It’s tech security PSA time. A recent story in The New York Times provided fascinating insight into the ongoing evolution and expansion of fake tech support scams. The “classic” routine, where a window pops onto your computer screen offering technical support for a “virus” or other urgent problem you didn’t know about, has not only stayed in circulation — it’s a growth industry.
So, for anyone out there who may be concerned about a pop-up window, chat box, or even a phone call you recently received from someone claiming that your computer has been compromised, take a deep breath and repeat after me.
“Relax. This is a scam. Nothing is wrong with my computer. Customer Support never calls unless you call them first.”
Think about it. Microsoft, Apple — any company who might offer you technical support for your laptop or desktop — has tens of millions of customers. No tech support team has time to search for and review and every potential problem on every individual machine.
If you want their help, you have to jump through their hoops: Call tech support, wait on hold for a while, explain that you already restarted your computer. I wish we lived in a world where hardware-makers would just show up whenever you have a problem, but sadly it just isn’t so.
And if a scammer can’t even be bothered to imitate a company who might offer you tech support? That’s a red flag in itself.
If you get one of these messages, the best thing you can do is simply avoid it. You can mark email-based scams as spam and report them to your email provider or your employer’s IT department. Beyond that, the best policy is to delete them, ignore them, or hang up, and move on.
Comments
One response to “When Tech Support Calls You About A PC Problem, It’s Probably A Scam”
I strung one of them along recently just to find out how they go about it. As much of a pack of arseholes these scammers are, gotta say it’s clever how they fool people.
Using the Windows Event viewer to show people lots of error and warning signs, then using a file association command in Command Prompt so they can ‘match’ an identification number to “prove” they are who they say they are.
This was how they tried it on with me anyway.
What do you mean probably a scam… always a scam!
When I get a call from “Company X”, and I can actually understand the other person… I try to see if I can convince them they don’t actually work for Company X. If they have any doubts about their employer. Usually the call centre people are victims of the Big Store scam.