The Internet Bad Guys have a new attack vector: the phone. Recently a client called me saying someone from Microsoft had just called her to tell her that her computer is infected.
“It’s a scam,” I tell her. So far this scam has only been targeting English speaking countries. Callers pretend to be Microsoft employees (or pretending to represent a computer repair company) and try to get people to allow them remote access to their computer, install software and run a bogus virus scanner.
What should you do when you receive this kind of call?
My client did the right thing by ending the call quickly and calling her tech. Never allow some anonymous voice on the phone access to your pc unless you can verify they are with the computer support company you work with.
Don’t give your credit card to anyone over the phone if you didn’t call them first.
Ask at the start if they require you purchase software or pay a fee for their service.
Write down their phone number or ask them for it (if it doesn’t show up on call display).
Report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre 1-888-495-8501.
Remember the best two ways of protecting your computer are to 1) run updates and 2) run an antivirus software.
