Pleasant Hill, CA – Computer Service Advice | New Computer Scam

“Hello, I’m calling from Microsoft and I think your computer may be infected with a dangerous virus.”

We have had several customers who have received this type of phone call.  Fortunately, they weren’t really the victim of a dangerous computer virus.  Unfortunately, they were the victim of an international scam.

This past week, the Federal Trade Commission announced “a broad crackdown on scareware scammers accused of using an ancient technology – the telephone – to trick thousands of unsuspecting victims into handing over full access to their Windows PCs.” (See the full article at http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/hello-im-definitely-not-calling-from-india-can-i-take-control-of-your-pc/.)

These scammers call people and say that they are with a major computer company.  They walk them through some steps on their computers until they come up with an innocuous warning message.  They then scare the people into thinking their computer has been infected or, even worse, is under the control of hackers.  Many trick people into allowing them to remote in to their computers where they can have full access to any information on their computers.  They convince the people that they can clean their computers for a fee – which you’ll need to wire to a foreign country…  Sound suspicious?  It should.

We had one recent customer who had allowed the scammer to remote in to his computer but then refused to wire the funds.  The result was that the scammer activated an encryption that would not allow the person to use his computer at all.

We have at least one or two customers a month who are telling us they have been contacted by similar scammers.  If you get such a call, know that it is a scam.  No one from a major computer company will be calling a customer.  Don’t ever allow a stranger to remote in to your computer.  And don’t ever wire funds to a stranger, especially those in a foreign country.

Have a question about whether or not your computer is infected?  Contact Cantrell’s Computer Sales and Service.  We will honestly and safely check out your computer and get it working to its full capacity.