Internal Affairs: Beware of cold caller PC scam

Internal Affairs Anti-Spam Compliance unit has warned the public to be on the lookout for cold caller who is going round saying there’s a problem with your computer and that he can fix it. Obviously he’s not going to fix it.

The call is believed to come from within New Zealand and Investigator Toni Demetriou says a Christchurch woman yesterday received an unsolicited telephone call from a man and she confirmed she owned a computer.

“He then attempted to convince her that he was calling about a problem with her Windows operating system and that he needed her to log on to her PC so that he could guide her through a process to fix the system,” Demetriou said. “He was quite persistent but the complainant ended the call.”

Sounds like the caller is trying to direct members of the public to a website where their computers could be infected or compromised.

Anyone encountering such problems can contact the Department or go to New Zealand’s online safety organisation, Netsafe.