If there’s one thing that’s been proven in the tech world, it’s that scammers will stop at nothing to deceive and manipulate innocent computer users. One of the more recent scams comes from an unexpected source: the telephone. Learn to recognize suspicious scamming behavior so that you can protect your resources.
Scamming: What and Why?
It is human nature that as soon as a new development arises for the purpose of helping others and improving the world, evil forces conspire to find the weak spots and take advantage of others. This has taken place in countless ways over the years, including through emails that spread viruses.
More recently, scammers have been creating fake websites that offer free computer security scans. These websites look legitimate and have been known to fool some of the most conservative computer users. The alleged free security scan alerts users to major problems and insists that downloading a software will resolve the problem. The software, of course, is laden with viruses that hurt the computer and potentially even steal valuable information.
Some scammers go through all of this work just to see if it can be done, while others are motivated by the potential to steal credit card information and identities that can lead to lucrative profits.
Tech Support Scams
Scammers have moved on from their computer-based techniques and are now being so bold as to call users impersonating computer technicians from popular and trusted companies like Microsoft. They claim they have detected a virus on the user’s computer and need some basic information to gain remote access to the computer and resolve the problem.
If the scam is successful, the culprit gains access to all of the victim’s personal information and can steal money and information, or just ruin the computer for fun. Anyone receiving such a call should never provide any information whatsoever, and should instead report the call as an illegal sale.
