Anti-Virus Phone Scams gaining a lot of traction in the US. 

I personally can’t believe this works, but apparently it does. Here’s how it works…

Jim Bob” is sitting at home just minding his own business when he receives a call from “Microsoft Technical Support” (who is infact the scammer) stating that they (fake Microsoft) are going to shutdown his internet access because his computer is sending out viruses at a staggering rate (lot’s of exaggeration is used).

In order for Microsoft to “help” poor Jim Bob they need his credit card info NOW so that they can open a case and um….get this resolved.  After Jim Bob hands over his credit card info these scammers usually initiate a team viewer session and attempt to steal personal more personal info!  

Most people who fall for this scam see charges on their credit cards for as much as $15,000 and some have even been successfully black mailed by the scammers that stole their personal information via the remote session.

Bottom line…NO one is going to call you stating that you have a virus except in rare cases (for example – my ISP called me one time when I was doing a video stating that my PC was performing too many port scans).  In the case that anyone posing as your ISP calls you hang up and YOU call them back at their official number (don’t redial).