Police warn of telephone scam seeking access to computer data

The police warned the public on Wednesday to be wary of a new telephone scam seeking access to people’s computers and their personal and banking data.

The said the cybercrime unit had received several new complaints that of people claiming to be engineers from the Microsoft Support Centre from abroad and direct users to take actions that could lead to the theft of personal details or banking data.

The cybercriminals offer to help remove supposedly malicious software or to install special software for data protection, police said. In the process, they request remote access to the computer so that they can access electronic data, bank accounts, passwords and other information. They may also request for bank card numbers or other data ostensibly for verification.

The police urged the public not to respond to these calls and not to provide any details.