{"id":56038,"date":"2017-01-11T16:10:50","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T16:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=56038"},"modified":"2017-01-11T16:20:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T16:20:51","slug":"microsoft-tech-support-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tech support scams are all over.\u00a0 One of the most popular are scams\u00a0occurring includes\u00a0cyber criminals posing as Microsoft’s technical support.\u00a0 This isn’t a new scam, but\u00a0remains widely used.<\/p>\n

Microsoft BSoD Support Scams<\/h4>\n

For those who are unaware, the Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) tech support scam is a screen that takes over your PC, stating there are issues and you need to call a toll-free number for support.\u00a0 See the example below: \"\"To be clear, this is only one example, therefore there could be several variations of this screen.\u00a0 It should also be known, that this malicious BSoD is an exact replication of a legitimate Microsoft BSoD.\u00a0 The only, and most critical difference, is the last line boxed above.<\/p>\n

Microsoft will never provide a support phone number on these screens.\u00a0 NEVER.\u00a0 If you see a support number, then you should automatically know it is a scam.<\/p>\n

If you find yourself being baited by hackers with this screen, follow these steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Try to open Task Manager (ctrl+alt+delete)\n
      \n
    1. If you are able to open Task Manager, click on your browser (Edge, Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc.) and click “End Task”.<\/li>\n
    2. This should resolve the issue.\u00a0 If it does, run a scan of your security solution to ensure the infection is removed.<\/li>\n
    3. If this is unsuccessful, move on to instructions below.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    4. Some of these scams disable the Task Manager, so if you cannot open it, try restarting your computer.\n
        \n
      1. If the problem persists, and you are able to access your Control Panel follow the following directions:\n
          \n
        1. From the Control Panel, click on “System and Security”.<\/li>\n
        2. Click on “System”.<\/li>\n
        3. Click on “System Protection”.<\/li>\n
        4. By clicking on “System Restore”, you will be able to restore your PC to a previous time – prior to this infection.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Please stay safe, and always remember–Microsoft will NEVER have a support number in any BSoD screen!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Tech support scams are all over.\u00a0 One of the most popular are scams\u00a0occurring includes\u00a0cyber criminals posing as Microsoft’s technical support.\u00a0 This isn’t a new scam, but\u00a0remains widely used. Microsoft BSoD Support Scams For those who are unaware, the Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) tech support scam is a screen that takes over your PC, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips"],"yoast_head":"\nOne Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The fake Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) isn't a new support scam concept; however it remains widely used. Check this to find out if it's a scam...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The fake Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) isn't a new support scam concept; however it remains widely used. Check this to find out if it's a scam...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PC Matic Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-11T16:10:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-11T16:20:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/fakeThumb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"410\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kayla Elliott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kayla Elliott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kayla Elliott\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db\"},\"headline\":\"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-11T16:10:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-11T16:20:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":324,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/fakeThumb.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/\",\"name\":\"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/fakeThumb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-11T16:10:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-11T16:20:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"The fake Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) isn't a new support scam concept; however it remains widely used. Check this to find out if it's a scam...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/fakeThumb.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/fakeThumb.jpg\",\"width\":730,\"height\":410,\"caption\":\"Fake\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"PC Matic Blog\",\"description\":\"Tech Tips and Tricks\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"width\":1535,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/pcmaticusa\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/PCMaticVideo\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db\",\"name\":\"Kayla Elliott\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/kayla\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake","description":"The fake Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) isn't a new support scam concept; however it remains widely used. Check this to find out if it's a scam...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake","og_description":"The fake Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) isn't a new support scam concept; however it remains widely used. Check this to find out if it's a scam...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/","og_site_name":"PC Matic Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","article_published_time":"2017-01-11T16:10:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-11T16:20:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":730,"height":410,"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/fakeThumb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kayla Elliott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pcmatic","twitter_site":"@pcmatic","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kayla Elliott","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/"},"author":{"name":"Kayla Elliott","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db"},"headline":"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake","datePublished":"2017-01-11T16:10:50+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-11T16:20:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/"},"wordCount":324,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/fakeThumb.jpg","articleSection":["tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/","name":"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/fakeThumb.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-11T16:10:50+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-11T16:20:51+00:00","description":"The fake Microsoft BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) isn't a new support scam concept; however it remains widely used. Check this to find out if it's a scam...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/fakeThumb.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/fakeThumb.jpg","width":730,"height":410,"caption":"Fake"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/microsoft-tech-support-scams\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"One Red Flag Tells You These Support Scams Are Fake"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","name":"PC Matic Blog","description":"Tech Tips and Tricks","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","width":1535,"height":483,"caption":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/x.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pcmaticusa\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/PCMaticVideo"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db","name":"Kayla Elliott","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/author\/kayla\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}