published: Wednesday, October 03, 2012

HCSO: Scammers posing as Microsoft reps

Special to the News-Sun

SEBRING -- The Highlands County Sheriff's Office has received calls from several citizens who have been contacted by phone with bogus threats that their computer hard drive is about to crash.

The caller indicates they represent Microsoft and that the company is receiving a signal from the victim's computer that they are about to experience a hard drive failure.

The caller continues by asking the victim to go to their computer and enter a sequence of keystrokes. This action could possibly give the caller control of the victim's computer and any personal information contained in it.

Microsoft headquarters was contacted by one of the victims and they confirmed this is a scam to hack into their computer.

The HCSO would like to remind everyone to never follow instructions either on the computer or on your phone when you have received a call from someone you do not know and do not "fix" anything on your computer unless you initiated the call.

If you have been contacted by someone as described above and you have followed their instructions, the HCSP recommends that you contact at least one of the three credit reporting companies and verify that your identity has not been stolen.

The numbers for these companies are as follows: Experian:1-800-397-3742; Equifax: 1-800-685-1111; Trans Union: 1-800-888-4213.

For more information on identity theft, go to the HCSO website, www.highlandssheriff.org, and click on Community Relations, then Community Relations Links to find identity theft information and reporting tools.

Contact the Crime Prevention Unit at 402-7369 for more details.