This week in National Consumer Protection Week and Kansas Attorney General, Derek Schmidt, has put out a series on the Top 5 Scams Reported in Kansas in 2021. Today we highlight computer repair scams. In this scam, the caller claims to be from a well known computer company telling you they’ve detected a virus on your computer and offers to help you remove it by connecting remotely to your computer. Instead of trying to fix it, the scam artist is actually trying to install a virus to give them access to all your files and your personal information saved on the computer. The scammer may also be trying to hack into your machine to use it to send out spam emails from your account, or even to take over the camera and microphone to spy on you and try to obtain additional personal information.
If you computer really does have a problem, take it to a reputable, local computer repair shop or call your computer manufacturer’s customer service number directly. Never give a stranger access to your computer over the phone.
