It’s been a long time since this has been mentioned, but I think it deserves another outing to ensure that new readers are aware of it, and to remind long-time readers that it’s still going on.
It’s a scam, plain and simple. You receive an unexpected telephone call from someone who claims to be from Microsoft or ‘Windows technical support’. This person explains that they’ve been monitoring your PC and it’s exhibiting all sorts of errors and is infected by a large number of viruses. They may even threaten that your Internet access will be cut off because your PC is in such a mess that it’s a risk to other computer users.
The caller directs you to various areas of Windows where long lists of technical information are stored, telling you that all these items are the ‘errors’ or ‘viruses’ that your PC has silently reported to this mysterious technical support company.
In fact, these lists are quite normal – every Windows user has them – but the caller knows you’ve probably never seen them before and that he can pretend they’re something important and worrying.
When he feels he’s convinced you, the caller asks you to install some software that allows him to take remote control of your PC under the pretence of correcting all these problems. You have to supply payment details for this ‘service’, and then allow the caller to do whatever he wants with your PC.
The key point to remember is that there is no-one – anywhere in the world – monitoring your PC (and doing so without your knowledge would be illegal anyway). The caller doesn’t know who you are, and doesn’t even know whether you have a PC.
Indeed, the caller doesn’t know whether you are, in fact, a PC expert who knows more about computers than the scammer does! We recommend a free security program named Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware.
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