DutchNews, January
17, 2018
 |
| Photo: Depositphotos.com |
Last
year almost 2,000 people, mainly over-50s, were conned out of money by
criminals claiming to work for the Microsoft helpdesk, police said in a new report.
In total, they were conned out of €7m, police say, with two victims
losing €38,000 and €98,000 respectively. In 2016, there were 1,100 cases of
Microsoft helpdesk crime.
The victims are phoned by someone, often with a heavy
accent, claiming to work for Microsoft and alerting them to a problem with
their computer. This could be a virus, an expired licence or an update.
The
victim is then asked to download a programme which allows the con artist to
take over the computer to fix the programme. The victim is then asked to pay
using untraceable methods. In some cases the conmen and women have been able to
access their victims’ bank accounts, police said.
Police say people should hang
up immediately when phoned by someone claiming to be from Microsoft. The
company itself says it never contacts people who have not requested help.
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