Microsoft Phone Scam Now Also Available In French And German

Microsoft scammers are people for years by awkward to call them up and say that there are problems with their computer at home, but lately also Web sites and pop-ups used. Which let users believe that their computers with a "virus" is infected or has some other problem.

Next, there must be a specific telephone number to be called in order to resolve the problem. This is the number of scammers posing as Microsoft employee or specialist. Then they try to make the victims pay for the removal of the "virus" or the purchase of a virus. The amounts can run into the hundreds of dollars. Thus German victims at a recent campaign for an amount of 389 euro per person scammed. The ads and pop-ups are distributed through malicious advertisements and are bundled with "potentially unwanted programs".

Multilingual

Previously, the text of the pop-ups and websites was always in English and addressed the scam only English. Now scammers target other countries. There are versions in German, found French, Spanish and Japanese. The crooks who answer the phone speak the language. According to anti-virus firm Malwarebytes organisations behind the scam have probably turned several call centers in these countries and they are given instructions on how they can light up people by phone.

"Non-English-speaking countries were previously safe, but scammers have now realised that millions of potential victims are within their reach, particularly in Europe. Since the scam mainly makes social engineering use, they had to find a way to bridge the language barrier and there they have now succeeded, "said analyst Jerome Segura.