Trading Standards Alert: Supportonclick cold calling - please read

We had a telephone call yesterday from a company wanting to offer us online IT support. My wife answered and quickly put the phone down on them as she won't buy anything from any one selling anything out of the blue on the telephone, and secondly, she'd rather sit on online retail stores websites day and night looking for things to buy.

To summarise, never download anything off the internet unless you really trust the source. If someone phones you up telling you to go to a website, download a bit of software on your pc, you can expect one thing. That little bit of software will be checking everything you type, and every website you visit and reporting it back to a crime syndicate.

Anyway, have a read of the latest trading standards alert.

Trading Standards Officers have issued a renewed warning to computer users to be on their guard against unsolicited telephone calls from phoney computer support personnel.

In 2008 Officers issued a warning about the practices of a company known as supportonclick who were cold calling computer users and claiming to be representing Microsoft (see here). Their tactic is to convince the user that something is wrong with their PC and purchase software that they do not actually need. The fraudsters use leading, generalised questioning techniques that often have the effect of convincing the user that their individual circumstances are known to the calling company. Callers often know the user’s name, giving them greater plausibility.

The Service has continued to receive complaints about the Indian-based company and are advising computer users to remain vigilant.

Officers advise that effective online security is crucial, and users should ensure that their PCs are running up-to-date anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software. However, good security need not be complicated or expensive – many security vendors provide free versions of their software for personal use.

Officers advise PC users to read up on online security via www.getsafeonline.org. They also advise turning off any ‘auto-preview’ features in their email software, and encourage all email users to observe their tips for avoiding email spam (Avoiding Spam).

If you think you may have been contact by supportonclick, please report this to Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.