Ars Technica is reporting incidents where people are getting calls from “Dell Tech Support”. What’s particularly alarming about the latest scam, they are “targeting Dell computer owners is notable because the criminals behind it use private customer details to trick their marks into thinking the calls come from authorized Dell personnel.” They are calling about malicious software specific computers. They are telling folks serial numbers, service history, etc. which understandably leads you to believe they are legitimate. Like other scams, they say you have malicious software installed and they will clean it up for you, you just give them access.
What to do with this info: do NOT give access to your computers, accounts, etc to inbound callers. Track down an official number for your computer manufacturer. Also, make sure you are running current antivirus/antimalware software. And, if you’re not comfortable with such techie goodness, I highly recommend forming a relationship with some technical entity. Geek Squad is the most famous, but there are many, many places to get good service.
Real estate agents are becoming very desirable targets. I expect you’ve heard of escrow being targeted for exploits.We are involved with high dollar transactions, and criminals good where the money is. We’ll need to do all we can to protect our business interests, as well as our clients information and money.
