The Technological Investigation Unit of the National Police has recently received several inquiries and complaints from people who have been victims of a scam committed through the telephone. Those affected received a call from a person speaking in English, with a South Asian accent, who pretended to be a member of the technical support of one of the main multinational software companies.
The fake technician informed the user of a security problem with the computer equipment and asked him to remotely access the computer to solve it. With control of the PC in their hands, the authors demanded money to install a security system and, if those affected decided not to pay, they blocked the equipment.
The National Police has assured that the vast majority of those affected by "these malicious calls" are in English-speaking countries, mainly North America and the United Kingdom, although specialists in technological investigation have already detected the first cases of this fraud in Spain.
The first victims are scattered in several provinces such as Segovia, Córdoba or Cádiz and some of them have lost close to 200 euros. In this specific telephone fraud, the communication is carried out in English and the number from which the call is made appears hidden, or sometimes begins with different international prefixes.
Recommendations to avoid deception
Faced with this scam, the National Police has issued a statement offering some advice to avoid being a victim of this fraud. The agents ask citizens that if they have not requested technical assistance, ignore these telephone calls and do not allow strangers to access their computer equipment. In addition, they recommend not paying economic amounts or providing information about the credit card to pay for services that have not been requested.
In the case of falling into deception, the National Police advises reporting it to the State Security Forces and Corps and contacting the Internet service provider to check the connection to the Network and thus verify possible illicit access to the router. To try to restore the original system, you should contact a technical service or communicate it through the Inteco Internet User Security Office.
