Editor:
I now know four people on the Coast who have been victimized by a Microsoft computer scam and wanted to alert others by way of this letter.
A stranger calls and says he's from Microsoft and that something is "wrong" with your computer. The person will convince you to enable remote assistance on the computer and essentially hand over control of the computer to him. Your computer will then be infested with malware of various kinds that you eventually have to pay the scammer to remove.
Another variation is a virus that locks up your computer. A message displays saying that you have been caught by the "Internet Police" and you must pay some amount of money ($25 to $50) to have the virus removed.
My husband and I have personally reconstructed two computers that were caught this way and the users never paid the scammers. However, most people don't have an expert easily available. My guess is that many of them pay up. They don't report it to the police because the scammers are careful to make them think they've done something wrong. Plus, people are often intimidated by computers and fear looking foolish.
Sharon Crawford, Madeira Park
