This is the third in four-part series examining some of the most common Internet scams in play today.
The computer service imposter scam arrives by email and can appear in a couple “flavors:”
1: There is a virus on your computer! An email to you, and thousands of others, claims to be from a representative of a well know company such as Microsoft or Best Buy stating this is Geek Squad or Windows: “There is a virus on your computer and I can help.”
You are asked to either click on a link or call a number to receive help. This has proven to be one of the most successful scams successful netting victims who have limited computer skills. The scammer usually takes one of two approaches, either asking potential victims to provide credit card information in return for assistance or to log into a website and grant the criminal access to the computer.
The payment is pure and simple theft and may result in additional use of the credit card; granting access means that all of the information on the device, passwords, account numbers, personal information, is now in criminal hands.
2: You receive an email invoice from “Geek Squad” for purchase of a service and the message includes a phone number to call if you did not place an order. When you connect with an “operator” you are told that you must provide online access to your computer in order to…
