As many attest , they just won ’ t leave TalkTalk customers alone , cold-calling them on a scale the BBC recently described as “ industrial ” . The caller claims to be a TalkTalk engineer and to have detected a router or malware issue on the user ’ s computer that requires immediate intervention . The customer is persuaded Attack.Phishing to turn on their computer and run the Windows Event Viewer to perform bogus diagnostics Attack.Phishing before being asked to install one of a range of remote desktop support tools . This type of application gives the scammers complete remote control over the victim ’ s PC , at which point they are free to steal data , install malware and , in some cases , engineer the user into logging into online banking or transferring money . A popular choice with the fraudsters since at least 2015 has been TeamViewer , so much so that on March 8 , TalkTalk abruptly started blocking the application from functioning on its network in a desperate effort to stem a tide of abuse customers had started complaining about . TeamViewer ’ s block was removed on Thursday after complaints by the company , but that didn ’ t stop TalkTalk from quietly blocking equivalents such as AnyDesk , whose users started noticing unexpected connection issues around the same time . Tech support fraud , or “ vishing ” , has been around for years , so is there much new to be worried about here ? The unsettling aspect of the TalkTalk attacks is that the fraudsters allegedly accessed stolen data , which means they immediately sounded more convincing Attack.Phishing to their victims . If confirmed , this means that fraudsters have been able to synthesise old-fashioned tech support social engineering with data breach cybercrime Attack.Databreach to create something novel and perhaps unstoppable . It also seems to be easy to abuse remote support applications , which have flourished on the back of untraceable freemium accounts . It ’ s not clear how these companies detect misuse but clearly more needs to be done .