Cold call scam, warning issued

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Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11856 Location: UK

Just posting this here so it gets some extra Google caching for any potential victims to find, story from the UK:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20091214/ttc-cold-call-scam-warning-issued-e1d36ba.html

Quote:

'Cold call scam' warning issued

Computer users are being warned to be on their guard against a "cold calling scam" that could leave their bank details available to criminals.

The magazine Which? Computing said it had heard from people around the country who had been called by scammers pretending to be from the computer software giant Microsoft or an internet service provider.

Some victims had their bank accounts emptied as a result of the con.

The ruse works by making people think that their computer has a virus. The "problem" is then fixed by a series of steps which ends with the scammers being allowed remote access to the computer.

To add insult to injury, people are also asked to provide their credit card details in order to pay a fee for the repair.

Which? Computing has reported the scam to the police central e-crime unit and Microsoft.

Jaclyn Clarabut, assistant editor of Which? Computing, said the magazine had received about 10 calls from around the country but it was aware that trading standards officers were also receiving some.

She thought there were only a handful of cases where people were defrauded.

"We wanted to draw attention to this before the situation gets any worse," she said.

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