How do folks?
A quick heads up here - I know most of you would probably smell a rat straight away but I thought I'd mention it just in case.
Today I got a call from someone at "the global computer maintenance department" to tell me they had recieved an error message from my computer due to "an unauthorised program such as spyware or spamware".
I have no idea where the call was going as at least 6 alarm bells went off at once and instead of playing along to see what he was trying to achieve (I now wish I had done that) I played at interested-but-suspicious to use up as much of his time as I could manage asking more and more awkward questions to see what he'd say.
These questions rang the alarm bells.
1> Who in their right mind would write malware that warned a global maintenance firm of its presence so they could help me clear it?
2> How would that program have sent the message out without me allowing it to do so on my very strict firewall rules?
3> How on earth did they get my phone number when it isn't stored anywhere on my computer?
4> Who are "global computer maintenance" and why can't I find them on google?
5> Why, in about 15 to 20 years of using computers, including many encounters with viruses, spyware, adware and more, have I never had so much of a sniff of a knight-in-shining-armour-company who phone you up to help before you even know there's a problem?
6> Why could he not name the program that had sent the message, whether it was malware or my own security software?
If you get a call like this I'd suggest either telling them they should be ashamed, hanging up, seeing how far they'll go to get whatever info they are looking for - or simply keep them busy for as long as you can manage/afford to stop them calling someone else in that time.
If you're nervous about what might be on your computer, ensure your computer's anti-virus, firewall and (if you use them anti-adware/spyware/etc software) are all up to date and running properly, learn about basic measures you can take to keep your computer safe and stick to them.
I hope this helps someone avoid the same stunt.
A quick heads up here - I know most of you would probably smell a rat straight away but I thought I'd mention it just in case.
Today I got a call from someone at "the global computer maintenance department" to tell me they had recieved an error message from my computer due to "an unauthorised program such as spyware or spamware".
I have no idea where the call was going as at least 6 alarm bells went off at once and instead of playing along to see what he was trying to achieve (I now wish I had done that) I played at interested-but-suspicious to use up as much of his time as I could manage asking more and more awkward questions to see what he'd say.
These questions rang the alarm bells.
1> Who in their right mind would write malware that warned a global maintenance firm of its presence so they could help me clear it?
2> How would that program have sent the message out without me allowing it to do so on my very strict firewall rules?
3> How on earth did they get my phone number when it isn't stored anywhere on my computer?
4> Who are "global computer maintenance" and why can't I find them on google?
5> Why, in about 15 to 20 years of using computers, including many encounters with viruses, spyware, adware and more, have I never had so much of a sniff of a knight-in-shining-armour-company who phone you up to help before you even know there's a problem?
6> Why could he not name the program that had sent the message, whether it was malware or my own security software?
If you get a call like this I'd suggest either telling them they should be ashamed, hanging up, seeing how far they'll go to get whatever info they are looking for - or simply keep them busy for as long as you can manage/afford to stop them calling someone else in that time.
If you're nervous about what might be on your computer, ensure your computer's anti-virus, firewall and (if you use them anti-adware/spyware/etc software) are all up to date and running properly, learn about basic measures you can take to keep your computer safe and stick to them.
I hope this helps someone avoid the same stunt.