BEWARE OF THIS COMPUTER SCAM!!
Last week we must have mistakenly clicked on something we shouldn't have, and two scary windows popped up, seemingly from Microsoft Defender security software. It said our computer was in danger of crashing. We couldn’t get the warning windows off our screen. It looked authentic with the Microsoft & Defender logos and had a Microsoft Support Helpline phone number. It was locked on our screen and we couldn't make it go away, so we called this “Microsoft support” phone number. These people were telling us that we had been hacked with multiple viruses and it probably had spread to all our other devices through our network. Then they tried to sell us a fix for $500. (I looked online and you can download Defender for free). The more we talked with them, the more suspicious we became. So, while we were talking with them on one phone, we called our IT guy on the other phone, (something we should have done in the first place). Our IT guy immediately told us this is a fake, instructed us to hang up and shut down our computers. He then was able to get them out of our computer. I always try to be careful and not open anything suspicious. I’ve been told that these crooks are always finding new and ingenious ways to get into our systems. Like most of us out there, I’m just an average Joe who works with a computer, and really doesn’t understand the intricate systems of computers. Moral of the story? If you get this window locked onto your screen, with this message, don’t call this fake Microsoft Support Helpline…call someone you can trust, your IT support person. Be safe out there!