Facts to Know About Tech Support Scam

Official Tech Support

9 years ago

“Hello, we are calling from Dell and it looks like your computer is infected. Our technician can fix the problem and we provide you the best service in the market”.

Does that Sounds Familiar? A well-bred way of tricking someone into tech support scam.

Whether tricked or wondering to know about tech support scam, you have come at right place. Read this article to understand every aspect of the Tech Support Scam industry.

Note: Officialtechsupport.com is an independent remote tech support provider. The only purpose of this blog is educating people and spreading awareness among them about tech support scams. Use of third party Trademarks, Brand names, Products (ex. HP, Microsoft, Dell) and Services is referential. Official Tech Support hereby disclaims any sponsorship, affiliation or endorsement of or by any such third party. The services we offer may also be available on the brand owners’ websites.

Show less

Tech support scam — a million-dollar industry — is operating since 2008, fooling around thousands of innocent people every day.

But beware, don’t lose your money on them and don’t get fooled by the scam tricks.

This article’s content will help you in avoiding tech support scam and understanding how they operate. Also share it to spread more and more awareness among people.

Sections:

Why we need tech support?
Tricks involved in tech support scam.
Scare techniques.
Guidelines to avoid tech support scam.
Steps you should take if you are scammed.

Before proceeding towards tech support scam tricks, first you need to understand what’s the need of tech support?

Why we need Tech Support?

Nowadays most of the people uses computer for their personal work or office work. Not every problem can be resolved on our own. So, when we encounter any issue in our computer we need technical support and we call the service center representative to get the issues resolved. They send a guy to resolve the computer issues at our premises. But this process involves a lot of time and money.

So a new way of technical support has evolved, which is called as Remote Tech Support.

In Remote Tech Support, a support representative connect to a remote computer via internet by using such IT tools and software that enable them to work remotely on a computer. This service is both time saving and cost effective.

But a great number of fraudulent activities are also related to this service. So, before getting any type of remote tech support for your computer, you must beware of these tech support scams.

Tricks involved in Tech Support Scams:

The tech support scam is a telephone fraud activity in which the caller represent themselves as an authorized technical support executive.

Many fake tech support companies mainly targets the Microsoft Windows customer. They make cold calls representing themselves as a Microsoft’s technical support executive and tries to get access to their computer remotely.
In countries like Canada, U.S, U.K and Australia, these type of cold calling scams are very frequent and originates from call centers in India and U.S.
They get the name and phone numbers from online directories.
Scammer uses email address spoofing tricks in which they try to get the email address or send emails that looks familiar and through email address it becomes easier for them to send malwares.
They instruct you to download and install remote access programs such as TeamViewer, Ammyy Admin, Ultra VNC, AeroAdmin, Windows Remote Desktop, Remote PC etc.
Not all the programs are fake, but once the scammer get the access, they put malwares in your computer or try to steal your data. Some remote access software provided by the scammer may contain malware.
Scammers put fake pop-up warnings with a toll-free number to fix the issue or they use spam advertising technique claiming viruses and malwares in your computer.
They trap you through search engine ads that will redirect you to a warning page claiming virus infection in your computer.
Some ads will redirect you to websites that look very professional but they are a trap.

Here is the link about inside story of a fake tech support company, written by one of its employee.

Scammers also use scare techniques to get people in their domain. These scare techniques are either warning messages or audio playbacks.

Some common scare techniques used by Scammers:

“Your computer is infected”.
“Your computer is at risk”.
“Your personal and financial data are shared”.
“Your computer has viruses”.
“Spyware detected on your computer”.
“Your computer is attacked from a remote device”.

Always avoid these type of calls and warnings as they are itself a warning for you to not to go through them.

And follow the guidelines discussed below so that you cannot get yourself in the perimeter of tech support scam.

Guidelines to avoid Tech Support Scam:

Remember one thing that any reputed firm never contact you for these type of services until and unless you have requested a help.
Hang up the calls that claims they are authorized agents of Microsoft or Google etc.
Always use the contact provided on original website of firms like Microsoft etc. for any help and query.
Never click on the pop-ups and warnings claiming virus infections in your computer.
Never open the email attachment from any untrusted source.
Never click on advertisements saying your computer has junk or your computer has become slow.
Use good Antivirus software along with a good Anti-malware in your computer.
Be cautious while granting remote access to anyone.
If any mishap occurs then take action quickly.

Read this article from Microsoft on Microsoft tech support fraud.

If somehow you are tricked due to lack of awareness or you have downloaded malware from a scam site then don’t panic and follow these steps:

Update your security software and scan the system. If it identifies any issue then delete them.
Use legitimate security software and Antivirus protection for your computer.
Change those passwords, if possible, that you have given to the scammers.
If you have paid for the bogus services through credit card, then immediately inform your credit card provider and ask them to reverse the charges.

Tech Support Scam is a vast topic. So, we are providing some links where you can gather more information on tech support scams.

LINKS:

Officialtechsupport.com is an independent remote tech support provider. The only purpose of this blog is educating people and spreading awareness among them about tech support scams. Use of third party Trademarks, Brand names, Products (ex. HP, Microsoft, Dell) and Services is referential. Official Tech Support hereby disclaims any sponsorship, affiliation or endorsement of or by any such third party. The services we offer may also be available on the brand owners’ websites.

Show less