CONMEN from abroad are targeting computer users in Donegal in a fake virus scam, donegaldaily.com can reveal.
The crooks are cold calling homes in the county and claiming they are from major computer software companies.
They claim to have identified virus problems on their victims computers and offer to fix it online in return for an immediate payment by credit card.
Niall Mulrine, who runs a legitimate local company which specialises in repairing computers and removing viruses, said the scamsters have foreign accents.
“There have been numerous people in the locality subjected to bogus phone calls relating to fake viruses on their computer systems,” warned Mr Mulrine.
“The caller has foreign accent in most cases, but will claim they are working in Ireland and use a ficticious Irish name to blend in with the national customer e.g. Joe Kelly or Jack Jackson is names that have been used.
“The caller gets the user to do some simple tasks on their computers and makes them believe their computer needs urgent attention and they can provide it on the spot at a fee, all they need to do is go online and enter their credit card details before work can commence.
“What the user does not know that by logging onto this website, they are indeed downloading a fake virus program. The caller identifies himself as a technician from one of the leading IT Companies in the country such as Microsoft.
“Microsoft is aware of this and they are supporting the National Consumer Agency of Ireland in any way they can.”
For more details on how this works and how to determine if the caller is genuine, go to www.pcclean.ie or call Niall Mulrine of Pc Clean at 086-2377033.
