Telephone scammers claiming to be from Microsoft

Telephone scams are nothing new but there's one doing the rounds that could very easily trip up unsuspecting PC users. Several friends have received these calls although fortunately none have been duped.

A caller, who may know your name, claims to be from Microsoft and says they've identified a virus on your PC. Using the Windows Event Viewer they ask you to look at various warnings there and use this as 'evidence' your PC is infected. You're then asked to download some software to allow remote access to your PC; the scammer uses this to install some malware on your PC.

The scammer then tells you it will cost £300 to remove the virus!

Another reason never to take cold calls.