G
GordonPenny48
Hi, I received a phone call from a pretty obvious scammer who said he worked for Microsoft and that my computer had been hacked and taken over by foreign hackers. I was sure he was a scammer, but was curious to find out what he wanted to do, so played him along for about 30 minutes.
1. He asked me to get a pen and paper and write down the product/license key he read out to me, it was 18 characters.
2. He then asked me to unplug my router for so that nobody had access and then switch on my computer.
3. He then asked me to type a command which among other things listed my product/license key. It spooked me a bit when the first 18 characters were the same as what he told me at the beginning.
4. He then asked me to type some more commands which just listed a few ports and the status of services ( nothing risky at this point, he said he was just trying to prove he was from Microsoft and could be trusted).
5. Next he said to turn my router back on and he would help me to clear the configuration changes the hackers had made, so at this point I'd had enough and said no, I'm not doing that and told him I thought he was a scammer and was a XXXX.
6. He took offense at this and said I was helping foreign hackers to launder money and that he would get the police involved and would block all my communications from my house and delete all the files from my computer and that I would have to take all my equipment to the Microsoft offices in Reading (about 200 miles away) to be reactivated if I ever wanted to use it again. Obviously getting desperate and trying to scare me now.
My question is :- Is the first 18 characters of the Windows product or license key always the same ?
Continue reading...
1. He asked me to get a pen and paper and write down the product/license key he read out to me, it was 18 characters.
2. He then asked me to unplug my router for so that nobody had access and then switch on my computer.
3. He then asked me to type a command which among other things listed my product/license key. It spooked me a bit when the first 18 characters were the same as what he told me at the beginning.
4. He then asked me to type some more commands which just listed a few ports and the status of services ( nothing risky at this point, he said he was just trying to prove he was from Microsoft and could be trusted).
5. Next he said to turn my router back on and he would help me to clear the configuration changes the hackers had made, so at this point I'd had enough and said no, I'm not doing that and told him I thought he was a scammer and was a XXXX.
6. He took offense at this and said I was helping foreign hackers to launder money and that he would get the police involved and would block all my communications from my house and delete all the files from my computer and that I would have to take all my equipment to the Microsoft offices in Reading (about 200 miles away) to be reactivated if I ever wanted to use it again. Obviously getting desperate and trying to scare me now.
My question is :- Is the first 18 characters of the Windows product or license key always the same ?
Continue reading...