Rise of the PC support call scam

Thanks to Simon Hooper for letting us know about a very convincing support-desk scam that is hitting British computer users. Full details of the scam are described in an article on the PC Pro website but it seems that a team of fraudsters, calling themselves “The Nerd Support”, are cold-calling users and telling them that Microsoft has detected a virus on their PC. They then persuade their victim to download remote-assistance software so they can confirm the presence of the virus before reassuring them they can get rid of it – for a fee of £185. The website victims are directed to for downloading the software is very convincing, carrying official-looking logos such as “Microsoft Registered Partner” and reassuring visitors that it has been verified by McAfee Site Advisor as a site that’s passed its “intensive daily security scan” that tests for “dangerous sites, phishing, and other online dangers”. And, to complete the picture of respectability, they even have a legitimate London phone number, although these can be bought from internet phone companies for as little as £4 per month, meaning you don’t even need to be in the UK, let alone London, to be contactable on an 0203 number. Indeed, from PC Pro’s own investigations they believe the fraudsters are operating from offices “closer to Bombay than Brixton”. Unfortunately, despite a growing number of victims, none of the UK consumer protection agencies or even Microsoft have been able to close the scam down so it looks like this one could be around for some time.