A warning to home computer users: In the last week, we have had 5 of our customers call us to tell us of a call they received from “Microsoft Support” starting with, “We’ve had a report from your internet service provider of serious virus problems from your computer. The caller warns that if the problem is not solved the computer will become unusable and then offers to repair the problem, not mentioning the associated fees for the service. The ultimate goal of the fraud varies depending upon which con artists are running it. Some scammers set up the confused householders to buy overpriced (and worthless) anti-virus protection. Others, under the guise of selling a solution to the victims computer virus problem, go after the homeowner’s bank account info, and then make hefty withdrawals once they have it. The most common form of the scam, the con artist direct their intended victims to access a particular website and download a program from it. By doing so, those users enable remote access to their computers. This Microsoft impersonation scam has been around since at least 2009 and still going. Microsoft has released the following warning: “Microsoft does not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer. In this scam cybercriminals call you and claim to be from Microsoft Tech Support. Treat all unsolicited phone calls with skepticism. Do not provide any personal information. If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Tech Support, hang up. We do not make these kinds of calls.” Do not allow anyone remote access to your home computer unless you are 100% sure you know who you are dealing with. The scammers often use local call forwarding to appear legitimate. There are plenty of reputable computer repair businesses in our local area you can use if you feel that your computer is in the need of spyware/malware/virus removal. Phil Young Tech PhD 611 Jefferson St. Burlington, Iowa 52601
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 20:28:03 +0000
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