Alleged Microsoft employees are calling

And again criminals are striking, posing as supposed Microsoft employees - don't fall for them!

On Monday of this week, a victim from the community of Brookmerland unfortunately fell for the scam of the alleged Microsoft employees, as the Aurich/Wittmund police reported. There were also two other attempts at this practice earlier this week. The procedure has been the same for years.

The perpetrator calls and often tries to gain access to the potential victim's computer and the data on it in English or broken German as an alleged Microsoft employee.

The caller claims that the called party's computer has errors, has been infected with viruses or has been hacked or needs a new security certificate. The caller immediately offers to help and asks the victims to install remote maintenance software on their device. This software is supposed to solve the problems quickly.

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However, with this program, fraudsters also have access to their victims' computers from outside and can spy on sensitive data, such as passwords for online banking. Sometimes they also charge money for their “service”. If those affected refuse to pay, the perpetrators threaten to lock the computer or cause data loss.

In the present case in Brookmerland, the perpetrator managed to use the victim's online banking during remote access and steal an amount of money in the lower four-digit range. In another case, at the beginning of the week in Esens, the lady called was supposed to purchase voucher codes, among other things. She found the matter strange and contacted the police.

So that you don't fall for the scammers, here are some tips:

• Reputable companies like Microsoft do not contact their customers without being asked. If a service representative contacts you without you asking, JUST HANG UP THE HOSE!
• Under no circumstances should you give out private information, such as bank account or credit card details, or access details for customer accounts (e.g. PayPal).
• Never give an unknown caller access to your computer, for example by installing remote maintenance software.
• If you have become a victim, disconnect your computer from the Internet and shut it down. Change affected passwords immediately using a non-infected computer.
• Have your computer checked and the remote maintenance program on your computer deleted.
• Contact the payment services and companies whose access data has come into the possession of the perpetrators.
• Ask your financial institution for advice on whether you can get back payments that have already been made.
• Report it to the police.
• You can also report the attempted fraud to Microsoft .

You might also be interested in: Inheritance scams in Facebook groups

Source: Aurich/Wittmund Police Department
Article image: Shutterstock / By aijiro