A NAILSWORTH computer business has issued a warning after being targeted by “a very convincing” scammer, who could potentially have emptied their bank account.

Paddy Coyle, who runs Nailsworth Computer Shop, was contacted by an unknown caller yesterday claiming to be from Facebook.

The caller told him that his social media account had been hacked and asked Paddy, who runs a number of community Facebook pages including Nailsworth Chat and Information, if they could remote access his computer to rectify the problem.

However, the savvy computer shop owner quickly identified that the person on the other end of the phone was attempting to gain access to his computer in order to commit fraud.

“Once someone has access to your device, which they can do from a remote location if you give them permission, they can access personal details on there, including your bank details,” Paddy explained.

“They can also lock down your device, change your passwords and demand a ransom to let you back into it.”

Computer shop owner Paddy continued to say that this type of scam is not new, but that the topical nature of the call was worryingly convincing, and warned people to check the credentials of anyone attempting to gain access to their computer.

“It's a new twist on a old con but with Facebook security being so topical at the moment it’s likely that this latest fraud could catch people out. We want to make sure that people don’t fall prey to this pretty convincing scam,” he said.

According to Action Fraud, the police organisation which investigates online fraud and cyber-crime, there has been an increase in the number of reports of this kind of scam.

Scammers claim to be calling as a result of recent high-profile data breaches and offer to resolve the problem by taking control of victims’ computers from remote locations.

During the call victims are asked to either to visit a website or enter a command prompt on their computer, which gives the scammers control of the machine remotely.

The fraudster will take some time to ‘fix’ the problem, in some cases as long as 30 or 40 minutes, during which time personal information can be plundered.

Stroud News and Journal:

Facebook has explained that they will only ever contact people online through direct messages if they believe that personal data may have been breached.

Facebook, who is currently facing accusations that a data analytics firm harvested personal information from more than 50 million of its users without permission, has recently issued advice to people whose information may have been improperly shared.

The advice, which can be found in the Facebook help centre, explains that the company is contacting those whose data may have been breached via direct messages on the social media platform.