Beware of this Scam !
A local resident tells us that recently his computer screen suddenly greyed out and he got messages- ostensibly from Microsoft- saying that his computer had been locked because someone else had used his IP address (the computer's unique online identifier) without his permission.
He was told to phone Microsoft support immediately at a number given, to be talked through the process of unlocking and securing his machine. Under no circumstances must he close down or restart for fear of data loss. His computer was indeed completely locked up.
He phoned his computer specialist to seek advice and was told this was a known virus scam and the phone number was phony (no pun intended). He would have been asked for permission for the scammers to take remote control of his computer when they would have had access to all his financial details and passwords.
The specialist fixed the problem (at some expense – but less than having his bank account plundered).
THE MESSAGE IS – BE SUSPICIOUS AND DON'T PANIC.