I'll be back a little later with a crafting project but I wanted to let everybody I could know about a scam currently going on. Last month I had a call from somebody with a very heavy Indian accent claiming that he was calling me from a Microsoft partner. He had noticed that my computer was running slowly and this was because I had a virus. I knew immediately this was a scam and started to question where he had got my details from. I do as much as I can for my own security, I ALWAYS tick the box on any paperwork to say I don't want contacting, I subscribe to the telephone preferential service, so there are no calls from withheld numbers (mainly call centres use this). Anybody who needs to contact me from a withheld number has my mobile and then I can choose whether to take it or not. I NEVER enter competitions where they need my e-mail address and telephone number, NEVER send for catalogues and so on. I am on the shortened electoral role where my details are not available to be routinely accessed. My friend gets an extraordinary amount of junk mail and unsolicited phone calls, I would find this really annoying dealing with what amounts to junk. Surely in the world today where we are supposed to be 'thinking green' all this junk should be addressed.
I digress, the 'caller' wanted me to put my computer on so that he could talk me through where to find the files with the virus. Well there was no way! I work for an IT company who supplies software into the NHS, I am by no means a computer expert, in fact it can be quite annoying at work when things go wrong because I have to go and get one of the engineers. I do know that nobody would call me out of the blue if I haven't reported a problem. When I questioned where he was calling from and asked for his contact details he mumbled his way through the answer. I asked several times for his details and never got them, the only distinguishable word was Microsoft. He became very angry and started shouting at me asking why wasn't I letting him help me. I just replied you aren't trying to help me you are just being rude and shouting at me. He then hung up. Surprise, surprise when I tried to retrieve the number it wasn't available. This usually indicates the call oroginated from outside the UK!
Go here to read the online information about this scam. The reason I'm posting this is
I was contacted again last night same voice, same abusive manner, same result, he hung up on me.It doesn't matter what country you are in they are contacting you. NEVER do what they ask, they are trying to gain remote access to your computer, and therefore your accounts and identity.
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