When a seemingly innocent phone call turned into a disaster…

In this age of scams, we have learned how to be skeptical of emails, friend requests, and offers from people and companies that we do not know. Unless we engage in business with someone first, we are wary of their intentions.

Unfortunately, even the best of us can be caught unaware or even fall for something because it impersonated a company or person that we were expecting to hear from. For example, we have one customer who, before they found Hogan’s Systems Consulting, had had their computer fixed by another company. They later got a phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft, who said problems had been found on their computer that needed to be fixed immediately. Thinking this was a call from the company that had just fixed their computer, this customer gave the caller remote access to the computer. However, they became suspicious when the caller started asking them for a debit card number and for an outrageously large amount of money as payment.

After this customer refused to pay the caller, they found that their computer had been encrypted and they could no longer access their account on it. When we were called to take a look at the computer, we found that the computer could not be unlocked or restored as some of the most important components of it had been what was locked away. The data, however, was still salvageable, and we were able to back it up before having to wipe everything and re-install Windows 8.

From this experience, this customer learned about being skeptical of unexpected approaches from people and companies. They learned the importance of having someone they can trust with their computer and have said that they will be sticking with Hogan’s Systems Consulting from now on, because they know we can get the job done and keep their computer and information safe.