SLCERT Senior Information Security Engineer Rohana Palliyaguru told Daily Mirror Online that the scammers, in the guise of agents representing well-known brand names or a third party contracted by such companies have called up consumers and made them believe that their computers are prone to certain vulnerabilities.
“The consumers had been told that they are investigating vulnerabilities - an infection or a virus and have directed the users into a website which allows the scammers to have remote control over the PC or the laptop,” he explained. Thereafter the consumers are had been convinced into making a payment which the racketeers had said would enable them to fix the computer.
“A large number of people who fell for this scam have lost a lot of money. Therefore we urge the public to be vigilant of similar fraudulent schemes and inform SLCERT if they come across such incidents,” Mr. Palliyaguru added.
