Feb 20, 2016
I purchased a HP computer from Staples. I also purchased "Office (Home & Student 2016)". Staples installed everything on my computer, but I had to activate the program because a password was needed.
I tried to activate the program, but an error message appeared and said that there was a problem and to contact Microsoft at an 800 number, which I did. The person then ran some programs and said that my firewall was corrupt and I had several viruses coming from another computer sharing the same wireless connection. They could repair the problem but it would cost $499,99 for the Tech Support and continued protection, plus an additional $100 to address the other computer. He said that it would take about 1 hour. During the process they called me several times asking me to re-enter the Microsoft code. This continued for about 5 hours. They called me from two numbers, 631-318-3183 & 213-317-9999. After 5 hours I tried to call them to find out why it was taking so long. Both numbers were "out of service".
I called the credit card company to stop the charges. They said that they had a contact number for the charge and would connect me to the number. The connection rang once and then went dead. I called the credit card a second time, got a different person who looked at the charges and said that this was a scam. A freeze was placed on the charge account. It appears that the Microsoft number was hacked and redirected to the scammers.