Computer scam goes viral in Canada

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and their partners at the Canadian Anti Fraud Center (CAFC) are warning that if someone calls you claiming to be able to protect your computer from viruses, your best bet is to just hang up the phone. Don’t give the caller your computer access codes and don’t provide your credit card information.

The virus scam has grown to epidemic proportions in Canada, now accounting for between 70 and 80 per cent of frauds reported daily to the CAFC. “We began noticing virus scam calls in March 2010. Since then, they’ve become an increasing proportion of our calls. Now, they’re the scam we deal with most often,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Paul Proulx of the CAFC.

This dramatic increase means the scam is working – more and more Canadians are being targeted by the virus scam. Staff Sgt. Proulx warns, "If a scammer is able to log on to your computer then he has access to all the personal information you have stored there, including your banking information.”

Here’s a typical scenario: a caller, often claiming to work for Microsoft or another reputable software company, will cold-call you and ask if your computer is running slowly or not working as it should. He will then offer to repair your computer via internet access, which can involve either software installation or the caller gaining remote control of your computer after you’ve granted him access. Payment for the software or the repair service is handled via your credit card with charges typically ranging from $35 to $470 per call.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Continued flooding in Bangkok, and throughout Thailand is resulting in higher prices for computer hard drives and is expected to affect PC distribution channels through the end of the year.

Companies such as Seagate Technology and Western Digital Corp. have hard-drive manufacturing facilities in Thailand, which is second only to China as a supplier of hard-disk drives.

Western Digital recently warned that its operations in the country have been impacted by plant closures resulting from the nation’s worst flooding in decades.

Technology research firm IHS iSuppli has estimated that worldwide shipments of hard drives could fall by 30% during the last three months of the year. Reuters reported that some retailers contacted have raised the average price on a hard drive to $90 from $60.

A regular customer of ours contacted us today to say that she was being plagued by “Your Online PC Doctor”. She got contact details from them and the number she was given began with country code 020. This appears to me to be an Inmarsat satellite phone number which would be charged at 7 dollars per minute – that’s 420 dollars per hour folks. So be warned. It looks like these guys really want to be called back, they’re getting a cut of your call costs.

Microsoft says that more Canadians are receiving calls from con artists claiming to represent Microsoft. The swindlers seek to gain access to a computer or just go straight for the credit card information.

When it comes to protecting yourself against financial fraud and identity theft, don't just safeguard your computer and other tech devices – insign.it article about phone scamit still pays to be careful on that old school device known as the telephone, a new survey warns.

In a Microsoft Corp. survey of 7,000 people in Canada, Ireland, the U.S. and U.K., 15 per cent of participants overall had received a call from scammers since the start of 2010. Of those Canadians who were called by fraudsters, a whopping 79 per cent actually fell for it and got swindled. That means the scam resulted in computer problems, compromised passwords, identity fraud, money taken from bank accounts, or fraudulent use of their credit, debit or retail store cards.

"It surprised us as well. It is a rather high number," said John Weigelt, national technology officer at Microsoft Canada.