May 2013 Issue

Threat of the month

Subscribe
Archive

Subscribe	Advertising

Archive	Login \| Register

22M accounts exposed in Yahoo Japan breach

Data on patients may be exposed after X-rays go missing

eSymposium: Privacy and security May 21

SC Editions

Dan Kaplan, Executive Editor

June 17, 2011

Con artists pose as security companies in growing scam

Scareware has taken on a human face. Criminals posing as computer security engineers are having success in calling victims at home and stealing their money, according to a survey issued Thursday by Microsoft. Fifteen percent of 7,000 computer users polled in the United States, Canada, U.K. and Ireland said they have been been contacted by a phone scammer, and 22 percent of those were tricked into following the fraudsters' directions, which included giving them remote access to a computer or providing credit card information. Seventy-nine percent of those suffered a financial loss as a result. Victims were out an average $875 in the United States, the survey found.