{"id":52683,"date":"2023-08-18T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mcafee.com\/?p=52683"},"modified":"2024-02-26T20:42:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T04:42:36","slug":"lookout-scam-tech-support-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/internet-security\/lookout-scam-tech-support-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"Be on the Lookout for Scam Tech Support Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Instead of getting you out of a jam, tech support scams get you into one. And they can get costly.<\/p>\n

Tech support scammers had a banner year in 2022. They raked in more than $800 million in the U.S. alone, according to the FBI<\/a>\u2019s list of reported cases. The actual figure climbs higher when you factor in all the unreported cases. And it goes yet higher still when you consider all the victims worldwide.<\/p>\n

In all, tech support scams make up a multi-billion-dollar industry.<\/p>\n

They make their money several ways. Sometimes the scammers who run them charge large fees to fix a non-existent problem. Other times, they\u2019ll install information-stealing malware under the guise of software that\u2019s supposed to correct an issue. In some cases, they\u2019ll ask for remote access to your computer to perform a diagnosis, but access your computer to steal information instead. Or they could hit you with several of the above.<\/p>\n

You can stumble across these scams on your own as you go about your day online. Other times, they find you, such as when the scammer calls you directly.<\/p>\n

One of our employees shared his story when a tech support scammer called his wife out of the blue:<\/p>\n

I was messing around on my computer before dinner.\u00a0My wife came in with a strange look on her face as she told the person on the phone, \u201cI think you might want to talk to my husband about that.\u201d Once on the phone I was greeted with, \u201cHi, this is Rick from Windows support and we\u2019re calling because your computer is sending junk files to the internet.\u201d I knew there was no way he was from \u201cWindows support\u201d since a reputable company isn\u2019t going to call me up out of the blue like this, but as a security researcher I was curious, so I jumped right in.<\/p>\n

\u201cRick\u201d said that to fix my issue he needed me to install a free remote access tool and give him access to my system. Letting an unknown person access my actual computer seemed like a bad idea, so I let him log on to a \u201cvirtual machine\u201d that I use for security testing. The first thing he did was turn off my security software, including the antivirus and firewall.\u00a0After doing that, he downloaded a file that he tried to install. Since I had additional security software in place he wasn\u2019t aware of, the installation failed each time he tried to run it.\u00a0At this point, I had the file he was trying to install, the IP address he was connecting from, and the site he used to get the malicious file. I told \u201cRick\u201d that I work for a security company and would like to know what he was actually looking for.\u00a0I\u2019m fairly certain he hung up before I completed my sentence.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, after the call, a malware scan confirmed that \u201cRick\u201d wanted to install a remote access tool (RAT) that would have given him full control of the computer.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one example of how these scams go. They get costly too. The FBI further reported that the average loss for a tech support scam approached $25,000. In some cases<\/a>, pop-up \u201csecurity alert\u201d ads spearheaded scams that cost people $200,000 and upwards to $1 million.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, these scams are rather easy to spot. And avoid. If you know what to look for.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What do tech support scams look like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start with a quick overview of tech support scams. They tend to work in two primary ways.<\/p>\n

First, there are the scams that track you down.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This might be a phone call that comes from someone posing as a rep from \u201cMicrosoft\u201d or \u201cApple.\u201d The scammer on the other end of the line will tell you that there\u2019s something wrong with your computer or device. Something urgently <\/em>wrong. And then offers a bogus solution to the bogus problem, often at a high cost. Similarly, they might reach you by way of a pop-up ad. Again telling you that your computer or device needs urgent repairs. These can find you a few different ways:<\/p>\n