For the second time in the last few months months I ran into this incident while browsing
with Google Chrome on a Lenovo laptop (with Windows 10).
My session was interrupted by loud beeping and screens screaming that my system was blocked and that I needed to call a
certain telephone number. I was warned not to shut down or do anything but call. The
message purported to be from Microsoft. My system, indeed, was blocked.
As I had the last time this occurred, I suspected the alarms to be an attack and ignored them.
I shut down and restarted, only to find my pc still blocked and the warning signs still
screaming away. That condition persisted the next morning, but cleared completely when I
found some button (which one I cannot recall) that stopped the beeping and textual
screaming and returned my system to normal.
Very unfortunately, I did not copy down the telephone number I was commanded to call.
I wonder if any GtGer can tell me:
o Was it reckless of me to ignore the threatening text commands? Should I have called and
talked to the posted telephone number .... which I suspected was a scammer? What <should> I have done?
o Has any GtGer seen or heard of this kind of attack? Does Microsoft <ever> post such alerts and actually block a pc this way?
O How <can> I report this incident to Microsoft? If the alert/block was not from MS, I would think MS would be eager to hear
of my experience. – The only site I can find, on Google, for “Microsoft technical support” asks me to sign up (for about $40 for several weeks support or $1 per a single contact) before I can speak with someone. (This itself seems fishy to me; and is so different from the open 800 number one can use to contact Apple, for example. Can someone tell me of a free number I can use to reach MS, and not just someone posing as MS? My experience with Apple says it NEVER sends such an alert; is it true that, contrary-wise, MS does?
I welcome your comments and advice. How should one respond to such attacks? Thanks.
… batpark
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