THIS IS TO NOTIFY THAT

(AS OF 18TH MAY 2006)

Impostors /cold callers pretending or claiming to be from "THE PC EXPERT" are not working for us. These impostors are not associated with us in anyway.

They are cheats and they only want to deceive vulnerable, unsavvy elderly. We will never ring anyone about his or her computer related software problems.

This is a national level scam/fraud. Police and Action Fraud in UK are aware about this con. One Action Fraud website it is called “Computer Software Service frauds”.

Therefore, we hereby notify every-one in UK that "THE PC EXPERT" should not be kept liable for any kind of damage done to their PCs, Laptops, Apple machines because of this scam/fraud.

We are not responsible for anyone pretending / claiming to be from "THE PC EXPERT", to damage your machine and harass you afterwards.

You should always contact Action Fraud before giving consent to any stranger to access your personal information. You should always contact Action Fraud on

0300 123 2040

Everyone in UK are being warned to be on the look-out for scams designed to trick vulnerable Internet users into divulging their personal details, following an increase in the number of complaints to Consumer Direct, Action Fraud and Trading Standards.

WHAT IS COMPUTER VIRUS / SOFTWARE SCAM /FRAUD

You may be targeted and telephoned by cold callers pretending to represent a well-known software company telephoning to fix a fake computer problem. The fraudster's aim is to trick you into believing that your computer has a serious virus problem and that you need to act immediately or it will become unusable. You will be shown so-called 'errors' on your computer in the hope that you will be frightened into allowing the fraudster to remotely access your computer to fix the problem. At this point, the fraudster takes control of your computer and then requests payment of a fee to carry out repairs.

There is no genuine fault so you end up paying for an unnecessary repair or bogus software. You may have left yourself exposed to identity theft, as your computer could have been deliberately infected with malicious software such as viruses and spyware. This could mean that the fraudster can access your personal details, such as your passwords and bank account information.

HOW DOES THE SHAMEFUL SCAM / FRAUD WORKS

CASE ONE

In this case the fraudster will ring you originally from India or any Asian country and will pretend to be from well-reputed companies like us (THE PC EXPERT). They operate in groups as you might hear noises like a proper professional call centre in the background. These scammers call vulnerable people in the U.S, Canada, UK, and Australia whom they find in the phone directory.

The scam is straightforward: pretend to be calling well-reputed companies like us (THE PC EXPERT), gain remote control of the machine, trick the victim with fake error reports and collect the money forcefully or with harassment.

If you ever get a call from a THE PC EXPERT tech support agent out of the blue, the best thing to do is simply hang up. Scammers like to use VoIP technology so that their actual number and location are hidden. Their calls are almost free which is why they can do this 24/7.

CASE TWO

In this case/scam, the fraudster will pose as a representative of well-reputed companies like us (THE PC EXPERT) in UK. The fraudster targets vulnerable Internet users. Victims receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from well-reputed companies like us (THE PC EXPERT).

The customer is directed to a website by fraudster that allows the caller remote access to the customer’s computer. The fraudster then appears to make a number of fake ‘fixes’ to their computer.

In fact, they gain access to the victim’s personal information, often by installing malware. Again, they steal personal information and will use it or pass it on to other fraudster /cons to commit fraud.

CASE THREE

In this case the fraudster will pretend to be one of the employee of THE PC EXPERT who have discovered problems or viruses on your computer. They persuade you to give them access to your computer with passwords and security information and then ask for payment and bank details. And if you do not pay them the requested amount in return the fraudster will lock you out of you PC and will infect your PC with viruses. After this they harass you with phone calls.

They will go on to use this personal information to commit fraud. Consumer Direct and Trading Standards have also reported a recent increase in complaints about a scam using well-reputed companies like us (THE PC EXPERT) in UK.

OUR ADVICE AND NOTIFICATION TO EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS:

Genuine computer companies like us will never do this. If you need technical help, always call or email your Internet service provider's support line or talk to a computer repair company personally and ask them whether they rang them by searching their contact detail on the internet. Or request someone to help you to look up the real contact information of the company they are pretending to be.

We will never make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer. Fraudsters make these phone calls to try to steal from you and damage your computer with malware.

Treat all unsolicited phone calls with scepticism and don’t give out any personal information. We will never ever send out unsolicited communication about security updates, although fraudsters do send security software updates to subscribers of the security communications program. If in doubt, don’t open the email.

HOW WE OPERATE OR WHAT IS OUR BUSINESS POLICY REGARDING PC REPAIRS

You will never receive a unsolicited phone call from THE PC EXPERT to charge you for fake computer fixes. As we do all repair at our store and we do not offer remote access service. And we do not operate more then 10-mile radius. We are a small local company who is helping people locally from our store. In simple word our policy is that the customer have to bring his or her PC for repair to the store. And collect it from the store once it being fixed.

ROGUE/DECEPTIVE PREMIUM TECH SUPPORT COMPANIES

The fraudsters are mainly located in India OR ANY OTHER ASIAN COUNTRY. These fraudsters heavily advertise on popular search engines as well as websites with high traffic. People call them for assistance and get fooled with similar techniques employed by Indian or any Asian cold callers.

Another source for these fraudsters comes from pretending to be from one of the well reputed UK based business. If you decide to call in for remote computer assistance, you need to be very careful about which business you are going to deal with.

Simply picking the top ad on a search results page could end very badly.Unfortunately, the company or technician calling from the UK is not a guarantee for honest service. Fraudster like these pretending to be from UK are using dirty tricks to take advantage of people, with the un-savvy and elderly as their prime targets.

If you don’t feel comfortable doing this online, your local computer repair shops are a good alternative.

Please kindly click on the left side on the Button

"COMPUTER SCAM"

FOR MORE DETAILS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM