of the license types we can reasonably sell to small or medium businesses. If we can't solve a problem our own then we have to pay $500 to open a single ticket and then usually just get told the problem is unsolvable anyway since they don't really know any more than you can research yourself.

Not sure how it is today, but in earlier times, after two or three questions/answers failed, and the issue still remained unresolved, tech support's standard answer was to 'reinstall' the OS. An admission that they didn't know what was going on, but figured what the hell, just chunk it all and start over from scratch!

When DOS came on a couple of floppies, it was not much of a problem. Today? With the registry and shared files, and software not even sold on physical media anymore? God help anyone who has a PC full of stuff, and decides to reinstall the OS. LOL

I know that in a couple of months the latest and greatest Win 11 will be out. And I know that a 'clean' install with a format is probably the way to go. But I'm going to take a chance that overwriting Win 10, while keeping all my apps/files, will work. My main PC will run 11 (supposedly). My others are too old, so I guess 10 will be the stop for them.

I've had mixed luck with Microsoft. DOS 5 was easy, stable, and much better than what came before. 3x through 9x were never fit for much of anything, IMO. That's why I went to OS/2 and then Linux--because Windows on top of DOS kept crashing for no good reason. It was easier for me to learn Bash commands, and edit config files, than deal with the total MS frustration experience.

From a home user standpoint, XP was colorful, and stable enough for work. Win 7 seemed to me to be the high point. Vista and 8 left me cold. If MS had kept the Win 8 'live tiles' Metro interface, I'd be back on Linux. What were they thinking? It's like the 'ribbon' on Office. I've never gotten used to that. Why they got rid of logically organized drop down menus is something I'll never hope to understand. I think MS just makes changes to change, and to frustrate users. Need to fine tune? You find out where a switch is, then the next OS they move it, hide it, or just delete it, replacing it with something 'better' that doesn't work as good. The fact that a guy like Bill Gates is in charge of anything, and is taken seriously, tells you more than you need to know about mass psychology. At least Steve Ballmer could sweat out the 'monkey dance'. That was pretty funny. What a lunatic.

Rant over.
 
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