Computer scams get nastier

There has been an increase in con artists calling up individuals and offering to fix their ‘infected’ computers, and they appear to be using increasingly aggressive tactics to try to extract money.  Microsoft says that every year, more than 2.8 million Canadians get a tech scam call and of those, more than 200,000 people lose money.

A man from the western province of British Columbia recently recorded an exchange with a man falsely claiming to be calling from California to offer Microsoft tech support.  He provided the recording to the public broadcaster’s program Go Public.

Computer owner got death threat

“He wanted to get on to my computer to show me how badly corrupt it was and [said] he would fix it from there,” Jakob Dulisse told CBC’s Go Public.

“It became pretty obvious from the start that this was a scammer … a lot of red flags went up. He kind of mumbled his last name, sort of mumbled the business name. It was obviously not a legitimate call.” Dulisse said when he refused to give up to his computer, the man said he had Dulisse’s address and would send someone to his home to kill him. Dulisse said the threat was chilling, but hard to take seriously.

The Microsoft tech support scam has been around for several years, says Avner Levin, director of the Privacy and Cyber Crime Institute at Ryerson University in Toronto. Cons frequently ask for $50-100 to ‘fix’ a computer and many people don’t even realize it was a scam.

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Ransomware ‘hijacks’ computers

More egregious, is Ransomware, a virus cons use to restrict a person’s access to their own computer, or even to encrypt its content. The con only unlocks it if the victim pays a ransom. “It’s basically very cold-hearted,” says Levin.

“They’re telling you quite bluntly ‘if you don’t pay us we will not release the machine.’ And it’s very difficult, if not impossible for people to crack it on their own. You’re really hijacked and black mailed and you have to pay the money in order to get back that information (on your computer).

Hard to stop scams

The scams victimize people in Canada and all over the world. Levin says they are run like telemarketing companies.  Because they often originate in foreign countries like India or Bangladesh it is difficult for authorities to investigate or prosecute. The amount stolen is usually small, police have limited resources and he says they most often have “bigger fish to fry.”

‘Just hang up’

So Levin’s advice for anyone who gets a call reporting a problem with their computer or claiming to be from some company’s tech support is to just hang up. “The callers are very manipulating individuals. There’s a risk of feeling that you can go into this and you’re going to outsmart them. But they could be quite convincing…So if you are receiving a call like this just hang up. Do not engage with them.”