'CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED' Pop-Ups

Online technical support tactics continue to be a profitable and shady business for con artists. The crooks behind these schemes usually set up fake Web pages that are designed to display scary-looking alerts and messages, which tell visitors that their computers have encountered a major problem, or their devices have been infected by a threatening virus. One of the messages used in such a tactic claims that the computer has encountered a 'Stop code: CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED,' and the user must contact 'Microsoft Support' to resolve the issue. Needless to say, this is not a legitimate error message, and the phone number shown in the 'CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED' pop-ups is not associated with Microsoft at all.

Often, tactics of this sort focus on getting the victims to contact a fake technical support team that will keep telling them that their computers are in dire danger, and they must take action immediately. Usually, the goal of the tricksters is to convince their victims to purchase an expensive piece of useless software or pay a significant price for fake support services. However, the tactic linked to the 'CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED' pop-ups appears to go a step further – the bogus website displays a login prompt that asks users to enter their username and password. This is a phishing attack that may prove to be very damaging if the user is not careful enough.

The phone number used by the con artists behind the 'CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED' pop-ups is (855) 723-3755, and a quick Web search reveals that this number is not linked to Microsoft or any reputable company. Instead, there are countless reports saying that this number is used by various schemes.

To keep yourself away from tactics like this one, you should be careful with the websites you browse. Furthermore, remember that Web browser pop-ups are not a reliable source of information about your computer's health and safety.