The St. Albert RCMP is warning the public about a computer scam that appears to be targeting the city.
The scam has appeared in other Canadian provinces before. Callers phone a home, say they are with Microsoft and ask to access a computer remotely. Callers usually tell people that they’ve noticed error messages coming from the homeowner’s computer and can fix the problem through remote access to the computer.
With the remote access connected, the callers find problems and then offer to sell anti-virus software for hundreds of dollars. They ask for a credit card number for the purchase, providing the user software they don’t need, while taking credit card information that can later be used fraudulently.
With the scam artists selling the software for hundreds of dollars, the approach can be very lucrative, said Cpl. Laurel Kading.
“In a day, if you get a few people accepting that, it can be pretty decent money,” she said. “The scary part to me is that you have given them your credit card information, so what else do they do with that and what other charges could be rung up?”
Kading advises people to hang up on the callers. She said the reports that have come into the local detachment have indicated the callers have used professional-looking websites and make a very strong pitch as part of the scam.
Similar calls have been placed in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It’s not uncommon for such crimes to jump from place to place, Kading said.
“If word gets out in one area and they start to have zero success or very little success in gaining money from people, they will move,” she said. “If a period of time has gone by and the talk has gone down they will come back to the area.”
She advised people to think about the circumstances of calls like these to determine how likely it is they are real calls.
“If they say they are working with Microsoft, how did they get your number? Microsoft doesn’t know who owns what computer,” she said.
People who may have received similar calls should have their computers checked out by a professional to check for spyware or viruses that might have been installed during the remote access period, Kading advised.
Anyone who believes they might have fallen victim to this scheme can contact the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700.
