I was stupid enough to go along for the ride, spending 75 minutes with this supposed Windows Tech Support that will tell you they are not affiliated with Microsoft. The call reps have thick Indian? accents, admitting they are calling from Southeast Asia. They inform you that your computer has sent numerous alerts and warnings to them, implying Microsoft in Washington, so they are calling to help diagnose. First, the rep has you run eventvwr to show you a long historical log of errors, warnings, and alerts, pointing out the total number is in the thousands. However, these messages are likely nothing to worry about. I foolishly installed TeamViewer remote access software from the official product website (http://www.teamviewer.com) , so hopefully, that didn't cause too much damage. After you are connected, the rep runs msinfo32 and runs the command prompt (run cmd) then uses commands like ipconfig, tasklist, and netstats to scare you into thinking you have too many malicious processes running on my computer when they are all likely normal server connections, IP address names, and windows processes. He claims that svchost.exe and lsass.exe are malicious. He tells you your IPv6 address is the wrong format when you run ipconfig. He purposely shows you this web page and tells you to read the scary bullet points 1) and 2) to make you think you have malicious processes:
http://www.liutilities.com/windows-process/svchost-exe/
After you are thoroughly scared, he tries to convince you to buy tech services for $199 from this website supposedly in Washington state and tells you to notice the Better Business Bureau's A- rating for the company:
http://ebiztechservices.com/priceplan.aspx
At the beginning of the call, I said I didn't want to buy tech services or didn't need tech support, and he claimed he wasn't selling anything, but by the end of the call, they push you to click on the Buy Now button for either $199 for 1 PC or $299 for 2PCs. The tech rep, although connected remotely to you, cannot click the button for you and urges you to push it. Fortunately, I stopped at that point.
I am hoping that the TeamViewer remote connection was merely meant as a scary demo and they didn't download or upload anything malicious to my computer.
The company will give this return phone number with a supposed Microsoft certified technician name and ID badge number, but says they don't have a website or an official company name. They are simply insistent that they are technical support for Windows, which I guess is generic and truthful enough. Given the heavy accents, I doubt they are using their real names, which are English or British names. Well, I guess Britain did occupy India.
Another point that my friend who upgraded my computer made: How would the scam artist know your phone number and/or name given I didn't register with Microsoft?