Hang up on phone phishing

We have reports from clients that phone “phishing” is occurring again.  “Phishing” refers to the attempts by criminals to steal your information or money, usually by pretending to be representatives of a legitimate organization or vendor.  Phishing attempts may be by email or phone call.  Recently, several clients have reported receiving phone calls at work or at home, from someone purporting to be from “Microsoft Windows”, explaining they detected a security problem.  Although caller ID or provided numbers appear to be in the USA, most of these calls originate from overseas criminal organizations.  If you did not initiate a support request to a legitimate organization, immediately hang up on these phishing attempts.  Do not provide any personal or business information to any request you do not recognize as legitimate, whether contacted by email or phone.   Microsoft will never be calling you directly to report security problems.  Be very wary of emails, even those from organizations with which you have a relationship.  We have seen many recent emails supposedly from PayPal, banks, and credit card companies, all obvious phishing attempts, and many linking to overseas internet domains.  If you are not sure as to the legitimacy of a phone or email contact, call the company directly on their listed public number and inquire.  Be cautious!