I wrote about this a year ago and now it seems that this scam is back. Several of my customers have received calls from people posing as a employee of a legitimate company who claimed that their “Windows PC” was either compromised with viruses or they were trying to protect them from a security threat. These people want to start with a remote control session to try and fix their problem. In one case, the customer got her PC trashed by these scumbags which required me to rebuild her PC from scratch. That was a very expensive mistake on their part.
Let me be clear. No company be it Apple, Microsoft, or anyone else will ever call you to troubleshoot your PC. EVER. Here’s some other tips if you get one of these calls:
- Do not purchase any software or services from the scammer.
- Ask if there is a fee or subscription associated with the “service.” If there is, hang up.
- Never give control of your computer to a third party who calls you out of the blue.
- Never provide your credit card or financial information to someone who is calling you.
The best advice that I have when you get one of these calls is to hang up. It’s a simple and effective way of dealing with these scumbags.
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This entry was posted on September 1, 2014 at 11:04 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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It’s Back: Cybercriminals Are Posing As Tech Support People To Make Your Life Hell
I wrote about this a year ago and now it seems that this scam is back. Several of my customers have received calls from people posing as a employee of a legitimate company who claimed that their “Windows PC” was either compromised with viruses or they were trying to protect them from a security threat. These people want to start with a remote control session to try and fix their problem. In one case, the customer got her PC trashed by these scumbags which required me to rebuild her PC from scratch. That was a very expensive mistake on their part.
Let me be clear. No company be it Apple, Microsoft, or anyone else will ever call you to troubleshoot your PC. EVER. Here’s some other tips if you get one of these calls:
The best advice that I have when you get one of these calls is to hang up. It’s a simple and effective way of dealing with these scumbags.
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This entry was posted on September 1, 2014 at 11:04 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.