I'm getting a support alert with a 1-866 number to call. It says my computer is locked

[Siwsan]

I have to contact microsoft. Is this legit? I can't turn the computer off. HELP!!!

[utopian]

1. Probably not legit

Same thing happened to me at work, and it scared the heck out of me.

Our IT guy toldv me what to do.

I restarted my computer and updated Windows, which fixed the problem.

[Siwsan]

5. I did a control/alt/delete and shut it down.

Things started up just fine. WHEW! I just knew if I called that number I'd be speaking to someone in India. I wouldn't mind if we were sharing recipes, but I suspect he'd be wanting to share credit card information.

Thanks!!!

[NCIndie]

12. These jerks will lock up your browser pretty easily. I never had them lock up my comp

One particularly nasty website made a simple change in my browser that really screwed up functionality. I did a search on how to fix it, and found a live chat line. They offered to fix my browser for $75.

I went back to my search and found an easy DIY fix.

Predators abound. Yes, there be dragons.

[Meadowoak]

2. Scam, restart your computer, you'll be fine.

[MiHale]

3. Quick search got this...

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/microsoft-is-coming-on-my-computer-saying-that-my/05b3b8d4-67bb-40ae-985a-fd1c1c0bd4e7

Snip…

"Remember that real error messages from Microsoft, or other big tech companies, never include phone numbers for you to call them.
If your screen suddenly fills with scary pop-ups you should immediately close your browser (try pressing ALT+F4 if you can't do it with your mouse). If you can’t close your browser try restarting your computer."
Also see the other possibilities to get out of such fake browser warnings listed in this reply: Thread "Blocked computer" page 1: _AW_'s reply on January 21, 2023

[Siwsan]

8. Thanks. I didn't need anything else to add to my anxiety, today!!

My scam alert went on high volume.

[AllaN01Bear]

4. do a hard shutdown .

[Jirel]

6. SCAM - DO NOT CALL!

This is a really common thing. Never, EVER call. You CAN turn your computer off - just unplug it if you have to. Start it back up and run your malware and virus software. If you don’t have any, or it’s not up to date, take your machine to a reputable and competent (i.e., not Worst Buy/Geek Squad, where computers go to die) IT person.

Most likely, it’s a browser scam. But you may have a real mess on your computer, so make sure you’re clean if actual threats.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. I have the Geek Squad and it's always been good for me.

Well worth the money, as every other year or so I have some sort of major problem with my computer, and they fix it.

A few weeks ago I apparently had a power surge, which fried my power strip/surge protector. I didn't realize that's what it was, just that my computer no longer worked. Took it in to them, thinking, Oh, crap, I'm going to need to get a new computer, just hope they can save everything I have on the hard drive. As soon as they connected my computer to their equipment, it was perfect. A brief discussion with the technician, and I bought a new power strip/surge protector. Brought it home, hooked everything else back up (why can't all these connections be wireless?) and I was good as new.

I honestly haven't a clue where I might go instead of Geek Squad.

[ruth diamond]

7. It is a common scam

Just reboot your computer. It is a common scam.

[Nictuku]

9. Reboot should clear it

.... until you click on the ad that triggered it. My 81 year old mom gets them from Facebook. Me being an IT tech, I wanted to make sure it wasn't a virus, and I ran several scans after the event, but it found nothing. I couldn't re-create it. A few days later it happened again, and I was able to trace it to what she was doing. It was definitely a facebook ad. We could re-create it.

Reboot will clear it. You can also bring up the Task Manager and 'End Task' for the browser. If it seems the screen is frozen, try pressing the Windows key on the keyboard. This will allow you to get to the Task Bar. Right Click on that and go to Task Manager and find the Browser and End Task.

It is not only facebook, these scammers are placing these 'ads' all over the place on various sites (I've heard Rawstory). One prevention: Never click on an advertisement (If I see something that looks interesting, I'll see if I can find it in Amazon, or if it comes up other ways on a general search. I prefer DuckDuckGo these days to Google.

Good Luck! Whatever you do, DON'T CALL THAT NUMBER - It is a scam. They want to get access to your computer (and thus your online banking and drain your account)

To do a Hard Reboot, you have to press and hold the power button until the computer power goes off.

[TwilightZone]

10. If you have a anti-malware program, run a full scan.

If you don't, download the free version of Malwarebytes and run a scan and let it remove anything it finds.

Some malware hides and will trigger at a later date/time. It's best to get rid of it as soon as possible.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

It's also possible that it was just an infected website and the reboot would have cleared it. If it happens again, you can try to close the alert window with CTRL + F4. If that works, you shouldn't need to reboot, and Malwarebytes won't find anything -- at least not related to that particular alert.

[gab13by13]

11. Funny, I just got a local call,

I did not recognize the number but I answered it because it was local. This guy says he is from Medicare and then I hung up.

Medicare does not call you.

[usonian]

14. The creeps have found a way to use or impersonate local numbers. nt

[TwilightZone]

19. Spoofing

It's, unfortunately, much too easy.

https://www.fcc.gov/spoofing

[TwilightZone]

20. Spoofing

It's all too easy to falsify the caller ID data, unfortunately.

https://www.fcc.gov/spoofing

[Gore1FL]

13. It's a scam.

Run an anti virus scan and then download malware bytes free version and run it.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

[DoBW]

15. the 1 866 #s

i get are spam. i use 'should i answer app " works well and gives info. Robo calls from 866 294 5263 (for me),

[MOMFUDSKI]

16. Our AOL got all messed up and my husband wound

up on the phone with someone and he paid them $300 to “fix” everything. Didn’t realize it was a scam. 18 months later he dove in and got our credit card company to credit the money back! He got scammed. Be careful.

[LPBBEAR]

17. I see this often..

I'm a Computer Tech. (mostly retired these days) I get calls about this kind of thing frequently.

1. Don't call them.
2. Don't ever let them remotely access your computer.
3. Immediately stop whatever you're doing and do a hard shutdown. (Hold the power button in and count slowly to 15. The computer should shut completely off by 15)
4. If you made the mistake of allowing them remote access to your computer check with your bank, credit card company and any other financial institution you might be doing business with for signs of unauthorized payments.
5. If you did allow remote access scan your computer with an updated copy of an antivirus application and maybe something like Malware Bytes. Don't trust your system until you gotten clean results from your scans. If they had remote access they may have installed keystroke logging software on your system or accessed saved passwords or any number of other possibilities. Do a thorough scan as I mentioned earlier.

In most cases a hard shutdown will stop the issue.

All of you should consider moving away from Windows to a Linux based system. More reliable, more secure, and cost free Linux will work fine for most computer users reading this and will likely work just fine on your current computer. Much of the software you are probably using runs fine in Linux. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Brave, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, heck even Microsoft Edge runs in Linux these days. As a political progressive you really shouldn't be supporting a monopoly like Microsoft.

[ItsjustMe]

18. Install a ad blocker

To avoid these scam pop-ups.
My personal favorite is Adguard.
https://adguard.com/en/adguard-browser-extension/overview.html

Watch a few of these videos to show you how these scams work.
https://www.youtube.com/@JimBrowning/videos