19 March 2009, 14:09

Cold call scam warns of virus infection

Trading standards organisations are warning of a new cold call scam which attempts to get credit card numbers and other personal information from victims. The scam operates by calling people and telling them that their computer system is infected and that it will be "damaged beyond repair" in fifteen minutes unless they purchase security software and support from the caller.

Staffordshire County Council's warning PDF says that the callers claim to be from "www.supportonclick.co.uk", though they have reports of calls claiming to be from Microsoft. The warning says the sales pitch is "aggressive and persistent".

The H's editor-in-chief can vouch for that as he received one of these calls today. When confronted with the fact that there was no problem with his PCs and that we already knew they were scammers the caller became steadily more abusive and threatening, repeatedly swearing, apparently from a script, before eventually hanging up.

(djwm)

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