Calaveras County deputies warn of phone scam

CALAVERAS COUNTY -- Scammers target victims year-round, but it seems they really ramp it up at the holidays. The Calaveras County Sheriff’s office is warning residents of a phone and internet scam making the rounds recently.

According to information from the sheriff’s office, a person with heavy English accent calls potential victims and identifies him/herself as being from a company by the name of Microsoft: VTech Solutions.

The scammer says his or her company has received information from the victim’s computer that there is a problem with its Microsoft programs. Of course, personal information is needed to fix it.

The caller’s likely intent is to either obtain personal identifying information from victims or gain remote access to the computer’s hard drive in order to steal information officials said. Legitimate companies, such as Microsoft, will not call and solicit information.

Anyone who gets such a call should tell the caller to remove the phone number from their database, and then hang up.