A warning to area residents, there’s a phone call scam going around asking for access to people’s computers and personal information.

The Perry Police department reports they have had numerous calls from citizens who have received calls from people claiming to be from Microsoft.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller says the criminals call and email customers posing as technical support employees seeking access to computers and personal information.  He says the scammers claim they’re trying to fix some sort of software or security problem or trying to sell a software license.

The scam enables criminals to retrieve passwords, financial information and other personal data.

Anyone who believes they may have been targeted through this scam should change their passwords, use an anti-virus software to scan their computers and report the scam to the Internet Crime Complain Center at www.IC3.gov.