Apparently the latest scam to hit the UK comes down your phone line from someone who is pretending to be from Microsoft in a bid to dupe people out of their cash for saving their computer from suffering a fate worse than death.
According to an article over on Techeye, a report over on The Guardian reports the scam is simple, you get a call from someone with an Indian accent asks for the householder and tells them “I’m calling from Microsoft.”
The scammer then goes on to say they’ve received reports from their ISP of “serious virus problems” from the householders PC then goes on to predict the end of life as we know it if the problem isn’t solved. Then the householder is asked to open the program “Windows Event Viewer” which shows an abundance of errors which falsely gets the user to trust the fake caller.
Naturally the Microsoft fake then directs the user to a website to download a program which will allow the caller to remotely take control of the PC and supposedly fix all the problems after which the caller requires the user to hand over £185 for subscription to the supposed “preventative service.”
According to the Guardian article this scam has been running since 2008, but has worsened after being run out of call centres based in Kolkata. On a final note if you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft, don’t fall for it because Microsoft never calls anyone.