Don’t be taken in by telephone scammers
● HALTON Borough Council’s Trading Standards officers have issued a warning after a Widnes resident received a scam telephone call last week.
The caller was claiming to be somebody from Microsoft and told the resident that her email system would not work because it was full of notifications and scams due to a Chinese email scamming campaign.
The scammer said that it would cost £9 for them to reset the system to remove the blocked items.
He told the resident that he had the details of the warranty on her computer and said she would not have to pay anything as the system had been breached during her warranty period and that Microsoft would be able to refund her £500.
The scammer instructed the resident to go to the Post Office and put in a claim for £2,000, however, to process the claim she would need to send £1,500 to the scammer first.
He also told the resident that he had her bank account details and threatened to withdraw all of the money in her account, apparently demonstrating it remotely to her on the computer screen.
He said he would time her while she went to the Post Office to make the payment.
The resident initially agreed but thought it seemed suspicious.
When she arrived at the Post Office to fill in the claim form she saw that it could potentially be fraudulent and left to check her bank – which informed her no money had been removed, and to phone her internet provider which informed her it was a scam. Microsoft does not send unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information, or to fix your computer, or to request payment for work.
There are several different Microsoft ‘tech support’ scams around – some use text, emails or phone calls but the more sophisticated use internet pop-ups or create fake ‘blue screens’ or system error messages.
More information can be found about the range of ‘Microsoft’ scams and how to be protected by visiting Microsoft’s Tech support scams page.
Halton Borough council’s executive board member for Trading Standards, Cllr Dave Cargill, said: “Remember ‘if in doubt, check it out’ before you part with any money, after all it’s much better in your account that the scammer’s.”
“If you or somebody you know has been caught out by a fraud please contact one of our specialist officers, Linda or Sue on 0151 511 8785 or 0151 511 8775, who are already working with people in Halton who have lost thousands of pounds to scams.”
For any advice contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline or 0345 404 0506.