How to avoid Tech Support Scams

With the latest figures from Microsoft revealing that over-the-phone tech support scams increased by over 20% from 2016 to 2017, it is important that we teach both ourselves and those we think may be vulnerable to such scams about how to best avoid them.

From a Microsoft report comes these worrying figures…

In 2017, Microsoft Customer Support Services received 153,000 reports from customers who encountered or fell victim to tech support scams, a 24% growth from the previous year. These reports came from 183 countries, indicating a global problem.
Approximately 15% of these customers lost money in the scam, costing them on average between $200 and $400. In some cases, victims pay a lot more.

The report also told of an incident where scammer emptied a bank account of 89,000EURO (£78,200, $107,400USD) in the Netherlands.

How Tech Support Scams Work

Over-the-phone tech support scams start with the victim receiving a phone call from someone identifying themselves as a technical support worker. They may claim to work for your Internet provider, a well-known tech company (i.e. Microsoft) an online security company, or possibly a company you’re not familiar with. (It is also possible that the victim may have seen a fake “security alert” with a support number to call, which is how the scam can also begin.)

– Firstly, the technical support worker will tell the victim they have an important security issue with their computer (or device.)

– To help gain the trust of the victim, the scammer will often instruct the victim to open their computer and follow some simple steps to “confirm” the security issue. (Actually, the scammer just instructs the victim to open their registry or event log, and then points out some fake errors or threats that in truth are not indicative of a security problem, though the scammer relies on the victim not knowing that.)

– The scammer then lures the victim into installing a remote access program on their computer that allows the scammer access to the victim’s computer.

– With access to the victim’s computer, the scammer can then install malware onto the victim’s computer.

– Finally, the scammer can potentially do many different things at this stage. For instance, they could steal sensitive financial information from the computer via the malware they installed. Alternatively the scammer could charge the victim to remove the malware the scammer themselves just installed by luring the victim into paying for “premium antivirus” that could very well end up being even more malware.

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How to Avoid Tech Support Scams

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of tech support scams is just how easy they are to avoid. Simply put, if you receive a phone call out of the blue from someone identifying themselves as technical support, claiming you have an urgent security issue with your computer or device, hang up the phone!

It’s that simple. No technical support team, including Microsoft or your ISP, is going to contact you unexpectedly telling you that you have an urgent security issue with your computer .

Additionally, if you see a pop-up on your computer telling you to call a tech support number to remove a virus or malware, just don’t! That’s a scam too.

If you’re worried you may have a security concern with your computer, you can run an antivirus scan (you can click here for our recommended antivirus.) Alternatively, ask a tech-savvy friend to check your computer.

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This article probably isn’t aimed at you…

If you follow our blog, then this article probably isn’t aimed at you. The vast majority of users will know exactly how tech support scams work and how to best deal with them. However, our regular readers are not who these scammers want to target.

That’s why it’s important to reach out to people you may be especially vulnerable to these types of scams. Elderly people or those that are not familiar with the Internet are susceptible to this scam, and it’s important that the correct information reaches them before the tech support scammers do.

Remember, technical support workers will not call you out of the blue telling you that you have urgent security problems! Please share this advice (or even better, this article) with your less technically-savvy friends – tech support scams are increasing in popularity and it’s important that we try to educate as many of ourselves as possible.