Microsoft will NOT phone you to tell you about a virus on your PC!

[Anne]

If you get a phone call claiming to be Microsoft and saying they are aware that you have a virus on your computer DO NOT believe what they are saying and just hang up on them. There is no way that Microsoft will do this. I'll quote what happened to one lady who had such a call...

Apparently xxxxxxx  received a call from someone claiming to be Microsoft. They said that they were aware that she had a virus on her computer and had called to fix it. During the call they asked her to log onto the computer and apparently talked her through the process of giving them remote access to her PC which they then controlled. During the process she was also given some kind of login, made all the more convincing when a supervisor had to come on the phone to give "approval". Incredibly they spent 1? hours on the phone with her and only at the point that they asked for her credit card details to continue this level of "protection" did she get nervous. Thank god she didn't give her credit card details, but heaven knows what else they got their hands on.

It just shows how convincing these calls can be to some.

Giving someone remote access allows them complete control over your computer to do anything. In these circumstances, all sorts of malicious software could have been installed or other personal data stolen.