Customer Beware: New Phishing Scheme hits our shores

It is important to keep up-to-date with the latest schemes designed to threaten our ever increasing storage of personal information on our computers and technology devices. Phishing schemes usually come in the form of bulk emails, addressed to you but from an address that you don’t know. Phishing scams usually pose as banks or other such institutions with the aim to co-erce you into providing your personal or banking details with the intentions of scamming money from the unsuspecting public.

The latest phishing scam to hit our shores is using both your telephone and computer. The gist of the scheme is someone calling to you to report a potential virus on your computer, possibly posing as a Microsoft employee or some other service provider. They then try to gain access to your computer by asking you for details to remotely log in. One step further is to then pretend to scan your computer for possible threats and offer anti-virus software for a one-off payment.

There are many potential dangers associated with giving your personal details out to scammers. Not only could you lose money, this kind of threat also opens up your computer to any number of virus’, leading to scammers having long-term remote access to your computer, personal information and banking details. The best action to take if you do receive a call such as this, is to just hang up.

Here are some other suggested ways of protecting yourself from potential computer scamming/phishing.

Protect yourself

If you believe your computer has been accessed by an outside party, or your information may be somehow at threat, please contact Rapidfire for a solution that best suits your situation.