Does Telus fix Compromised IP address issues on my PC or should I pay the Microsoft Tech Support?

[WoozyPolarBear]

I received a phone call from the Microsoft Technical Support Team this morning stating that they have noticed my computer is running off of a compromised IP address from my ISP (which I receive from Telus). They told me they can connect to my computer to fix this issue, but would require me to pay them $399 to do this. Money is a little tight right now, so I really don't want to pay this, but Microsoft told me that if I don't fix it soon I will risk losing my personal documents and pictures, which is really making my worry, as I have lots of priceless vacation pictures stored. I told them I will have to think about it for a few hours and that they offered to call me back later tonight to fix the issue. Does anyone know if Telus can fix this compromised IP issue for free since it is them who give me this IP, or should wait for the call back from Microsoft later tonight to have them fix it?

[Nighthawk · Accepted solution]

That is a tech support scam. Microsoft is not calling you. Microsoft will never call you.

DO NOT give them any money.

DO NOT let them have access to your PC for any reason.

Your IP is not compromised. They word it that way to make it sound like there is a problem.

[WoozyPolarBear]

I kind of thought it sounded expensive. They wanted to remote connect to my computer to show me, but I didn't want to pay them before checking with Telus. If this is a scam, I won't give them any money, but that still leaves me trying to figure out how to fix the compromised IP address. How would I go about fixing this issue without involving the scammer?

[Nighthawk]

There is no such thing as a compromised IP address. Ignore everything they told you. They make up serious sounding problems that don't exist in order to make the problem sound like it actually exists and to get access to your PC so they can get in and do malicious things.

The modem you have has its own firewall built in. As does your PC. As long as you keep your Windows up to date (which it should do automatically anyways), and you don't download random files off the net from malicious sites, you should be fine.

[WoozyPolarBear]

Ok, thank you for the advice. I will ignore the call. Should I call Telus to have a look at my network connection just to be safe? How did they even access my network connection in the first place. That has me kinda worried. I ran a virus scan, but it showed nothing.

[Nighthawk]

They never had access in the first place. That's why they would get you to install software to let them have access. 🙂  It's all part of the script they use.

[WoozyPolarBear]

They really made it convincing if it indeed was not Microsoft. The caller ID on my phone said it was Microsoft calling from Redmond Washington, and when I searched the phone number they called from on Google, it did say that phone number is for Microsoft Corporation.

[Nighthawk]

That is known as Caller ID Spoofing. Basically they can make any number appear on your caller ID, even your own if they so wanted. 🙂

[rc]

Google this, it is a scam.  The call is not coming from Microsoft.