By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 21 Nov 2014 • 17:20
INDIVIDUALS and businesses on the Costa del Sol could be possible targets of scam artists trying to gain access to computers and sensitive information.
The long-running scam may be starting to rear its head on the coast, and people are being warned not to fall for the con. Ian Taylor, owner of Cocinas Plus in La Cala, said that he received a call to his home phone number at around 8.30am this Thursday morning.
“I got a call from someone saying that they have been monitoring my computer and found that I have viruses, etc, on it,” said Ian. “It’s a standard scam that most people have heard of where I guess they are trying to get information from you in order to access your computer and get your passwords and bank details and things like that.
“I told them where to go, but it got me thinking that maybe they are targeting the Costa del Sol at the moment as Ben, a colleague of mine, received a similar call to his house yesterday. Again, they told him they had detected something on his computer but he hung up before they got any further. We’ve all heard about this scam and I just want to warn people that it’s happening here now.”
Known loosely as the ‘Microsoft Impersonation Scam,’ this particular scam has been around for a number of years and involves people ringing numbers and identifying themselves as Microsoft – or similar – technicians. The say they have detected viruses on your computer and need certain information in order to fix the problem. They will either try to sell you ineffective anti-virus programmes or get access to your computer in order to steal information.
People on the Costa del Sol should be aware that the area may now be the target of scammers.
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I would like to know when the police, both national and international are going to really do something about catching hackers and con-artists and putting them behind bars. We hear almost daily about these people but they never seem to go to jail. An international effort seems to be in order to catch them and put them out of business. They need a very stiff prison sentence to deter others, not be hired by some internet security company.
This one has kept us entertained for the last few months. At one stage we were receiving about three calls a week,I even considered doing the Telefonica paperwork to get our number de-listed but in the end just got to enjoy it. One guy rang claiming he was from Apple saying we had a problem with our Apple TV ( we don’t have one ) and I said to him “When you called yesterday you worked at Microsoft” and congratulated him on his new job. This he vehermently denied and said he had been an Apple employee for five years before hanging up. My wife actually gave one of them a lecture on the immorality of what they are doing and suggested he got a proper. Apart from that have variously asked if the infection is transmittable to humans and similar conversation extenders just for the entertainment.Best solution always answer in Spanish and go with the “No entinedo nada “
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