I received a phone call this morning, warning me that my computer would crash in a couple of days because it had been hacked. The caller said he was from Microsoft and that it was a service call, etc, etc. He said his name was Nick Carter, a rather unusual name for somebody with a heavy Indian accent.
The alarm bells rang loudly in my head, but I went along with it because I'm the curious type and wanted to see where he was going with it. While he was giving me various commands to verify the risks and to prove he was genuine, I was googling part of his script. The results were very interesting - and alarming.
They target English speaking Windows users in several countries. This is from an article in the UK Guardian:
The scam always starts the same way: the phone rings at someone's home, and the caller – usually with an Indian accent – asks for the householder, quoting their name and address before saying "I'm calling for Microsoft. We've had a report from your internet service provider of serious virus problems from your computer."
Dire forecasts are made that if the problem is not solved, the computer will become unusable.
The puzzled owner is then directed to their computer, and asked to open a program called "Windows Event Viewer". Its contents are, to the average user, worrying: they look like a long list of errors, some labelled "critical". "Yes, that's it," says the caller. "Now let me guide you through the steps to fixing it."
The computer owner is directed to a website and told to download a program that hands over remote control of the computer, and the caller "installs" various "fixes" for the problem. And then it's time to pay a fee: £185 for a "subscription" to the "preventative service".
The only catch: there was never anything wrong with the computer, the caller is not working for Microsoft or the internet service provider, and the owner has given a complete stranger access to every piece of data on their machine.
Here's another one, from an American site:
Have you ever picked up the phone to hear the following: "I'm calling from Microsoft. We've had a report from your Internet service provider of serious virus problems from your computer"? Of course the caller offers to help, offering a free scan, which invariably leads to warnings over mass malware infections, and the offer of paid technical support to assist.
He quotes from and links to a blog post by a security expert, who gives a step-by-step account of the scam, with several screenshots.
My friend Hilary said they have received loads of these calls, both here in France and the UK. Her husband is an IT guy and he usually has a lot of fun with them. But many people have fallen for it, mainly older people, new to computers...
I was having some fun, but Peter spoiled it by saying very loudly: "Tell him to f*** off!"
