Four people have been arrested in the United Kingdom for their involvement in aphone designed to trick people into paying for fake computer repairs operated on behalf of Microsoft. 
Telephone scams are nothing new and continue to cause thousands of people worldwide to lose large sums of money. In fact, London police say that last year there were 34,504 reports of fraud, with losses exceeding £20 million.
Investigations into these scams began about two years ago when Microsoft discovered the scheme and sought to identify the perpetrators. Four people involved in the scheme were recently arrested.
India-based scammers have been tricking Microsoft users with fake scripts to convince them to pay for supposed repairs. In some cases, the scammers have even infected computers to demand further repairs, pretending to work for Microsoft and recommending unnecessary fixes.
Police reports reveal that the average age of victims is 62 years old and the average amount they pay for the alleged repairs is £600.
"I would like to inform all our users that we will never call them out of the blue or use pop up tech support. Although scammers may seem extremely convincing, do not contact them. Instead, if you come across such a scam, contact us immediately via the contact page," said Hugh Milward, Director of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs at Microsoft.
Microsoft emphasized that it will never ask its customers for credit card information or personal identification information, so if you are ever asked for such data, contact the authorities as soon as possible.
