You get a phone call with a pre-recorded message "Hi, this is Microsoft calling, we have received notification you have a virus on your computer, please call 88

You get a phone call with a pre-recorded message "Hi, this is Microsoft calling, we have received notification you have a virus on your computer, please call 888-888-8888 for assistance removing it." You call and they either charge you for "support," when they instruct you to delete some files from your event log or something benign or they direct you to install a program that gives them remote access to your computer so they call install malware or ransomware or steal all your files. After the Dell breach they got even more convincing "This message is for John Doe, this is Dell, we are calling in regards to your Dell Inspiration 1234 with serial number XXXXXXXX." https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/02/dell-to-customers-report-service-tag-scams/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/02/dell-to-customers-report... Sometimes it's a person on the other end instead of a recording but I can't imagine a cold call that requires computer access would be very effective because how many people are going to be sitting in front of their computer at that time? They will almost always instruct you to call back. An very old pre-internet scam is "you've won a free vacation call 888-888-8888 to claim it." When you call they ask you to pay taxes on your vacation then they run away with the money you paid in "taxes."