The tech support scam is back. This week a MRU community member had a virus warning popup on their screen while they were working. The virus warning listed a phone number and appeared to come from Microsoft.

The individual phoned the Service Desk. However, when they couldn’t get through they called the ‘Microsoft’ number in the pop up.  The fake Microsoft rep hung up on them when the caller didn’t provide the rep with the information they were looking for.  Our MRU community member avoided being scammed simply by not being cooperative.  However, had they been dealing with a more patient scammer, this could have gone very wrong very quickly.

This is a reminder if you see a dialog box with a virus warning and a phone number, it is a scam. Most likely there is no virus on your machine. instead, the website that you have visited has been compromised by a hacker to display a fake virus warning to anyone who views it. If this happens to you, close your browser and then open it again. Do not close the pop up. Do not visit that website again.

If you are concerned that your MRU issued device may have a virus, contact the Service Desk. Be patient, they will get back to you. If it is your personal device you are concerned about, run a virus scan. If something appears to be amiss and the virus scan does not find anything, take your device to a repair shop to have it checked.