Community Alert - Beware the Helpful Helpdesk
Links
The report below, which appeared in the February 2011 Diamond Harbour Herald, directs readers to articles on these websites:
The Guardian Online
The Department of Internal Affairs (article 1 and article 2)
The Herald Report
An international computer scam that has been doing the rounds for the past several months has recently targeted several local residents.
It begins with a phone call from a person with a foreign (usually Indian) accent claiming to be a computer support person. They warn you that your computer has a serious problem (possibly a virus) and offer to fix it.
The support person may then direct you to display a screen on your computer which gives the erroneous impression that your computer is malfunctioning - thus confirming their claims.
They then steer you to a website and instruct you to download a program and key in a code that gives them remote control of your computer.
You may see various things happening on your computer: the mouse moving about, windows opening and closing, etc. The caller may attempt to charge you for software they installed and for fixing the problem and you may also be charged a subscription for preventative services.
But a far greater concern is that you have just given a complete stranger access to everything on your computer!
Viruses, malware, key logging software could have be installed and any information on your computer taken - such as usernames, login credentials, and passwords. Malware may have been installed which will continue to log this sensitive information in the future and make it accessible over the internet to cyber criminals.
All of us at some time have had the frustrating experience of trying to get help - either technical assistance from our internet provider or from our telephone company, bank, or electricity supplier - or more recently the EQC! It takes true persistence to battle one's way through the endless menu systems (numeric and voice recognition), monotonous muzak - interrupted by repetitive reassurances of how greatly we are esteemed and our custom valued - to get to a real live human being who can possibly help us.
How likely is it that such a rare, rationed, commodity is going to actually call us, unbidden, out of blue? Not very!
If you get one of these calls, just hang up! Further details about this scam can be found in the links listed above.