Another Phone Scam

[Henry]

Good Morning Henry - hope you're doing well and that you are having a great Summer.
 
I thought I'd pass along the following for awareness.
 
My wife & I have been getting several phone calls to our home number from some organization supposedly claiming that their WINDOWS SERVERS are getting numerous virus alerts from our home computers.
 
Calls are clearly coming from a Call Center (with other background talk going on), and the fellow talking to me clearly has a Middle-Eastern accent.  My wife usually just hangs up on them right away.  I let the fellow go on for a while before I unleashed with a commentary on his ethics and his ancestry, before I hung up.
 
You might want to let people know that it they get someone on the phone claiming to be from the "Windows Technical Center" or something to that effect, that they are likely a SCAM, and I'd be willing to bet that if the conversation was allowed to continue, they'd try to get your password, or Credit Card or Bank Account info.
 
Please pass along as you see appropriate.
 

[Henry]

Henry - I sent this note out to a number of people on my distribution list, and got back a number of replies - saying that they too had been getting similar phone calls.
 
The caller will try to scare you into thinking that your personal computer is flooding their servers with a malicious virus.  They will try to direct you to a website which will allow them to remotely control your computer. A variation is that they will offer to clean the virus and restore your files if you will provide your credit card or bank information.  They'll also try to get passwords. 
 
Apparently this phone scam has been going on for well over a month, but has only recently been happening that we've been getting the phone calls.  Others who have written me, say that this scam has been going on much longer.  Best not to engage them at all and hang up on them.
 
Pass along if you feel appropriate.

[nhibbard]

That's an interesting one since they wouldn't be able to tie your IP address to your phone number. It is also illegal for anyone to remotely scan your computer and fix it so I'm not sure how they'd get virus alerts.

It's a clever scam but no one is ever going to proactively call you about your computer. Your ISP would sooner terminate your service than call you about your computer.They're the only ones who can easily tie and IP address to a phone number to call.

[mirjo]

Insert Quote
That's an interesting one since they wouldn't be able to tie your IP address to your phone number. It is also illegal for anyone to remotely scan your computer and fix it so I'm not sure how they'd get virus alerts.
It's a clever scam but no one is ever going to proactively call you about your computer. Your ISP would sooner terminate your service than call you about your computer.They're the only ones who can easily tie and IP address to a phone number to call.

I would say that's why it's a scam. Most people don't know that info and even if they did, would have to think about it for a minute or so while on the phone with these hucksters, before it would register.