Tag: online fraud

Virus Spyware Phone Call Scam

This weeks blog is a warning to all of my readers of a virus and spyware phone call scam that is going around and this is real folks, not fake. No need to check with snopes.com. I am going to ask after reading this, you DO forward this blog link to your friends/family/college kids, etc. Anyone who has a computer and has a phone.

Here is the situation.

One of my networking colleagues calls me a few days ago to tell me that she got a call from someone  (named Mark, with an accent  appearing to be from India) who said she was sending out “spyware” and they needed to remote in and do a check on her computer. They also said they charged $129. They also said they were representing “Windows Microsoft”.

I called their number on their website to check them out as asked a few questions. They told me that they call people with viruses that are Windows Microsoft owners to alert them, it was very fishy. They also said that once the client agrees to the service, they will not give back refunds. It appeared to be a smaller call center by the sounds in the back and when I asked for a supervisor, the first guy on the phone said, “She wants to talk to a supervisor” and hands over the phone to the supervisor.

First thing folks, no one should ever call you about computer issues but maybe your internet provider or your friends with these following reasons:

• Your internet provider may shut off certain services because you are sending viruses they are checking. Call That Girl can and will assist you with this.
• Your friends may email or call and tell you that your email has been hacked as they are getting tons of emails from you with weird subject lines, etc.
• Your Facebook has been hacked and your friends and family are emailing you to let you know.

Now, moving on…

My networking colleagues moves on to tell me that this company started installing programs and while she watched them work, she took very good notes on what they did. One thing though that happened that caused me a lot of concern was that they talked her into doing things that she said she wasn’t sure she should do, such as log into her bank account to pay them (basically, so they could see her account number) and I’m quite sure they put in a keylogger program (to get her password).

After 2 hours, she wasn’t comfortable with the call, their service and the whole thing so she reported it to her bank to file a discrepancy. She told the company she was going to do it and they said she would see a credit on her account, but she didn’t feel comfortable yet again with that.

Unfortunately, she got scammed. But this is getting more common as I did some research on the internet. Trust me, no one from Microsoft is going to be calling you about anything, PERIOD. They simply do not call you unless you ask them for help with your computer. And you will know that because you contacted them first.

Here are a few things to watch for:

• These calls are coming from India apparently (based on what my new client/networking colleague told me and from what my research shows)
• Be leary of anyone, from anywhere calling you to do work on your computer without you calling them first
• Hang up immediately if anyone tells your computer is sending viruses/spyware
• Never give out your credit card number or phone number, home address, etc to these incoming calls
• Finally, keep in mind…they had a reputable looking website. Do not check into them first, just simply hang up.

As I hate to say that it’s the “people  from India” doing this, this is the current scam and I am just playing virus advocate to help spread the word on what’s going on.