Microsoft is one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world with a market valuation of close to a trillion dollars so it might seem surprising to many people who are receiving phone calls telling them that Microsoft is going out of business and a judge has ordered refunds of $500 be made to customers.  Targeted victims of the scam are then told that the payment will either be made electronically to their bank account or by funds added to their credit card.  In order to receive the refund, the targeted victim is told all he or she has to do is merely provide the caller with his or her bank account number or credit card.  Of course, Microsoft is not going out of business.  No judge has ordered any refunds and if you do provide your bank account number or credit card number to the caller, you will end up having your bank account looted or your credit card used for fraudulent charges.

TIPS

Trust me, you can’t trust anyone.  Even if the call appears on your Caller ID as coming from a legitimate source, such as a court, the IRS or the Federal Trade Commission, scammers can use a technique called “spoofing” to make calls appear as if they are coming from legitimate sources when the truth is that they are coming from scammers with no connection to any of those agencies.  Never give personal information such as your bank account number or credit card number to anyone who calls you on the phone because you can never be sure who is really calling.  In this particular instance, you can be pretty sure that Microsoft is not going out of business or refunding $500 to all of its customers.  If that were true, it would have been a big news story.  If you get such a call and have any thought that it might be legitimate, you should still hang up and merely call the company or go to their website where you can confirm that the call was a scam.

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