'MS-Windows Support Alert' Pop-Up Scam
The 'MS-Windows Support Alert' pop-up scam is a misleading website that malware creators have designed to trick users into paying for non-existent technical support services. The page through which this scheme operates copies the typical design of an official Microsoft website. However, when users land on it, the 'MS-Windows Support Alert' pop-up scam displays fake security alerts claiming that the user's computer is infected with some threatening malware and needs to be fixed immediately. Malware researchers have observed two versions of the 'MS-Windows Support Alert' pop-up scam. Both display the same fake alerts but differ in their color designs and provide different phone numbers: 888-630-3830 or 800-875-294.
Unsuspecting users who land on one of these pages are told to call one of the given phone numbers to get in touch with a technician who would fix the supposed issue. The authors of this tactic then ask users who fall into that trap to pay for unnecessary services, buy some rogue anti-malware product, or even allow remote access to their PCs. If the victim agrees to enable the access, the fraudsters get the green light to conduct unsafe activities, like collecting data (credit card numbers, login details for online accounts) and installing various malware on the user's operating system.
In any case, rogue Microsoft technical support pages should be avoided and never taken seriously. A very disruptive feature of the 'MS-Windows Support Alert' pop-up scam is that once its page is launched in a browser, the user cannot close it - this unsafe tool installs scripts that prevent the browser from responding to user requests. In such a case, the page can only be closed through the Task Manager. Also, users do not open a page like this by accident; instead, their browser launches the 'MS-Windows Support Alert' pop-up scam page automatically. Then, the computer is very likely infected with a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP), like a browser hijacker. PUPs can cause serious financial and privacy issues and should be removed through a reputable anti-virus program.
