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Problem Statement: NCPC, Microsoft Warn of Rising Phone Scams

Scammers pretending to be from Microsoft called victims saying their computers had problems and needed updates. The scammers had personal details of victims and convinced them to download software, provide login credentials, or allow remote access. Once accessed, the scammers would delete files or make victims pay for unnecessary software and services. Microsoft warned that they do not make unsolicited calls requesting personal or financial information. The NCPC chairman said phone scams are an emerging trend in Singapore, with over $2 million lost to various phone scams in the first half of the year alone.

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51 views1 page

Problem Statement: NCPC, Microsoft Warn of Rising Phone Scams

Scammers pretending to be from Microsoft called victims saying their computers had problems and needed updates. The scammers had personal details of victims and convinced them to download software, provide login credentials, or allow remote access. Once accessed, the scammers would delete files or make victims pay for unnecessary software and services. Microsoft warned that they do not make unsolicited calls requesting personal or financial information. The NCPC chairman said phone scams are an emerging trend in Singapore, with over $2 million lost to various phone scams in the first half of the year alone.

Uploaded by

hamzah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C235 IT Security and Management

Problem 3: Social engineer

Problem Statement

Read the following article. What happened?

NCPC, Microsoft warn of rising phone scams


By Bhagman Singh | Posted: 16 August 2012 1712 hrs
SINGAPORE: The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and Microsoft on Thursday
urged Singaporeans to be alert against IT product-related phone scams.
:
In such cases, scammers normally pretend to be representatives of well-known IT brands, to trick
victims, as products from these brands such as Microsoft are likely to be owned by most people.

The recent phone scams typically unfold in the following manner:


- A scammer, claiming to be a Microsoft technical support staff or a Microsoft partner, calls up a
victim and informs him/her that their computers or notebooks may be experiencing problems and
are in need of a security or software update;
- The scammer may have many personal details of the victim, for example, name and home
address, so as to convince the victim that he/she is a genuine representative from Microsoft;
- Once the victim is convinced that the call is genuine, the scammer would ask the victim to
download and install one or more software from the Internet. The victim would be asked to
provide the software user account identification codes and passwords to the scammer. In some
cases, the scammer would direct the victim to a website that allows remote control of the
computer; and
- Once access has been gained into the victim's computer, the scammer would remotely control or
delete files to convince him/her to buy additional software by making online payments or
providing their credit card details. In some cases, the scammer may gain access to confidential
data within the victims' computers that can be used for illegal online transactions.

Microsoft Singapore's director of marketing and operations, John Fernandes, said: "As a rule,
Microsoft does not make cold calls to its customers. Microsoft also does not call consumers or
send unsolicited emails requesting for personal or financial information such as credit card details
and passwords.
:
NCPC's chairman Tan Kian Hoon said: "NCPC is glad to work with stakeholders like Microsoft
to raise public awareness and reduce the number of people conned. Phone scams are one of the
emerging trends in Singapore and in the first half of this year alone, the total amount of money
cheated through the various types of phone scams was S$2.37 million."

Understand the issues and techniques of social engineering and explore to what
extent technology can help to prevent it.

Page PAGE 1

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