It seems impossible to read a newspaper without coming across another company suffering a cyber attack. From Sony’s embarrassment last year through to the breaking news of huge sums lost by banks in specialised attacks, the message is that online crime is here to stay. What can we do about it?

The good news is that you probably already have technology on your computer to protect you from malicious websites and reduce your risk from the range of email-based attacks. However, there is one approach which depends entirely on how you handle it rather than your computer’s security features. This is the telephone-based scam.

Usually the first thing that my clients say after falling victim to a computer scam is ‘How could I have done that?’. Sadly, in the moment it is easy to do the wrong thing. Recently I have been called in to help with a large crop of these scams so it seems a good moment to tackle them here. Fortunately, telephone scams aimed at your computer are simple to avoid.

The scam typically starts with a telephone call claiming to be from a well-known company such as Microsoft. The friendly operator will warn you that there are security issues with your computer, perhaps it is deluging others with spam email. The caller then offers to help you to resolve these issues. They can be quite convincing, happily supplying details such as a telephone number and company address. They will commonly direct you to a website that demonstrates your problems before asking you to download software that allows them to take control of your computer to solve your ‘issues’. It is at this point that your problems begin.

Before exploring how to deal with this, the key point to avoiding the scam is to remember that the telephone call is unsolicited. An unexpected call asking you to take action on your computer is highly suspicious. If in doubt, end the call and seek independent advice.

So what can you do if you find yourself caught out? Finding oneself in the midst of a scam can be disorientating. It can be difficult to know what to do. Here are some simple steps that will protect you and give you time to think.

The first step is to halt the process so no more harm is done. I recommend ending the call and physically removing your computer from the internet immediately. A quick way to sever the internet connection is simply to unplug your router, which is the box connected to your telephone line that talks to your Internet provider. Once this is done, the caller can no longer access your computer. Remember to keep your computer off the Internet until it has been fixed so that the scam cannot continue.

Now that you have time to think, take a few moments to write down what you remember that the scam operator did on your computer. Armed with this, it is time to get some independent advice to help you undo the changes and secure your computer. For a Windows-based computer this can be as simple as running System Restore and a malware scan. For a Mac, the steps are slightly more involved.

You can find a security checklist at www.RLComputerSolutions.co.uk/safety.