UK [North West] consumers are being warned not to divulge information about their computers over the phone in light of a scam duping individuals into installing malware onto their PCs. Fraudsters are again using the con, first uncovered by The Guardian in 2008, to access and exploit personal information stored on household computers.
It is believed that criminals are currently targeting households in the North West.
Consumers are targeted by cold callers, who pretend to be from Microsoft, phoning to fix a fake computer problem. The computer owner is directed to a website and told to download a program that hands over remote control of the computer to the miscreant, who then installs malware onto the machine disguised as various ‘fixes’ for the fake problem. As a result the user has handed over access to every piece of data on their machine to a complete stranger.
Experts at leading information assurance company, NGS Secure, part of NCC Group plc, are therefore warning consumers to be vigilant when giving information over the phone, and granting remote access to unknown parties, as an increased amount of sensitive information is now stored on personal computers.
Paul Vlissidis, technical director at NGS Secure, commented: “While this scam has been around for a few years now, it has grown in scale over the last twelve months. This is having serious repercussions for consumers as increased popularity in internet banking, online shopping and social networking, is encouraging consumers to store all sorts of personal and sensitive information on their computers.
“Cyber crime is progressively becoming more sophisticated in its application and criminals are using this, and consumers’ good nature, to exploit user information. While we would not encourage people to store or access data outside of their home computers, scams such as this need to be brought to the publics’ attention in order for them not to be duped into installing malware onto their PCs.”