Kuljeet Kaila was working at home when she got a mysterious and urgent phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft.

The mystery caller knew information about her blog postings and she believed it was a legitimate IT emergency.

"He basically had me open up my computer [and] punch in a website and that was it – it was game over. I watched my entire computer crash before my eyes within minutes,” Kaila told CTV’s Steele on Your Side.

She had fallen victim to the so-called Microsoft scam, the latest version of a four-year-old scam in which hackers pose as technicians with the computer giant.

Someone phones claiming your computer is infected with a virus, and they need to take control of your system to stop it. But it’s a scam, and many computer users are wiped out before they know what really hit them.

The scammers then try to get you to pay them anywhere from $30 to $470 to solve your non-existent computer problem.  

"So after they've given you the scare, they say now we're going to fix the problem for you, here's the virus, now give us your credit card number and we're going to fix it for you right away,” says IT expert Likky Lavji.

Allowing a third party to download software or remotely access your computer also carries a number of serious risks.  

Kaila had to spend thousands of dollars to rebuild her hacked website, but the scammers still called her house repeatedly.

"The last time I talked to them I basically said, 'I don't have any computers.’ And if you can aggravate them they will eventually leave you alone and take you off their list,” she said.

The Microsoft scam is so popular it now accounts for more than 70 per cent of reports to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.  

Microsoft officials are working with RCMP to catch the scammers but it's difficult, because they use caller ID spoofing technology to hide their real phone numbers.  

Police have been able to track a few of the scammers and shut them down because they need a credit card license so they can charge their victims over the phone.  

Microsoft Canada issued a warning about the scam last summer, saying it appears to be targeting English-speaking countries including Canada, the U.S., Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Samantha Goldman of Microsoft Canada says consumers have to be vigilant.

"You’ve got to be very suspicious of an unsolicited caller who asks for a fee or your credit card number or bank details,” she told CTV’s Lynda Steele in a telephone interview.

“One thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft will never call you in this way and ask for money related to fixing a computer problem.”

Microsoft offers the following tips so consumers can protect themselves:

  • Always have up to date versions of Windows on your computer
  • Install security updates regularly
  • Use a strong password
  • Make sure your firewall is turned on
  • Have an anti-virus product installed
  • And if you get one of these scam phone calls, get as much information from the caller as you can
  • Report the incident to the RCMP Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501

The Better Business Bureau says the best tactic to take if you receive one of these calls is to simply hang up the phone.