J
JeanFulk
Guest
Received a call from someone who said his name was Sam (gave me his last name but I forgot to write it down) and he was from Microsoft and not to be concerned because they didn't think my computer was compromised - it was the network and my computer was one that might have been involved. He asked me to turn my computer on and tell him what I saw which was a block from what looked like an official Microsoft one and he said that was what he was afraid of and he would take care of it right away and not to be concerned because it was a network problem. He wanted remote access and I said no - that he could walk me through what had to be done and we went through some things until we got to a list of application and he asked me what was to the right and I said the word "Stopped" and he asked me to count them and I did and there were 172; at that point he said he could no longer walk me through - if I didn't give him remote access, when it got to the bottom of the list the computer would crash and I would have to buy a new one. I was completely sucked in by now with his sincerity and really knew better but gave him remote access and he said to sit and watch what he was doing so I wouldn't be concerned but it would take about an hour and if I wanted to do something else he would call when he was finished. He called and said everything was fine and no more problems - THEN he asked if I would be interested in a Microsoft Contract that would take care of anything and everything for me with my computer at a cost of $499.99 for five years and I said I didn't think so and he asked my age and I told him I was 80 and he said he could give me a better deal as a senior citizen and make my contract for a life time. He had me write a check to CIRRUS Cloud LLC and I asked him if he was from Microsoft why was I writing a check to CIRRUS and he said it was the Financial Branch of Microsoft. I wrote the check and he had be scan it to him with a copy of my driver's license and sent me a receipt for the check (which I later examined and realized he had filled it out as though it was ME that had written the receipt and "my signature" (wasn't mine) was on the receipt - I didn't realize this until the next day. He called the next morning and said they had discovered that the "fix" for the network problem was not compatible with my computer and were refunding my money. He said if I would give him access again and open my bank account because he couldn't do that he would deposit the $500 and I could watch it transfer from his bank (a Well Fargo logo was on the screen). He than told me to type $500 on my account and it would instantly drop in from his account which it did; however just below it a $5,000 amount also was there and he got into an outright panic and started screaming at me that I had took $5,000 from his account and I said I had not done any such thing. He instructed me to go to Best Buys and Target and buy five $500 gift cards at each one IMMEDIATELY and call him with the numbers or he would get fired because Microsoft didn't put up with mistakes like that. I said I wasn't going and in the meantime while he was carrying on I hurriedly changed my password on my bank and any other financial institutions on my account and in a minute he screamed that I was a SOB and a Moth** ******ng SOB and kept screaming that at me and said he had the authority to freeze my bank and was doing so right now and was still screaming when I hunt up and disconnected my computer and took it to Best Buys to the Geek Squad who immediately took it and kept it for three days and took care of everything and said that it appeared that I had made all of the changes in time to keep him from taking money and that it didn't appear that he had taken any other programs - fortunately I never use my desk top and do all of my financial transactions on my smart phone or IPAD and he would not have even had access to the Credit Union for the withdrawal he was trying to make if I had not pulled it up myself so it wasn't on there when he went back. I stopped payment on the check immediately (I wasn't sure if you could really cash a "scanned" check but he had all of my information from my driver's license. The bank transferred all of my money from that account into another one. He did "try" to cash the check and when he couldn't he kept calling my home but I had blocked his calls. I got a letter from what appeared to be a collection agency saying I owed money to this CIRRUS Cloud LTD for a contract and if I didn't comply it would be turned over to a higher collection agency that would be in touch with me until I paid and asked me in the letter for my banking information again. I threw it away but now I have received a threatening phone call from California (the first letter was from Georgia) and when I tried to tell them if CIRRUS Cloud was a real company....etc. and they wouldn't not stop talking and telling me I was being recorded and I better pay and I just kept telling them to let me talk and finally I did scream at them to shut up and I was hanging up. Now I am afraid they might send somebody to try to do something to me. I really don't know what to do. I know its not Microsoft's fault but I don't know what to do. I tried to call Lifelock but there is a two hour wait if you get through at all according to their telephone message. Have you had anybody report this before. I am very afraid now. How do I get an answer to this since you aren't allowed to put your name or phone number and I didn't see anyway to call anybody.
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