There's a sucker born every minute. And for every sucker out there scammers are working hard to create newer and more elaborate scams. The newest breed of phishing scam involves malware, IP telephony and an offshore call center.

The scam starts with a random telephone call made to an Australian number from an offshore call centre. A computer will do predictive dialing and connect the call which can be identified with a delay before the other person answers.

The caller will claim to be a representative of a software company. They will then ask the recipient to run a program to fix 'bugs' in their operating system.

The use of an actual human being at the other end of the line shows a level of sophistication. If any bugs were found on the operating system a technician would be sent to fix them. The caller would ask the recipient to enter the command 'eventvwr' in the run box.

The callers will then ask the recipient for their credit card details and charge a nominal fee for fixing their computers. The telemarketers only charge the credit card the customer agrees to and they don't use the credit card details again.

Windows Event Viewer maintains logs about programs, security and system events on Windows and can be used to view and manage the event logs. It also gathers information about hardware and software problems as well as monitor Windows security events.

The system logs can display prominent "Error icons" which could lead some users to think that their computer needs fixing.

The scam has been running rampant in Australia since 2009. The only way to safeguard yourself is by making sure that you are talking to a real Microsoft representative on the phone. If you are getting a call from an unlisted number then your suspicions should be raised.