Ivan Kwiatkowski, a French security expert, says he turned the tables on a scammer by sending him malware.

Kwiatkowski's father received a tech support scam and called his son to investigate. Kwiatkowski called the tech support scam phone number which stated that the system was corrupt and they could "fix" it for 300 euros (£260).

Kwiatkowski played along and told the scammer that his eyesight was poor and he could not read the numbers on his credit card. He offered to send a picture of the card. The scammer agreed and Kwiatkowski sent him a picture with the Locky ransomware embedded in it. The scammer opened the file.

"He says nothing for a short while, and then... 'I tried opening your photo, nothing happens.' I do my best not to burst out laughing," Mr. Kwiatkowski wrote in his blog.

"He did not let on that something had happened to his computer, so my attempt is best represented as an unconfirmed kill," said Mr. Kwiatkowski.

Source: BBC