Battlefords area residents are once again complaining that they are being targeted by scammers looking to hack into their computers.
The latest complaint is from a reader who reported receiving a phone call from someone from New York, asking for information about her computer.
This follows on the heels of a similar incident where a Battlefords resident received a telephone call from a number in Washington State, asking for similar details. However, he had already heard RCMP warnings about such phone calls and refused to co-operate.
The most recent caller also smelled a rat, and contacted the newspaper in order to warn others about the scam.
RCMP have been warning people for some time to be on the lookout for potential scammers looking to hack into victims' computers by asking users for their personal information.
Battlefords RCMP warned in June about a complaint they received about telephone calls from people identifying themselves as "Microsoft Technologies," stating they are getting a number of error reports fromthe intended victims'computer. The person on the line would ask the victim to log on to the computer and provide the "CLS-ID" number, which allows remote access to personal information stored on the computer.
These latest calls vary somewhat, but the general format remains the same, with a caller asking victims to log into computers to seek personal information.
The RCMPhas been warning people to not provideconfidential information to someone they do not know over the telephone.Anyone receiving such suspicious phone calls should immediately report them to the local RCMP.
