Our customers have been reporting that an unknown company is randomly calling people, pretending to be Microsoft, and claiming they have detected a virus infection on the customer’s computer. Be aware, Microsoft doesn’t actually call individual customers regarding these sorts of problems with your computer. If you do suspect you have a virus or some sort of infection, you should call us immediately.

What happens is they convince you to allow them to have remote access to your computer. As soon as you let them in, they install the infection behind the scenes. Then they proceed to “investigate” what they claim is wrong. After a minute or so, they say that your system is badly infected and you need to purchase a $200 software to clean out your system. If you’ve gone this far, but stop, you’re already too late. The virus has been installed, but let’s say you proceed. They install their fake scanning software which they claim has successfully removed the infection and hang up.

A time later, you get a pop-up message on your computer that says you’re infected again and need to call the 800 number. This is called “scare-ware” in the IT industry. If you call, the scam people again connect into your computer and pretend to investigate. They tell you that the software they initially sold you wasn’t good enough security and suggest you spend more money with them to prevent future problems.

See where this is headed? It’s a vicious cycle designed to make them a lot of money. If you have fallen victim to this sort of scam recently, please report any payments to your credit card company immediately, then bring the computer to us to remove the rogue security software and repair the damage they inflicted on your PC.