Editor:
On Tuesday, I got a phone call from a Washington State number. The heavily accented Indian voice told me that my computer had a very bad virus.
Being aware of this scam I told him that I am a computer tech and he was lying to me.
He hung up, just as I was starting to enjoy myself.
On Wednesday, I got another call from New York! I must still have the very bad virus on my computer the caller told me I did. I played along with him this time, for a while.
Then I asked What do you know about Linux because that is what I use? I must have upset him because he hung up on me and I did not swear at him once.
Folks, someone calling you to tell you your computer has a virus is a scammer.
What these reptiles want is to talk you into installing remote control software on your computer. Then they will hijack banking and personal information and then probably give you that very bad virus that they told you you have in the first place.
Should I get another call like this I think I will let them try and talk me through installing a Windows program on Linux. It would be fun, for me, and the scammer will think I am just dumb.
The numbers these turkeys appear to be calling from are real but are not traceable back to the caller. There are legitimate companies in the U.S. that make some of their money catering to scam artists’ anonymity.
Richard Sanders
Williams Lake
Editor’s note: My home received the same phone call Sunday night. This is a scam that has been occurring for quite some time.