661-748-0240 / 6617480240

Please note the messages I'm seeing over here indicate this phone number, 1-661-748-0240 may be a scam and you should be extra cautious!

Possible stories include:

• Your computer is infected, but if you pay us we'll help you
• You've won a prize
• We're from Microsoft (or some other tech company)

Especially if you are called out of the blue by a stranger -- who should not have your phone number anyway -- please, please, please think twice before handing over your credit card number. If it's a scam you shouldn't expect to be using that credit card again.

I know a lady who has a history of mistakenly letting viruses on her computer (she isn't terribly into computers) who suddenly got a call out of the blue from someone for whom English was clearly not their first language, letting her know that her computer was infected with a virus, but they'd be happy to uninfect it for her for a fee.

I'll leave it to you to wonder where that infection came from in the first place, and how that person/operation got her phone number, and whether you should give a stranger on the phone a credit card number, especially if they have special knowledge about the state of the inner workings of your computer.

As if this needed any more underlining, consider that the offer of "help" from the strange person calling you is being made by someone who promises they can access your computer remotely. How else would they really know your computer has a problem (and get your phone number) unless you're talking to the hacker/hacking operation that purposefully infected your computer in the first place?

I've also seen some chatter that these people are sometimes claiming to be with Microsoft. Obviously that is bogus. Microsoft may break computers all the time, but they certainly never call your house if you're an ordinary consumer.

The way it was communicated to me about the wording they used, it appeared to be an extortion attempt.

If your computer is slow, drags, is buggy, doesn't seem to work right, etc., there are plenty of local companies, usually Mom and Pop operations, that will be delighted to fix your computer.

Bottom line advice: if your computer is possibly infected by a virus or trojan horse, disconnect your computer from the internet immediately and seek out professional help or someone you know who is good with computers -- or better yet, take it directly to a computer repair shop. If these people can infect your computer and have already called you at home on your phone, they can make your situation far worse and may well do so. You need professional help now.

And consider filing a police report if you suspect they have committed a crime (such as trying to obtain your credit card number by posing as an employee of a big computer company).

Here's an amusing video that will give a taste of what's going on out there and that you're certainly not alone in being subjected to this sort of thing:



Do you have info? Tell us what you think!