Indian police break up international computer virus scam
Posted November 29, 2018 4:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NEW DELHI — Indian police have arrested nearly two dozen people on suspicion of defrauding people in the United States, Britain, Australia and other countries by sending fake pop-up messages warning them that their computers were infected with a virus and offering to rectify the problem at a price.
Police officer Ajay Pal Sharma says those arrested Tuesday and Wednesday posed as authorized representatives of Microsoft and other companies and used their logos.
He says they have been running call centres in and around the Indian capital for months and defrauding unsuspecting people.
Sharma said Thursday that the messages prompted victims to call a phone number showing on their computer screens. He said they would then be scammed out of money in exchange for supposedly fixing the problem.
The Associated Press
