Public warned of computer scam

COMPUTER experts from Nailsea are warning people of a telephone scam which has been conning people out of their hard-earned cash.

Gryphon Computer Support in Nailsea says there are a growing number of cases where customers have been called by someone claiming to be from Microsoft or Windows Tech Support to inform them that their computer has been infected with a virus and offering to fix the damage.

Company director, Bob Steadman said: “Most customers who have reported this to us politely put the phone down on the scammers but several were caught out. In those cases, the scammer spent several hours supposedly fixing the problem at the cost of �120.

“There is nothing wrong with the PC. From what we can tell the idea was to scan the PC for credit card details, user names and passwords for email and on-line store accounts, as well as for any personal information they could use to clone the target’s identity.

“The reality is that Microsoft, or indeed anyone else, do not monitor PCs and will not know if it is either infected with a virus or has another problem.”

More than six people in North Somerset have reported the scam and Gryphon Computer Support has now alerted North Somerset Trading Standards. People are being warned to hang up the phone if they are targeted by the individuals.