MICROSOFT HITS OUT AT TELEPHONE SCAMMERS
OUR article in last week's paper regarding a telephone scam which targets computer owners has hit a nerve with our readers - with two more coming forward to say they have been targeted.
The callers, apparently from an Indian call centre, claim they have been notified by Microsoft there is a problem with the computer owned by the person they have phoned.
They then request remote access to clean up the P.C. and ask for bank details.
One Kirriemuir reader contacted our office by e-mail last Wednesday evening to say she received a similar call that afternoon.
She wrote: "Just this afternoon I was contacted by a man claiming to be from Microsoft wanting me to do something on my computer, claiming there was a problem. He was very rude and persistent but I told him I was busy and couldn't talk right now.
"He told me he would phone back tomorrow morning. I had just sat down with today's paper and read your article and thought I would let you know I have been contacted too. Thanks for writing your article, I will be telling him where to go if he phones back in the morning!"
A Forfar woman also contacted our office on Thursday morning to say she, too, had fallen victim to the scam - and it had cost her over 70 and a great deal of worry.
She, too, had read our article and warned the price she was being quoted kept rising. She had spent over an hour on the phone and was originally quoted 15 for the work which eventually cost 72.
Took control
She said: "They took control of my computer. I ended up having to change my credit card, had to get an IT chap to clean out my computer to make sure everything was off and had to pay for that. I was so upset and angry that I let them on my computer as they could then have had access at any time.
"The call sounded quite genuine at the start but the caller was so persuasive; I was on the phone for about an hour."
As a result of our inquiries last week Microsoft responded with a warning to their customers that they would never contact them directly.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: "Microsoft is aware of many scams such as this. We would like to remind users of Microsoft software that Microsoft will never contact you directly and not to trust any updates that do not come directly from the Microsoft Windows Automatic Update tool. To ensure Windows is fully up to date we encourage all PC users to visit http://update.microsoft.com
"When using a PC that is connected to the internet we also encourage users to download and install legitimate software to guard against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. Free products such as Microsoft Security Essentials:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/ and Internet Explorer http://www.microsoft.com/ie will help protect users from online threats and will help everyone realise the Internet's full potential."
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Weather for Forfar
Thursday 24 May 2012
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