Glendale business targeted in computer-related phone scam

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Many businesses around the New York City area have recently seen a spike in a number of phone calls that turn out to be computer-related scams. Yrcriz Rondon, an insurance broker for Rondon Brokerage in Glendale, is one of them.

Yesterday afternoon, Rondon received a mysterious phone call from a “Dell representative” who claimed to see an issue in her computer. For a charge, the person was willing to help her fix the issue.

Leonard Kaplan, owner of CDML Computer Services, said the scam is what the security industry deems a rogue security program. Through his research, he noticed that many of the calls are coming from call centers overseas, particularly India.

The calls are standardized, starting off by introducing the caller as an employee of a company such as Microsoft or Dell. They proceed to tell the businesses that the company noticed malware activity on their computer. Through a series of guided steps on the phone, the scammers trick the user into logging onto their computer and giving information that create ultimate access to the scammers.

When Rondon received the phone call, she was extremely skeptical in the caller’s concern.

“They don’t typically call you to say that they value you as a customer and that they would like to help you solve this issue,” she said. Knowing that she has a reliable computer repairman, Rondon declined the caller’s offer.

But other businesses may not have been so fortunate. Kaplan said that at least two people downloaded the program, giving the scammers access to everything on their computers.

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