How will you know you're one of those victims? It's simple. More Scam Reports: How Packaging and Product Information Trick ConsumersĪccording to Microsoft's Digital Crime Unit, some 3.3 million people fall victim to the tech support scam every year, costing victims around $1.5 billion.

We've reported on the tech support scam before in our article, Latest Car Parts, Tech Support and Domain Name Scams, and hope you've managed to evade these crooks.īut what if you - or someone you know - gets caught out and gives PC access to these crooks?

Once they get access, they can digitally crawl all over your PC, looking for confidential information like passwords and account numbers.Īnd after they're done, they may leave a piece of malware on your PC that enables them to access it at any time or plug it into a botnet - a network of compromised computers that are forced to send out spam. You probably know what 'remote access' is, but for those who don't, it's a feature of Windows that enables someone in another location to access your PC via the Internet.īut you have to give them permission via your PC first, which is why these scammers make their spoof calls. They tell you they've detected a virus on your PC and need to be given remote access to put it right. These are the people who claim to be from Microsoft or another computer firm. Much as most of us like to think we're smart enough not fall for a scam, millions of people are conned every year into giving access to their PCs to tech support imposters. What to Do if You Fell for a Tech Support Scam We'll give you a 10-point action plan in this week's issue, answering the question, 'what should I do if I gave a scammer remote access to my computer?', give you Microsoft's tech support number and information on how to get tech support from Microsoft, and give you information about a new variation in the tax bill scam.Īnd, we'll point you to the legitimate tech support service we use to fix problems and help protect all our computers. So what do you do if you're one of those unfortunate victims? Tech support scams affect 3.3 million people and cost $1.5 billion every year. 10-point action plan for resolving fake tech support access to your PC: Internet Scambusters #710

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