A Dundee University lecturer has warned computer owners in the city to be on their guard against a new phone scam.
Andrew Munns, who lives in Broughty Ferry, was told on Tuesday night by a caller claiming to represent Microsoft that his computer was infected with a virus.
Mr Munns, a lecturer in project management, said the male caller wanted him to visit a website and run a piece of software that would check and fix the “problem.”
He said, “Luckily, I know a little bit about computers and security so I kept him chatting while I went on the web and investigated what was happening.”
Mr Munns quickly discovered the website, called The Nerd Support, was a scam that charged people £185 to “clean up” their computer.
He said, “It took me about 20 minutes to convince him that I would never run a piece of software from a company I did not know about as a result of a cold call.”
Mr Munns said the caller, who had an Asian, possibly Indian, accent came across as “very credible.”
He said, “He kept quoting Microsoft all the time. Someone who was maybe unaware of these things might hear the name Microsoft, think it was credible, and go on the website to download the program.”ThreatsMeanwhile, a Dundee computer expert has highlighted a virus which tricks users into paying to cure non-existent threats to their systems.
Chris Govan, manager of the Computer Repair Centre in Lochee Road, said the “internet security tool” hijacks the computer’s operating system and can prove difficult to shift.
“It’s been on the go for a few months but it has only recently come to prominence in Dundee,” he said.
“We’re getting machines in almost daily now and without exaggeration I would say we are doing probably five to 10 each week.”
The virus appears as soon as the user logs in to Windows and announces that it is running a scan, before reporting a number of fake security threats.
“It tells you a different number of threats have been detected every day so you think the problem is getting worse,” explained Chris.
The virus then directs the computer user to a program which can be purchased to “cure” the non-existent attacks with all the dangers of passing on your bank information to a stranger over the internet.