Oh wow! I am amazed at how sophisticated the scammers have become. Faking the caller id to match the actual business they are pretending to be and then taking control of the unsuspecting scammee’s accounts, phone, etc. Some of these scams are just too well done to believe.
So, I will repeat some of the advice offered by an FCC representative who put on a small seminar on how to avoid or survive the current family of scams and scammers. First, if someone calls you and identifies themselves as being from a particular agency or business, hang up on them. If you feel there is reason to believe the call was valid, look up the published number for that agency or business, call that number and inquire about any issues. I can not stress this strongly enough, there is no way to know where an incoming call has actually come from and you simply can NOT trust that the call is in your best interest. Once again, hang up, do not provide the caller with ANY information.
As another repeat, Microsoft does not have any teams or facilities to call computer or device owners to alert them of any issues. You will never receive a phone call from Microsoft, any calls that seem to be from Microsoft are a SCAM.if you do become aware of a phone-based scam, or heaven forbid get involved in one, the FCC would like to know about it; your local law enforcement may want to know about it also. The FCC has a customer portal available through www.fcc.gov (https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us) where you can make a report with any information you may have.
The FCC has several facilities to assist you in identifying or dealing with scams and scammers (start at www.fcc.gov). In addition, they are in the process of making new rules to assist in scam prevention and (hopefully) prosecution. Additional information about FCC activities follows: The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is seeking comments for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the one-ring scam. Comments are due June 19, 2020. Reply Comments are due on or before July 6, 2020. More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/cgb-announces-comment-dates-one-ring-scam-nprm.Chairman Ajit Pai’s May 18, 2020 blog regarding the digital divide is available at https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/blog/2020/05/18/bread-and-butter.The fifth meeting of the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council VII (CSRIC VII) will meet electronically on June 10, 2020. More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-csric-vii-meeting-june-10-be-held-electronically.The FCC has partnered with the Institute of Museum And Library Services to address the digital divide during COVID-19 by working together to keep libraries and their communities connected.
More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-imls-partner-support-libraries-and-address-digital-divide. The FCC and the Federal Trade Commission demand that robocall-enabling service providers cut off from routing COVID-19 related international scammers. These scams include COVID-19 related funds, loan reductions, and social security threats. Gateway providers who do not cut off this kind of traffic face serious consequences. More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-ftc-demand-robocall-enabling-service-providers-cut-scammers.Please be careful and remember to never give out your social security number, account passwords, or other critical access information over the phone.