Thumbs up to Microshit

[CheesePie]

NCPC, Microsoft warn of rising phone scams
By Bhagman Singh | Posted: 16 August 2012 1702 hrs

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Mobile phone (AFP/File - Martin Bernetti)

SINGAPORE: The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and Microsoft on Wednesday urged Singaporeans to be alert against IT product-related phone scams.

This is in light of the recent increase in phone scams that have cheated victims out of hundreds of dollars.

The Singapore Police Force's Mid-Year Crime Brief 2012 recently reported 32 cases of IT product-related phone scams in the first half of this year.

Five victims were conned of some S$1,462 to scammers, each transferring amounts of between S$100 and S$800.

In such cases, scammers normally pretend to be representatives of well-known IT brands, to trick victims, as products from these brands such as Microsoft are likely to be owned by most people.

The recent phone scams typically unfold in the following manner:

- A scammer, claiming to be a Microsoft technical support staff or a Microsoft partner, calls up a victim and informs him/her that their computers or notebooks may be experiencing problems and are in need of a security or software update;

- The scammer may have many personal details of the victim, for example, name and home address, so as to convince the victim that he/she is a genuine representative from Microsoft;

- Once the victim is convinced that the call is genuine, the scammer would ask the victim to download and install one or more software from the Internet. The victim would be asked to provide the software user account identification codes and passwords to the scammer. In some cases, the scammer would direct the victim to a website that allows remote control of the computer; and

- Once access has been gained into the victim's computer, the scammer would remotely control or delete files to convince him/her to buy additional software by making online payments or providing their credit card details. In some cases, the scammer may gain access to confidential data within the victims' computers that can be used for illegal online transactions.

Microsoft Singapore's director of marketing and operations, John Fernandes, said: "As a rule, Microsoft does not make cold calls to its customers. Microsoft also does not call consumers or send unsolicited emails requesting for personal or financial information such as credit card details and passwords.

"Microsoft treats these phone scams seriously as it may lead to a compromise of personal data and loss of money. We have been working closely with law enforcement agencies across Asia to stem these phone scams. We have found that the best deterrent is the alert and well-informed individual as phone scammers would always invent new tricks and scenarios to cheat their victims."

NCPC's chairman Tan Kian Hoon said: "NCPC is glad to work with stakeholders like Microsoft to raise public awareness and reduce the number of people conned. Phone scams are one of the emerging trends in Singapore and in the first half of this year alone, the total amount of money cheated through the various types of phone scams was S$2.37 million."

He added: "We would like to encourage the community to spread the message to their family, friends and colleagues to be vigilant and help prevent scammers from preying on more victims."

Members of the public are advised to adopt the following crime prevention measures:

- Ignore such calls;

- Do not follow the instructions of the callers to install any software into your computer or enter any commands; and

- Do not make any payment or divulge your credit card or bank account details to the callers.

Concerned public members can contact Microsoft Singapore at 800-852-3543 if they have further queries or concerns about phone scams.

Victims of phone scams should immediately report the matter to the police at 999.

- CNA/fa

 

[CheesePie]

TODAY @ PCWORLD

Microsoft Warns of Internet Phone Scam

By Ian Paul, PCWorld Jun 16, 2011 7:00 AM

Microsoft is warning about a new Internet phone scam that could cost you $875 in stolen money and as much as $4,800 in computer repair bills to undo the damage.
Here's how the scam works:

Scammers call your house and ask for you by name posing as computer security pros from legitimate companies. The fake security experts claim that you're at risk for a computer security threat and offer to help you solve the problem. The criminals then ask you to perform a variety of tasks to help combat the bogus threat such as giving the thieves remote access to your computer, tricking you into downloading malware, and even asking for your credit card information.

The scammers appear to be targeting people in English-speaking countries including the United States, Canada, Ireland and the U.K. Microsoft called 7,000 computer users in these four countries to see how widespread the emerging scam was. So far around 15 percent of those surveyed had received a call, according to Microsoft.

The good news is only 3 percent of those surveyed fell for the scam, but those who did fall victim usually paid a hefty price. The vast majority of those deceived (79 percent) suffered some kind of financial loss including money taken from their bank and credit card accounts, compromised passwords and identity fraud. Average financial losses ranged from $82 in Ireland to as much as $1,560 in Canada.

More than half of those surveyed also said they suffered subsequent computer problems, costing users in the US an average of $4,800 to repair their PCs.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to want to help you fix your computer, Microsoft offers the following advice:

• Be wary of unsolicited calls related to a security problem, even if they claim to represent a respected company.
• Never provide personal information, such as credit card or bank details, to an unsolicited caller.
• 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.
• Take the caller's information down and report it to the police.
• Ensure you have the latest security updates for Windows and all programs running on your PC.
• Always use a strong, unique password and change it regularly
• While the phone scam is currently hitting English speakers, Microsoft expects this scam to global once the scammers acquire skills in other languages.
  

• Keep your firewall turned on and run an up-to-date antivirus program.

If you think you may have already fallen victim to this scam, Microsoft advises you to change the passwords on your computer, main e-mail account, and your bank and credit card accounts. Then scan your computer's hard drive for malware using your antivirus program or Microsoft's free Safety Scanner. You should also contact your financial institutions to warn them about potential suspicious activity on your accounts.

 

[kongsimi]

Singapore never runs out of dumb people.

We should be proud of this fact.