Recently here at Frankenstein Computers we have noticed the return of two scams that we have seen in the past that appears to have kicked back into gear.
The first is something that will pop up on your screen telling you that your system is infected and to call the phone number on the screen to have the issue resolved. While it obviously appears very scary that your system is infected, almost 99% of the time it actually is not. Typically, the Window will fully envelop your screen alerting you that you are either infected with the ‘Zues Virus’ or ‘RDN Trojan’. What is actually happening in these instances are actually nothing more than a pop up ad that were so familiar on websites in the past, however a tweak of the code makes the pop up not respond to clicking the ‘X’ to close the pop up.
However, simply restarting the computer will force the computer to close the pop up Window and you are fine once you have restarted. The trick to catching this scam is noticing the fact that the window telling you this is actually from your web browser (Chome, Explorer, Firefox).
If something other than your anti-virus is telling you that your infected, you should be suspicious.
And I have never seen an anti-virus program tell you to simply call them.
If you are not sure, do not hesitate to give us a call here at Frankenstein Computers. We can quickly help you figure out if what you are seeing is legitimate or not. And if it IS legitimate of course Frankenstein Computers is still the best place in Austin for virus removals.
The second we have written about before, is called the ‘Microsoft Call Scam.’ A ‘technician’ will call you, say they are from Microsoft and have detected an issue with your computer that is critical, and if you can let them remote in they will resolve the problem. Then they request your credit card number.
Another quick reminder, nobody will ever give you call out of the blue for your computer. Unless you are paying somebody to perform work on your computer, take any incoming call about your computer as suspicious.
Neither of these two scams are new, they have actually been around for quite some time, but we have seen them pick back up in activity in the recent days.
If your just not sure, pick up the phone and give Frankenstein Computers a call! Better safe than sorry!
Frankenstein Computers has been taking care of our happy clients and avoiding laptop abuse since 1999. We specialize in NO CONTRACT IT Support, Cyber Security, IT Service, IT Security, Office 365, Cloud, VOIP, SPAM, Wireless, Network Design, MAC repair, PC Repair, Virus Removal, web design and much more. See what our clients have to say about us on Yelp!