A new scam

[Webmaster]

Terri Riley has reported the following telephone call she received:

I received a call from a foreign gentleman this morning who said that he was calling from Windows (no mention of Microsoft).  He said that my computer had flagged up some error messages with them and that I had received some undetected (by me) viruses.  Also that my computer is slowing down and was likely to freeze at regular intervals.  (It does do this actually!!!) He asked me if I was at my computer as he would help me to fix it.  I questioned his authority but he assured me that he was genuine.  I also asked how he got my phone number and got a reply stating that I must have supplied it when I bought the computer.  I told him that I was too busy to be sitting at my computer all the time and that if he gave me his phone number, I would call him back later.  He did give me a number but I have not rung him back.  I dialled 1471 and the caller had not given a number.
My son in law is very IT orientated and confirmed that I had done the right thing and said that it must be a new scam going around hence his suggestion that I contacted u3a members and my friends. 

Some companies do now ask to take control of your computer to help fix problems and it is a very efficient method.  But NEVER allow anyone to do this unless you are absolutely sure who it is - certainly not a cold caller.  If you do allow any help desk to connect in this way, make sure first that you know how to kill the connection, then watch closely what they are doing.  If they appear to be looking for personal data or if you are unsure, pull the plug instantly, then get them to explain.