Earlier this month Microsoft cracked down on fraudsters working on US soil for offering bogus technical support using the Redmond company’s trademark, and now they’ve spread their net to India where a team of scammers are alleged to have a similar modus operandi.

The fraudsters, who claim to be a legitimate team affiliated with Microsoft, convince their targets that their computers are infected with viruses and spyware, and then offer to clean the problem up for them. It’s reported that in some instances information is stolen from the victims or that problems are actually created on computers that didn’t require any fixes in the first place. Microsoft has said that around 3.3 million Americans lose $1.5 billion each year to outfits posing as the company’s technical support.

Microsoft is fighting back however and a spokesperson for the company said recently that the growing numbers of recent cases against fraudsters is, “its first big strike against technical support scamming companies.”

The latest company under investigation by Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) is the Indian-based C-Cubed Solutions Private Limited. Court papers said that the firm is “a private business company formed under the laws of India”, and that via mail servers offers, “fraudulent technical support.” The investigation revealed that US customers had reported that when they requested technical support they had discovered that they were talking to someone with what sounded like an Indian accent. When DCU further investigated complaints they found phone numbers and websites offering support, but in no way affiliated to Microsoft.

If unwitting customers follow the requests of these fraudulent support teams Microsoft has said that either by gaining remote access to a computer, or often after downloading what they are told is a fix, they may become victim to identity theft, have their financial details recorded, and login details stolen.

Microsoft warns customers about such scams on its official website stating that its technical support would never ask a customer to purchase anything, whether it is software or services, request credit card numbers, or ask for remote access of a computer unless it’s someone the customer is completely sure works for Microsoft’s official technical support team. If customers do receive a call asking for any of these things they should report the details of the caller to Microsoft ‘s customer service and support center.

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