Fake Microsoft Support One Care used in phone scareware campaign

I'v had friends and family call me asking about this strange call  form "Microsoft" this is a Scam that you need to worn people about! I know of 4 friends in Australia that have got this call in the last week.

form http://stopmalvertising.com



After reading the article Marketing Misusing ESET’s Name where www.supportonecare.com impersonates OneCare support by calling themselves Support One Care and also claims to be Microsoft-registered partner, I alerted my contact at Microsoft and since then some more in depth research has been performed.

This is a scareware scam with a new twist; let’s call it phone-scareware.

How does it work?

An organization based in India claiming affiliation with Microsoft (and displaying the claim on their website until yesterday underneath the Supported Products banner) is calling people to tell them their PC’s are infected. They also offer assistance with a wide variety of other products as seen in the Flash banner on their website.

• 24x7 Remote IT Support
• Adobe
• Anti VirusFirewall
• Browsers
• Camera
• Desktops & Workstations
• Home network setup
• iMAC
• iPod / iTunes
• Laptops / Handheld Devices
• Mail setup & support
• Printers / All-in-Ones
• Routers
• Scanner
• Software / Applications
• Windows
• Wireless Networking

www.supportonecare.com also advertises several detailed subscriptions or specific plans to fix all the various issues you might encounter with your computer. This is probably a very successful scam, who never came across a small issue with his/her computer? Probably more than the half of people owning a PC have or had some trouble in the past.

The website www.supportonecare.com has been registered through Directi and the Whois details are hidden behind PrivacyProtect.org but upon visiting the site we are immediately redirected to support1care.com and they have been way less careful while registering that domain. Again the Registrar is Directi and the Registrant is listed as Zeal IT Solutions Pvt Ltd - administrative, technical and billing contact is Kishore Ghosh in West Bengal, India.


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