Australian Consumer Protection Watchdog Warns About Cold Calling Scams

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's warns computer users to watch out for scams in which attackers call over the phone and impersonate tech support engineers from Telstra.

The impersonators claim they work for Telstra's BigPond Internet service and inform users that their computers are either infected with malware or are sending out error messages. In some circumstances they can claim that the user's broadband connection has been hacked.

The goal of the scam is to convince users to give callers remote access to their computers so they can install fake antivirus software.

The callers then ask users to pay for a premium license so the software can remove an inexistent infection. Of course, there is no actual threat to the victim's machine.

The scam is a variation of those seen recently in UK, US and Canada, where scammers usually impersonate Microsoft tech support engineers but not only. Canadian telecommunication provider TELUS has also issued a warning about rogue callers posing as its employees.

To convince users they have a problem, scammers can sometimes ask them open the Windows Event Viewer which displays various warnings and alerts. These are usually routine, but non-technical users might be alarmed by their presence.

"Telstra has advised that it does not request credit card details over the phone to fix computer or telephone technical problems, and that it is not affiliated with any companies that do. Telstra will also not call requesting personal details,"  the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said through its SCAMwatch service.

Users are urged to never give unsolicited callers remote access to their computer, even if they become abusive and angry, which is a tactic used to intimidate victims. Also, they should never give their financial information over the phone without being the ones who initiated the call. That's the only way to make sure they have reached their bank or service they intended.