Nottinghamshire Trading Standards are warning people to beware of a computer virus scam that continues to plague residents across the UK. 
 A local man has received a phone call from a male saying he was phoning about a problem with his computer. The male said that that he could fix his computer to stop it crashing. The resident recognised that this was a scam, and when he confronted the male on the phone he hung up. 
 Officers are re-issuing the warning as complaints to the service about the scam continue:
 The fraudster's aim is to trick you into believing that your computer has a serious virus problem and that you need to act immediately or it will become unusable. You may be shown so-called 'errors' on your computer in the hope that you will be frightened into allowing the fraudster to remotely access your computer to fix the problem. At this point, the fraudster takes control of your computer and then requests payment of a fee to carry out repairs. There is no genuine fault so you end up paying for an unnecessary repair or bogus software. You may have left yourself exposed to identity theft, as your computer could have been deliberately infected with malicious software such as viruses and spyware. This could mean that the fraudster can access your personal details, such as your passwords and bank account information.
 Trading Standards and the Police keep closing down these companies for scamming customers in this way, but copycat scams simply start up in their place. The organisers are difficult to trace with many of the companies operating from call centres abroad.
 If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from a computer maintenance company just hang up.  
 
You can also report the incident to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit http://www.actionfraud.police.uk