Over the past few years, policing agencies have received a growing number of complaints about a sophisticated remote support software scam. The scam targets computer users who have been experiencing problems with their computers recently.
However, these computer problems are not occurring through any fault of the user. Instead, they’re created by a new virus that has targeted thousands of computer users across North America. Here’s how the scam works:
-The user’s computer becomes infected with a virus
-This virus starts to slow down the computer’s performance, cause crashes, and create all sorts of other PC problems
-After a few days or weeks of these slowdowns, computer users receive a telephone call asking them if their computer has been acting strange lately
-In some cases, these telephone calls will claim to be from Microsoft or some other legitimate computer security company. The caller might say that a serious threat has been detected on the user’s computer and that payment is required in order to get rid of that threat immediately.

-At that point, the caller scams the computer user in a number of different ways. The caller can direct the user to a malicious website to install tracking software, for example. Or, the caller might simply ask the user to verify personal information (which can then be used for identity theft). In some cases, the caller will also request a credit card payment of several hundred dollars in order to perform a remote tech support operation on the PC.
No matter how the scam proceeds, the computer user is in serious danger. Identity theft is a common occurrence after a scam like this, and computers might become infected with a dangerous virus deep in their hard drive or registry.
Unfortunately, the calls come from a wide range of different phone numbers and web addresses, making it difficult to tell who is behind the complex scam.
As a result of all of these problems, governments across North America have started to take notice. If you’ve been scammed like this, then it’s recommended you file a complaint with the FTC at FTCComplaintAssistant.gov. And in the future, to prevent attacks like this from occurring, be sure to install PC Cleaner Pro or a similar software program on your computer.