Old scams never die; they just mutate. Today’s variant on the classic Microsoft scam tried it on me with reference to Telstra.
They weren’t from Telstra, needless to say (for what it’s worth at this point in time my office line is with a competitor to Telstra) but the rest of the spiel (or as much of it as I got before they hung up) was depressingly similar, with the usual run of “your computer has been downloading malicious files without your knowledge” with one minor quirk; a threat to say that “my internet would be disconnected”.
(Maybe this isn’t a new variant, but it’s certainly the first time I’ve hit it, and I figure writing about it at least leaves a record that others can search out and be forewarned by.)
Hat tip here to @waulok, who suggested I ask the caller if she could provide me with another Internet. Sadly the caller disconnected before I could get that far.
My usual tactic, which I’ve written about before, is to try to waste as much of these scammer’s time as feasible, simply because it makes the scam less effective for them.
But if you do get a call like that, don’t follow any instructions at all under any circumstances. If you’re at all concerned about the safety and security of your PC, you can always call your ISP yourself to check if they’re calling customers. They won’t be, but that could give you peace of mind because you’ll have assurance about who you’re actually talking to.
Image: Joshua Smith