If you are part of the big group who still uses this system version with joy, then I advise you to be careful. There’s an ongoing Windows 7 upgrade scam trying to steal your credentials.
Unfortunately, it’s working very well for hackers.
Remember after all this time of being discontinued, Windows 7 January 14’s end-of-life (EOL) hasn’t yet convinced many people to update it.
Microsoft itself motivates enterprises to upgrade to Windows 10, but not everyone does it.
And the fact that the latest version was released in 2015, it doesn’t makeup to the painful process of upgrading big-sized teams’ computers.
So, there’s the risk of not updating, as well as in “updating” through scam campaigns like the one you’ll see below.
Windows 7 Upgrade Phishing Scam (Case Study)
The scam starts with a phishing email entitled “RE: Microsoft Windows Upgrade.”
That “RE” section at the beginning is used to create urgency on the receiver’s mind, believing it lost one previous email, so the opportunity to upgrade its Windows OS.
The body message basically expresses what you can guess before clicking and reading…
“Your Office Windows computer is Outdated and an Upgrade is scheduled for replacement Today.”
It also includes some type of schedule and hard-to-read annotations, which is where starts to look fishy. As well as some “features” included inside the upgrade process:
COVID-19 Employee Symptom Tracker?…
The “From:” section also screams SCAM, becoming an official warning sign, if you didn’t notice anything weird so far. The account “Genadiy” doesn’t belong to a Microsoft IT-owned domain.
But the only thing that could possibly trick you is that text below pointing to a URL:
“To Upgrade your Windows 10, open your browser to the Windows 10 Upgrade Project Site.”
If you click over this link, then it will take you to a fake Outlook phishing landing page.
This is how it looks.
The goal behind this Windows 7 upgrade scam is to get you typing your real login credentials into this fake form that will steal them and leave you on plain desert right after.
So the idea is, to create awareness because now you know that phishing emails have always used fake upgrades and updates.
Something similar happened recently with a phishing campaign for Cisco’s Weber platform. In the same fashion, they pushed victims to “update” and later stealing email and password combination.
But WIndow’s 7 one works much better due to the way it leverages its support end.
The company once released a promotional offer to update from Windows 7 to 10 systems but expired back in 2016.
Besides, the cost of upgrading to Windows 10 makes it more desirable (Home license costs $139 and Pro license costs $199).
Combine all these factors, and you’ll get a powerful weapon against home workers.
Although this is not the first time that Windows upgrade scams appeared in the public eye. Prior to this year (in 2019), there was another fake update campaign tricking a lot of people.
The most ironic is, that it’s actually still possible to get an official license of Win 10 for FREE. At least that’s what experts report even today, 4 years after the offer ends.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t guarantee it will work for you (or forever). So try at your own risk.
You just need to head over to Microsoft’s software download page and follow the upgrade instructions. It will only ask for your real Windows 7 product key, being the only requirement.
Don’t forget about backing up your files before making changes to your operating system.
Do you feel this is too risky? I do feel and think it as well. So why not going for the safe path?
I propose you a safer solution: let our IT expert team manage a legit upgrade for your operating system, and conserve your peace of mind for almost no cost.