This is yet another industry that has managed, with the help of Congress, to basically create a monopoly whether literally (where I live, Comcast is our ONLY option) or via collusion. Politicians are useless as they're all bought by these companies. No one is protecting the consumer (well, hello Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but they are alone). I called my state rep about it and got a bunch of gobbledygook about how Comcast owns the infrastructure and a competitor would have to build their own in order to open up shop…couldn't belive what I was hearing (literally). Every new competitor who might want to start a new telecommunication company has to first install cable lines, telephone poles, etc.??? The whole point of that is to make sure, once again, that there is NO competition and therefore NO pressure on prices, keeping them low. That is how business is done in this country now, precisely NO free market. The rep did tell me that there is an investigation going on into possible collusion between the two or few companies out there now. I'll believe it when I see it. Most likely, Comcast and Verizon will just pay them off, and the "investigation" will go away. Ultimately, the problem is that Congress no longer protects Americans fro corporate predation, has weakened Taft-Hartley, among other important laws put i place long ago for good reason, and we now live in a corporacracy, and an oligarchy to boot.

A telemarketer is a telemarketer is a telemarketer. They prey on people to get money. These scams have adapted over the years from car warranties to phone service (remember "slamming"?) to other assorted BS. They bank on people wanting to believe that Bill Gates will pay you to spam people, and they use powerful motivators. They appeal to peoples' greed and/or peoples' fears. A Nigerian General wants to share millions with you. I'll send you a check for $5,000.00, you send me your car and a money order for $3,000.00, your grandson will go to jail for 20 years in a foreign country, you'll lose your house, be burglarized and so on. Here's a pretty good recording of this scam. It's over 1/2 hour long but you can skip through it for the entertainment, but it also has some good info in it to educate people on how they work. Once they get you to download one of the programs, they can get into your computer and you will have problems. They use essentially illusions to look credible and the non-skeptical will often swallow it hook, line and sinker. I always told my clients that if it comes to you in an email, assume it's false until proven true. And when they call you on the phone, it's not much different. The sad part is people WANT to believe scams. And they want to be the first to share this secret with people so they send it on to everyone they know. Anyone can challenge/dispute any charge, just like anyone can sue anyone for anything, however it takes proof to prevail. The banks have no liability to reimburse someone for being a sucker. The easy dispute process was tightened up on many years ago because people would buy something, then have buyer's remorse and dispute the charge. There are rules with a rescission period requirement on large purchases but on smaller purchases when you authorize a charge, you're basically on the hook for it. And to get a refund, you have to go through the proper procedures. People think a credit card protects them because if they drop the TV down a flight of steps, or leave the cake out in the rain, and they can just dispute it and get the money back. You can't challenge a charge because another store put the jacket on sale two weeks after you purchased it. Doesn't work that way. It's similar to people thinking they can buy something with a check and stop payment on the check with no ramifications or even to put them in a better bargaining position. Not always so. You can have issues with criminal charges against you for defrauding an innkeeper for one thing. Attempting to evade payment of a debt is a criminal charge in many places. For instance, writing a check on a closed account. Sadly there are some cards who will sometimes indemnify suckers and that costs everyone money. They'll do it for "customer service" I suppose but again, ever since the changes in the credit laws a number of years ago they aren't as friendly about it. Most of these telemarketers are educated, at least more than a lot of the people they call. I'd suspect the caller did not say they were with Microsoft. They probably said "tech support" or something and babble something about Microsoft certification or something and people who don't know better or don't pay attention assume something different. One of the collection agencies out of Canada operate under a name similar to a law office to gain credibility and scare people into paying up, even on debts they don't owe. People need to be educated and at least learn more than the telemarketers to protect themselves or they're destined to lose.

I think it's a good policy to always avoid clicking on email links and instead navigate to the site of the purported sender to try to find the info. Or even use their customer service number, if they have one. Even here I'm careful about clicking on links, and usually copy and paste the link into my browser so I can see the actual link and not just the associated text. Not because I don't trust many of you, but I don't have years of getting to know every Houzz poster, and sometimes even well-meaning people can inadvertently post a dangerous link.

People absolutely can be too diligent, because that implies the need to be wary, concerned or have focused attention to this phenomenon. In between being diligent at one extreme and oblivious at the other is a big middle ground where I think most people should be. The possibility of having a problem because of a bogus email trying to install malware, or trying to get sign-on information, or trying to do other types of nefarious things is very well known, easy to spot and easy to handle. The risk is quite low for those who are not oblivious. If you receive an email that sounds ominous or is trying to alert you to a problem it says you need to act on, check the return address first. If you get an unrequested email with a link or a box to click on, don't. If there's an attachment, even if the return address is someone you know, don't open it before first checking with that person. Otherwise, just ignore it and move on. This is no different than bogus phone calls purporting to be from the IRS or the Social Security administration that many get. They're obvious and while annoying, they're easy to deal with. Remember that when you need to reset a password or validate your identity for a particular site, the way it works may be for you to be sent an email or message from that LEGITIMATE site you're interacting with. Such messages come in a minute or two and you know to expect them. Links contained in messages like that that you've just been alerted to, that arrive immediately or in a minute or two, are perfectly okay to click on.