You can view the June Newsletter here.

The scam: Person of Indian extraction calls a home user claiming to be from Microsoft declaring that the users pc is infected, slow, sending out spam, and basically needs to be repaired. They then proceed very forcefully to try and direct the user to a website where they will remote on to their computer and ‘repair’ the problems for which they have suggested exist. They use strong misleading language, switching to and from their supervisors,  and any means necessary to try to extract or extort up to €159 from their victim. They’ll use language like; “Your licensing is invalid”, “You’re sending out Viruses”, etc,etc.

This is occurring all around the country at the moment from what I can tell. I know of 5-10 people who have been approached by this company in the last 3-4 weeks. Ironically, we have also received over 10 phone calls from this company who are amazingly brazen and bully-like in their approach. One of our customers was directed to the Microsoft Event Viewer  in an attempt to point out their terrible pc plight. The Event Viewer is, even at the best of times loaded with of errors, and any trip here is going to show such messages. When or if they call you, HANG UP and don’t let them waste your time. These people should be avoided at all times for various reasons;

1. You don’t know who they are or what they are going to do with your pc once they gain control of it.
2. You don’t know how much fun they’re going to have on your credit card.
3. €159 for a Remote IT Repair Service would be a rip-off even in Celtic Tiger Ireland. We provide the service ourselves (Commercial Only) for just €65.

Their link is here:

-          The website looks like something from the 80’s – Clue 1
-           5 international phone numbers and no business address – Clue 2

Need anymore. Hope not! The Clue is in the Cold Call..

If you’re in charge of the marketing in your company, there are a couple of websites you may find useful which will empower you to add a degree of professionalism to the material you send out. It’s amazing how effective a stock photo can be when used properly. 

http://www.istockphoto.com (Paid)
http://www.shutterstock.com/ (Paid)
http://www.freefoto.com/ (Free)
http://www.imagefile.ie (Paid)
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/ (Paid)
http://www.everystockphoto.com (Search Engine)