From an Internet forum for folk musicians, we've had reports of an ugly bank-details scam preying on people's fear of having a virus on a computer – a scam that would be especially damaging for small businesses.
What happens is that someone calls you up pretending to be from a tech support company or a well known company such as Microsoft. The scammers will claim that there are viruses on your system, or other serious problems, and offer to remove them. If you follow their instructions, you'll end up giving them remote access to your machine. They'll then ask for your credit card or bank details – to pay for their 'help' - and will end up with remote access to your cash, too.
As small businesses know, our computers can contain all sorts of important information; our bank details, notes on things we need to do for customers and so on. Not only is this scam a risk to your business, but also anyone you deal with regularly whose details – however scant – might be on your computer.
If a stranger rings you up and offers you help, they probably want something for themselves instead. Don't let strangers do anything with your computer and never, ever, entertain the thought of sharing your credit card or bank details with someone that YOU didn't contact first. (Such as another small business that you know well and ring up to buy something from.)
As I mentioned earlier, we first heard about this from a folk musician message board. Its members were helping each other and sharing information – the best things about any online community. So, if you hear of any scams that might affect small businesses (or people in general) do let us know, either by emailing us directly or leaving a comment.
Here's a video of this kind of scam in action; I assume this is in America, but the scam will be pretty much the same wherever it's carried out. This is the first in a series of four videos.
