Identity thieves know that one of the greatest fears people have is that their information will be stolen online and that’s why according to a survey conducted by Microsoft Corp. cybercriminals have begun posing as computer security people in order to convince consumers to hand over their information. Cybercriminals have been targeting English-language markets worldwide and racking up credit card bills of around $875 per victim.
"The scam works by criminals posing as computer security engineers and calling people at home to tell them they are at risk of a computer security threat. The scammers tell their victims they are providing free security checks and add authenticity by claiming to represent legitimate companies and using telephone directories to refer to their victims by name," explained Microsoft.
"Once they have tricked their victims into believing they have a problem and that the caller can help, the scammers are believed to run through a range of deception techniques designed to steal money."
Across the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada an average of 15 percent of the 7,000 people surveyed said that they received a call from someone posing as a security engineer and in Ireland the figure jumped to 26 percent.
The scam was so believable that 22 percent of computer users who received a call from the conmen willingly downloaded software, provided credit card information, made a purchase, or gave the hackers remote access to their computer. 79 percent of those who provided their information suffered some kind of financial loss and 53 percent said they suffered subsequent problems with their computer.
"The security of software is improving all the time, but at the same time we are seeing cybercriminals increasingly turn to tactics of deception to trick people in order to steal from them," said Richard Saunders, director of International Public and Analyst Relations at Microsoft.
"Criminals have proved once again that their ability to innovate new scams is matched by their ruthless pursuit of our money."
While the phone scam primarily targets Microsoft Window users, Mac users are not immune to falling victim to fake anti-virus software or “scareware.”
“Scareware, or fake anti-virus, is fake security software which pretends to find dangerous security threats - such as viruses - on your computer. The initial scan is free, but if you want to clean up the fraudulently-reported "threats", you need to pay,” explained security company Sophos.
In order to avoid being taken advantage of by scammers, Microsoft advises users to:
• 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.
• Take the caller's information down and pass it to the authorities.
• Use up-to-date versions of Windows and application software.
• Make sure security updates are installed regularly.
• Use a strong password and change it regularly.
• Make sure the firewall is turned on and that antivirus software is installed and up to date.
• Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus product and is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/default.aspx.
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