Did they use Bing as a search engine by any chance?
No. But guruaid appear to have paid to come top of the search listings and have a cleverly designed web page that displays brilliantly in the search summaries adverts at the top (well above the legitimate MS page).
You could easily think it had answered your question perfectly.
The latter. It also works on Bling too. If you didn't any know better you could easily fall for it and get suitably overcharged. They are in the zone tastefully marked in palest pastel background as "Ads" above the genuine Microsoft support site (about four of them in total).
Its an ad that appears above the legit MS link in a Google search. I would think they're surely scammers, as my Bitdefender AV won't even let me go to the website. But what they appear to have done in case they do get blocked is set up another one called 'techvedic' which I suspect will be just as bad.
Yes, in which case "tried to ring Microsoft Support and ended up with this company" and "calls to Microsoft Support get routed to GURUAID" should really be "rang some random number that appeared in a google result" rather than going to the Microsoft website and looking for their contact details.
Some people just should not be let loose on the Internet.
Thank you for your insightful and caring response.
I was trying to check if she did actually ring a Microsoft support number and get re-routed, or if she rang a number she thought was a Microsoft number but which in fact wasn't.
The first option seemed possible since I Googled Microsoft support and came straight up with support.microsoft.com in the first 4 or 5 hits.
However it turns out that the offending Google results were adverts, so it is likely that my browser blocked them whereas hers did not.
Judging by searches, a lot of people have fallen for this one.
Anyway, it looks as though they are commercial vultures not malware scammers.
Can't you look at her browser log and phone records?
If you block adverts then the real MS support site should be #1 hit. (for any sensible set of search terms)
However the first four or so hits with adverts permitted are all parasitic rip-you-off big time sites and other scammers. Increasingly the top half page of any web search with adverts allowed I would not touch with a barge pole. It is probably high time that a UK consumer program hauled Google and Bling over the coals about this. YMMV
Same happened with sales of Olympics tickets and other long lead time events. Joe Public cannot understand that the green lock *ONLY* means that the data you transfer is safe from eavesdroppers and does not mean that the destination is legitimate. All it really means is that they have paid their dues to Verisign or similar and have a valid security certificate that checks out (costs at most a few thousand dollars).
I have known legitimate sites c*ck it up and have invalid ones too :(
I suppose it depends on your definition of scammers. They have paid Google/Bling handsomely to usurp and pass off their site as being Microsoft UK support in the number one position at top of page.
The page is also very cunningly designed to summarise in a way that makes it look like it is giving you the UK Microsoft freephone no.
Considering how litigious MS have been in the past about M&S selling "Microsoft" ladies tights one can only assume that as they do not complain vociferously about this clear case of passing off a site as "Microsoft Support UK" that they are taking a share of the profits.
Cross post added to uk.legal for additional input.
Try a search for UK Microsoft Support (adverts enabled) But don't visit the site unless you have a very robust sandbox.
Fair enough, but there is a lot of it about, I presume you've warned your friend about the scam? The guruaid website only looks marginally less hooky than the scammers ...
First question I asked - did they ring you or did you ring them? The I frightened here with warnings about scammers ringing claiming to be Microsoft. Worked through the Google results for the site she found and it looked as though it was sharp business practice not malware related.
So she knows. She isn't soft by any means, just not clued into the finer points of browsers and adverts. As with many, she is perhaps a little too trusting of Google searches.
[Aside - I am using Pan newsreader and it always underlines Google as mis- spelled. I add Google to the dictionary but next time it is underlined in red again. Some coder somewhere with a bit of censorship code? Or just a 'feature'?]
It's a sign of the times that the real Microsoft support people hide their phone number in the hope of getting people who need support (free support, which you get for a few nanoseconds with newly-installed MS products) to use EMail or forums or some other relatively cheap to manage support channel, while the scammers slam their premium-rate number right in your face so you'll call them first and give them the chance to squeeze even more money out of you while providing no useful support at all.
Not that support from Microsoft themselves is usually any better ...
I Googled "Microsoft Support UK" (with the quote marks) and got these
3 ads:
====== start copy and paste ====== Ads related to "Microsoft Support UK"
Microsoft Support UK 0800 056 2909 microsoft-support.guruaid.co.uk/ Support for Microsoft UK Customer Call GuruAid Expert @
0800-056-2909
Microsoft UK Help Desk - (Toll Free) 0800-056-2909 Microsoft Support UK - inbay.co.uk
formatting link
Instant, Quick fixes Online 24/7. No Fix, No Fee For Only £29.99.
Ask Microsoft Support Now - Microsoft.JustAnswer.com microsoft.justanswer.com/ Tech Support Will Answer You Now! Questions Answered Every 9 Seconds. Tech Support Specialist - Computer Technician - Electronics Technician ====== end copy and paste ======
They might be legitimate companies, but they look like scams to me. And a number of the following results looked pretty dodgy too. None of them appeared to link to an actual Microsoft site. And there were three more ads at the bottom of the page.
I can imagine my grannie, or other naive computer users, might follow the above links, so I am suprised nobody seems to have chased them for passing off, or other infringements. And it does suggest a possible method of distributing malware, though I am not suggesting any of the above companies have actually deliberately done so.
Christ on a bike, it's been that long since I've seen adverts the only way I could get to see what you are on about was to use Safari on a windows box!
Very easy to see how someone could get scammed by these adverts
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