When Tech Support Calls You About a PC Problem, It’s Likely a Scam
It’s time for the PSA for technical safety. A recent article in The New York Times provided a compelling insight into the ongoing evolution and expansion of fake tech support scams. The “classic” procedure where a window pops up on your computer screen offering technical support for a “virus” or other urgent problem that you did not know about, not only remained in circulation – it is a fast growing industry.
So, for anyone else who might be concerned about a popup, chat window, or even a phone call you recently received from someone claiming your computer was jailbroken, take a deep breath and repeat after me.
“Relax. This is a scam. My computer is fine. Support will never call unless you call them first.”
Think about it. Microsoft, Apple – any company that can offer you technical support for your laptop or desktop computer – has tens of millions of customers. No technical support team has the time to find and address every potential problem on every single machine. If you need their help, you have to jump through their hoops: call tech support, wait a bit, explain that you’ve already restarted your computer . I wish we could live in a world where hardware manufacturers would just show up whenever you had a problem, but unfortunately they are not.
What if the scammer doesn’t even bother to imitate a company that can offer you tech support? This is a red flag in itself.
If you receive one of these messages, the best thing you can do is just avoid it. You can flag fraudulent email messages as spam and report them to your email provider or your employer’s IT department. Also, the best policy is to delete them, ignore them, or hang up and move on.