A number of customers, family and friends of DCS have received bogus calls, supposedly from Microsoft Technical Support. I can almost certainly guarantee that they were fake calls from people attempting online fraud, trying to scare you into letting them onto your PC to “prove you have a fault”. The caller then asks for a onetime payment, typically £200-£300 by bank transfer.
Having spoken to a few of these people, the calls all seem to follow a similar script.
The caller will say they are from Microsoft Technical Support , that they have a report that your PC or laptop has been hacked and is running slowly, due to viruses or spyware. They will then try to prove that your machine has been infected and scare you, typically by asking you to open the Event Viewer, which will have a number of red crosses in it – this is perfectly normal. However they will tell you that it isn’t, saying that it is proof your PC has been hacked.
They may ask you to open various system folders, again to prove the PC has spyware, in fact the files you would see are just normal safe system files.
By now the owner is worried enough to let the caller remote onto the PC, using TeamViewer or some other remote software. They will then check a few more things, explain that your Microsoft warranty has run out, and say that they can fix it for a one off cost, opening up a web browser for you to enter all your personal banking details and for you to transfer £200.
Once they have your personal details (typically to commit on line fraud at some point in the future),they will often then move or delete your files or documents, just to cause a nuisance then disconnect the remote session and hang up.
Thus leaving you with an unusable PC and possibly £100’s worse off.
What can you do?
Microsoft Technical will NEVER call you. If you receive this type of call, don’t speak, simply hang up the phone!
If you are worried at all, don’t hesitate to call DCS and we will be happy to advise.