Most people who call at your home will be genuine. But sometimes someone may turn up unannounced, with the intention of tricking their way into your home.
Following an investigation from the UK's Serious and Organised Crime Agency it has been established that gangs of organised cybercriminals are employing hundreds of people, often in large call centres to cold call their unsuspecting victims. The fraudster will offer to fix viruses when in fact they will install malicious software on the victim's PC designed to steal their valuable personal information.
Research from Get Safe Online suggests that a third of UK internet users are still victims of viruses, despite recent improvements in security software. Furthermore, a fifth said they had suffered identity fraud. (Source: Get Safe online October 2010 survey).
Here are a few things to bear in mind that can help to keep you and your family members safe from fake anti-virus scams.
Top Tips
- Always check the credentials of any cold callers especially ones claiming to be from your anti virus provider. Anti virus providers will never cold-call you and they will have no way or knowing whether your PC is secure or not.
- Do not provide any personal details to anyone calling you out of the blue unless you are 100% certain they are who they claim to be. Basic personal information like your name and address are relatively easy to get hold of so remain vigilant.
- Never let a stranger have access to your PC or follow their instructions to install any programmes on your PC.
- Some of the scams may involve pop-up windows claiming that your computer has been infected so do not click on any links. These types of "scareware" approaches encourage people to click through to sites hosting malicious or useless software designed to steal personal information and may look like professional anti-virus products.
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