Microsoft Corp. on Thursday warned consumers in English-speaking markets of a phone scam offering free computer security checks.
Microsoft said its latest survey in the United States, Canada, Britain and Ireland had found an emerging form of Internet scam, in which criminals, posed as computer security engineers, call people at home to tell them they are at risk of a computer security threat and offer free security checks.
Once they trick their victims into believing, the scammers are believed to run through a range of deception techniques to steal money, which ranged from permitting remote access to their computer and downloading software code provided by the criminals to submit credit card information and making a purchase, said Microsoft.
The software giant noted that the criminals usually add authenticity by claiming to represent legitimate companies and use telephone directories to refer to their victims by name.
Among the 7,000 people surveyed, 15 percent of them had received a call from scammers and the number rose to 26 percent in Ireland. Some three percent of the total survey samples were deceived into following the scammers' instructions.
Among these victims, 17 percent said they had money taken from their accounts, 19 percent reported compromised passwords and 17 percent were victims of identity fraud, while 53 percent said they suffered subsequent computer problems.
Across the four countries surveyed, the average amount of money stolen was 875 U.S. dollars, and the average cost of repairing damage caused to computers by the scammers was 1,730 dollars with 4,800 dollars at most in the U.S..
Although it is believed at this stage to only affect countries where the main language is English, it is only a question of time before the scammers acquire skills in other languages and look to expand their operation, said Richard Saunders, director of International Public and Analyst Relations at Microsoft.
To avoid getting scammed, Microsoft gave consumers a series of advice, such as to make sure security updates are installed regularly and do not go to a website, type anything into a computer, install software or follow any other instruction from someone who calls out of the blue.
For those who believe they have been affected, the company advised them to change the passwords for the computers, the main email account and any financial accounts, and scan their computer to find out if they have malware installed.
