{"id":52044,"date":"2015-10-28T00:27:45","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T00:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=52044"},"modified":"2015-10-29T16:58:39","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T16:58:39","slug":"support-scams-single-largest-fraud-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/support-scams-single-largest-fraud-in-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Support Scams &#8211; Largest Fraud in US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/br><\/p>\n<h4>Support Scams &#8211; Largest Fraud in US<\/h4>\n<p>On October 21st, the US Senate Special Committee on Aging took up the issue of Tech Support Scams. The link below provides a full transcript of the hearing &#8211; along with video.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aging.senate.gov\/hearings\/virtual-victims-when-computer-tech-support-becomes-a-scam\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.aging.senate.gov\/hearings\/virtual-victims-when-computer-tech-support-becomes-a-scam<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Among those testifying was David Finn, associate general counsel and executive director of the Digital Crimes Unit at Microsoft. Finn offered the following facts as part of his testimony:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Tech support scams are perhaps the single largest consumer fraud perpetrated in America today<\/strong>, victimizing an estimated 3.3 million people each year \u2014 many of them senior citizens \u2014 at an annual cost of $1.5 billion. This translates to a victim nearly every 10 seconds, with an average loss of $454 per consumer.<\/p>\n<p>Since May 2014, Microsoft alone has received over 180,000 complaints about tech scams \u2014 and we know these are merely the tip of the iceberg. Consumers are also being victimized and many of these victims are not even aware that they have been scammed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/msft_target.jpg\" alt=\"msft_target\" width=\"651\" height=\"511\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-52052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/msft_target.jpg 651w, https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/msft_target-300x235.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/msft_impact.jpg\" alt=\"msft_impact\" width=\"682\" height=\"470\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-52053\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/msft_impact.jpg 682w, https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/msft_impact-300x207.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\nU.S. Senator Susan Collins <\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4QFAVIuXgSQ\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly in a Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing questioned testifying witnesses about computer tech scams and what can be done to prevent these scams<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q1upUGdFkjI\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<h4>Don&#8217;t Be a Support Scam Victim<\/h4>\n<p>Computer users from around the world are being targeted by 3 types of technical support related scams: 1)Phone calls from companies claiming to be associated with well known software vendors &#8211; offering assistance with a problem with your PC 2)Deceptive advertisements for technical support for a particular software product placed on search engines like Google and Bing and 3)Browser Hijacking &#8211; that promotes phone based technical support.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Phone Support Scams<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Direct Calls Offering Support<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>ALERT:<\/strong> We have recently received reports of Tech Support scam phone calls being made by persons claiming to represent PC Matic. PC Matic has NO relationship with these parties and does NOT solicit consumers or businesses over the phone. We are actively investigating this issue and will continue to provide information about the warning signs of these scams.<br \/>\nIf you need assistance with PC Matic &#8211; our support team is available 7 days a week via pcmatic.com\/help.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tuTAA5Kj3Kk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>PC \u2018Tech Support\u2019 Cold-Call Scam Resources<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/avien.net\/blog\/pc-support-scam-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/avien.net\/blog\/pc-support-scam-resources\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Browser Hijacks &#8211; Promoting Tech Support Phone Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As you browse the internet are you seeing endless pop-ups with offers of 800 numbers for technical support and more?<\/p>\n<p>Your browser may have been hijacked.  <\/p>\n<p>Sophisticated malware now has the ability to recognize the type of page you are visiting, hijack your browser and serve you related pop-up ads.<\/p>\n<p>Pop-ups like the one pictured below (being served to a visitor to pcpitstop.com) are most likely associated with a browser hijack\/malware infection. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijack1.jpg\" alt=\"hijack1\" width=\"651\" height=\"325\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-48884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijack1.jpg 751w, https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijack1-300x149.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" \/><br \/>\n<br clear=\"left\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The pop-ups are in <strong>NO way<\/strong> associated with PC Matic or PC Pitstop. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Search Engine Support Scams<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>WARNING: <\/strong>It has come to our attention that companies are deceptively promoting PC Matic &#8220;Support&#8221; via Google &#038; Bing ads (like the one below). The company behind the majority of these ads -iYogi &#8211; is in NO way associated with PC Matic or PC Pitstop and is exploiting &#8216;loopholes&#8217; in search engine advertising policy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/iyogi5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/iyogi5.jpg\" alt=\"iyogi5\" width=\"472\" height=\"45\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-50138\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/iyogi5.jpg 472w, https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/iyogi5-300x28.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 472px) 100vw, 472px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><br clear=\"left\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Consumers who respond to these ads are charged a minimum of $149.99 &#8211; for answers otherwise available for free in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcpitstop.com\/userguides\/PCMatic_ref.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">basic online documentation<\/a> or via <a href=\"http:\/\/pcmatic.com\/cs\" target=\"_blank\">official PC Matic support<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>PC Pitstop has repeatedly petitioned Google and Microsoft to have these ads removed.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/askleo.com\/i_got_a_call_from_microsoft_and_allowed_them_access_to_my_computer_what_do_i_do_now\/\" target=\"_blank\">Great advice<\/a> from our good friend Leo Notenboom:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Avoiding the scam<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Classic scam-avoidance 101: never completely trust someone who you don\u2019t know who calls you.<br \/>\nListen to them, if you like. Ask questions, if you feel so motivated, but never ever give them access to your PC and never ever give them your payment information.<br \/>\nLet them know that you\u2019ll have your local tech look into it (even if you don\u2019t have one).<br \/>\nOnce it becomes clear that you\u2019re not going to fall for the trap, it\u2019s very likely that you\u2019ll get hung up on, or that the caller may even become abusive. At that point, you can hang up on them.<br \/>\nIf you\u2019re concerned that there is a real problem, do the research yourself, or contact the technical resources that you trust and ask them about it.<br \/>\nChances are there\u2019s nothing to see here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recovering from the scam<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you handed over payment information, you\u2019ve just given that information to a complete stranger. Immediately contact your credit card issuer or other payment provider and put them on fraud alert.<br \/>\nIf you allowed the scammer access to your machine \u2026 well, things get ugly.<br \/>\nThe short answer is that you have no idea what they did. If you saw them install software in the guise of tools to help repair your system, it\u2019s very possible that software\u2019s really a bundle of malware that\u2019s now residing on your machine.<br \/>\nEven if you didn\u2019t see them download something, they still could have placed malware on your machine.<br \/>\nYou just don\u2019t know.<br \/>\nAnd there\u2019s no way to prove that they didn\u2019t.<br \/>\nThere are two approaches at this point:<br \/>\nAssume the worst. Revert to a system image backup taken before the access was granted. If you don\u2019t have such a backup, then backup your data, reformat, and reinstall Windows. This is the only way to know that whatever the scammer might have left on your machine is truly gone.<br \/>\nHope for the best. Run up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware tools, making sure that each is running with an up-to-date database. I\u2019d be tempted to scan with an additional tool or two; I would specifically recommend a scan with MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, which seems to catch a lot of the more aggressive malware. I\u2019d be tempted also to try the process outlined here, as well as Windows Defender Offline. And then I\u2019d hope that whatever may have been left was caught.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s a scam<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This appears to be a common scam right now and the best defense, as you can guess, is to not fall for it in the first place.<br \/>\nIf you do, then the next best thing is to make sure that you have regular system backups that you can revert to.<br \/>\nAnd if you walk away remembering just one thing, remember this:<br \/>\nThey won\u2019t call you.<br \/>\nIf \u201cthey\u201d do, be very, very suspicious.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/askleo.com\/i_got_a_call_from_microsoft_and_allowed_them_access_to_my_computer_what_do_i_do_now\/\" target=\"_blank\">Read more from Leo here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 21st, the US Senate Special Committee on Aging took up the issue of Tech Support Scams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":48812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[133],"class_list":["post-52044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips","tag-scam"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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