There have been an increasing number of reports of telephone calls being made to English speaking people in France, purporting to come from Microsoft Support.The callers, so far all with heavy Indian or Pakistani accents but allegedly phoning from the UK, claim that they, as Microsoft support personnel, have detected problems on the computer of the person called, and are offering to correct the problem remotely. They then try to get the targetted victim to load software on their computer, giving access to the victim's bank and/or credit card details. The end result is that large amounts of money are then fraudulently withdrawn from the target's bank.
The whole thing is a fraud.
Microsoft never make calls such as these. It is impossible for anyone to know if there is a problem with your computer unless you report the problem. There is in any case no way for anyone except your Internet Service Provider to know the telephone number associated with a computer linked to the internet.
The best thing to do if you get such a call is to tell the fake caller that you know that they are trying to defraud you. We know of instances where they try again and again if you simply hang up.
I would be interested to know if anyone has had such a call, so that I can try to see the extent of the scam. You can send me a Private Message (click on my username "webmaster" and then PM under Contact).
