Don't be fooled by computer-cleaning scam: Police
Instead of getting rid of a virus, computer scammers could clean you out of your hard-earned dollars, said Greater Sudbury Police Service.
GSPS said it continues to receive complaints of a computer-cleaning scam, where members of the public receive phone calls from people claiming to be from Microsoft windows technical support. These calls are from blocked numbers.
These callers are telling citizens that their computer has a virus and that if it is not “cleaned”, and that the citizen can be sued or have the computer taken away from them. Cybercriminals often use publicly available phone directories so they might know your name and other personal information when they call you.
They might even guess what operating system you're using.
These callers are quite aggressive and use persistence and high-pressure tactics to obtain a credit card number to “clean up” the computer. No service is performed and the person is being charged on their credit card.
Here are some tips to avoid being taken in by this type of scam:
-Be suspicious of unsolicited calls related to a security problem, even if they claim to represent a respected company.
-Never provide personal information, such as credit card or bank details, to an unsolicited caller.
-Do not go to a website, type anything into a computer, install software or follow any other instruction from someone who calls out of the blue.
-You will never receive a legitimate call from Microsoft to charge you for computer fixes.