If you pick up your phone and see a missed call from a number you don't recognize, you may want think twice about calling back.You could be a potential victim of the growing "one-ring phone scam," which the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warned consumers about last week. As in most phone-based scams, the perpetrators use auto-dialing computer programs to call phones all over the country.

In a recent twist, scam artists are using the phone to try to break into your computer. They call, claiming to be computer techs associated with well-known companies like Microsoft. They say that they’ve detected viruses or other malware on your computer to trick you into giving them remote access or paying for software you don’t need.

These scammers take advantage of your reasonable concerns about viruses and other threats. They know that computer users have heard time and again that it’s important to install security software. But the purpose behind their elaborate scheme isn’t to protect your computer; it’s to make money.