Last week my brother received a call on his cell phone from a foreign caller claiming he worked for Microsoft. Nothing was terribly odd about the call, we’ve received tons of them before. Nothing was odd until the caller identified my brother by name.

Rather than hang up and excuse the call as another con, my brother decided to hang on the line a while and see what progressed. Typical of this type of scam, the caller explained my brother’s computer wasn’t connected to the Microsoft server. My brother’s retort was simply that his computer wasn’t powered on.

I’m not going to give an explanation of the scam because I’ve written on that subject many times. If you visit my company’s site and search for scam you can read archived articles dedicated to the many internet scams (including this one). Today I’m going to discuss the business behind the scam.

We used to believe these types of calls were either randomly generated phone numbers or were dialed in sequence. The caller would dial 2840, 2841, etc. until they reached someone who owned a computer. In the beginning most people didn’t know this hoax existed and some would succumb to the pitch.

Knowing my brother’s full name is quite a task and it puzzled the two of us until we did some digging. This was the first time I’ve heard of someone being personally identified by this type of caller. It turns out the caller was using a database with prequalified leads or names.

Many years ago companies moved call centers offshore to save money. Labor in India and other places is less expensive than here. During the process of transitioning, and as a necessity for that job, US companies provided contact information to third party call center companies.

For those who have never been in a call center, typically there are hundreds of cubicles each equipped with a computer and phone. Every caller has access to an entire database of names and phone numbers. A typical call center can have multiple accounts for which they work.

Because the call centers are already equipped with the technology and people who are used to talking to Americans, transitioning them to this type of call is fairly easy. Sadly, the names and contact information come from other companies also using that call center. Having that savvy combination makes taking advantage of people fairly easy.

This is a fairly important article because each of my shops receives dozens of customers a week who fall victim. Typical calls start as my brother’s did; suggesting something’s awry. The call is elevated to a specialist who offers to take control of the system and miraculously finds a Windows error. Finally, the victim is offered remediation for somewhere around $200.00.

One company that was closed because of this hoax had generated US$14 million by making these calls. This is big business for call centers and makes them more income than their legitimate contracts. Why not use names provided by other companies to persuade people of their hard earned money?

Unfortunately, many people believe they have been called by Microsoft which only gives them more credence. There are some things you can do to insure you don’t fall prey to this swindle. First, Microsoft will never call you so it’s OK to simply hang up. Second, never let anyone you don’t know take control of your computer. I shouldn’t have to write this, but never, ever give your credit card information to someone who calls you.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)