Reading a lot about scams lately? There’s a good reason why. In America alone, scammers are stealing billions of dollars from people around the country. Dishonest fraudsters use tricks to gain the trust of their victims before stealing money, identities, or both. Typically, they lie to their victims by pretending to be someone they are not. Scammers may befriend or threaten victims for manipulation purposes. Tech support scams are very common, posing significant threat to innocent people. Learn how to stay safe by spotting and avoiding this popular scam.
FTC working on your behalf
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of civil antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The agency works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and helps consumers spot, avoid, and stop scams and fraud. Despite their immense efforts, scammers will persist. Let’s examine some basic ways to stay protected against dishonest schemes like tech support scams – and learn why reporting these crimes is essential.
Are tech scams and tech support scams the same thing?
Tech scams are a broad category of scams that involve the use of technology to commit deception and theft. Tech support scams are more specific. They involve fraudsters who pretend to represent tech support companies. In tech support scams, scammers contact victims, often through phone calls, fake pop-up messages or computer virus alerts, or emails, claiming there’s a problem with a computer or account. Scammers then try to convince victims to grant them “remote access” to their computer or pay for fake services. FTC explains, “Tech support scammers try to scare you into believing there’s a problem with your computer. They tell lies to get your financial information or remote access to your computer. Their goal is to steal your money, or worse, steal your identity.” Don’t fall for it.
How tech support scams work
In tech support scams, scammers typically provide a bogus warning about a problem with your computer. They pretend to be a computer technician (sometimes faking that they are from a well-known technology company like Microsoft) who can “help you” resolve the issue. They will likely ask for access to your computer to scan it for viruses and charge a fee to fix it. Or they may pretend that your accounts are hacked and charge you to resolve the issue. Their goal is to fool victims into paying for fake services or gaining remote access to their computers.
What is remote access?
Scammers can gain remote access by tricking victims into installing programs that allow the scammer to control the computer remotely over the internet. After gaining control of a victim’s computer through remote access, scammers can then install malware, ransomware, or other software designed to disrupt the computer and cause real problems. They can also hack into a person’s computer and steal their identity, password, bank account information and more.
How do scammers decide who to target?
It can be random, but they can also target potential victims through information collected from sources like social media. Scammers use techniques such as masquerading as a reputable source to engage victims.
How to spot tech support scams:
- THEY CONTACT YOU OUT OF THE BLUE: Legitimate tech companies do not randomly contact people by phone, email, or text messages to say there is an issue with the computer. In fact, if someone does, it’s a scammer. Do not engage with them.
- THEY LIE & USE PRESSURE TACTICS: Scammers lie about their credentials to gain trust. Scammers may even fake caller ID to seem like a business or government agency. Bad actors commonly pressure potential victims into sharing information or making payments. They may threaten fines, arrest, or other legal actions, each of which is indicative of a scam. If you believe that an agency or business is legitimately trying to reach you about a problem, discontinue contact and independently call the business or agency using a legitimate phone number you look up or already have on file. Never call numbers given to you by a potential scammer or provide account numbers to them.
- THEY ALERT YOU TO A “SUDDEN” PROBLEM: In tech scams, scammers sometimes send fake security alerts that are intended to gain immediate attention and cause alarm. Scammers want victims to act before realizing it’s a scam. Understand that real security alerts come from your antivirus software, not through a phone call, email, text message, or your web browser. Real security alerts contain professional language and do not ask you to call numbers or make payments. If you get a strange pop-up security warning or message out of the blue instructing you to act, do not click on links that can compromise your computer. Likewise, do not call phone numbers that can put you in direct communication with a scammer. Rather, close your browser, clear your cache and cookies, run a malware scan, and enable pop-up blockers.
- SCAMMERS PUSH FOR PAYMENT – Scammers frequently push for payment in currency that is hard to trace, such as gift cards, a wire transfer, a bank transfer, cryptocurrency, or a payment app. Note that legitimate businesses typically do not request payment in these forms. Scammers may also be pushy or persistent, or use scare tactics such as threatening to take you to court or have your arrested for non-payment to get you to act fast – tell-tale signs of a scam.
Why it’s bad to intentionally engage with scammers
The idea of engaging with scammers to waste their time sounds like a wise idea because it’s less time they can spend scamming others. However, it is NOT recommended. Here are a few reasons why: It confirms that your contact information is active, it wastes your valuable time, it encourages further contact, it gives them opportunities to practice the skill of scam baiting, and it raises the potential for you to be tricked or reveal sensitive data. Your best line of defense is to ignore and block scam communication. And, if you’ve been scammed, or the scammer is persistent, report the activity to FTC or IC3 (the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center).
Why should I report being scammed?
Whether you’re doing it for yourself, or for someone else, reporting scams can help stop scammers. FTC takes scams seriously and will use your report to investigate and bring cases against other frauds, scams, and bad business practices. In some cases, funds may be recovered. However, recovery of funds is on a case-by-case basis and may often be challenging or impossible.
The bottom line about tech support scams
As of March 2025, new FTC data showed a big jump in reported losses to fraud at a whopping $12.5 billion in 2024. Adults 60 and older are frequently targeted by scammers pretending to be from a trusted government agency or well-known business. In tech support scams, scammers fake their identities to trick individuals. FTC data also demonstrates “a more than four-fold increase in reports of impersonation scammers stealing tens and even hundreds of thousand from older adults.” For this reason, it’s important for individuals to stay informed about scams, remain alert for warning signs, approach interactions carefully, choose whom to trust wisely, and protect both their personal details and financial assets.
Disclosure: This article is purely informational and is not intended as a substitute for professional advice.
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It’s hard to imagine so many people fall with this stuff. That being said, the occasional refresher doesn’t hurt.
Adding to that, don’t answer any phone calls from numbers that are not in your contacts. If they don’t leave a voicemail message , block the number.
I was sucked into a tech support scam in 2024 while on Facebook. I really thought I was talking to an actual tech support rep after my laptop started sending loud warning notifications to “call this number…”. The tech support person said he had to “report” the incident and connected me with someone supposedly from the FTC. They were ready with answers any time I seemed wary, and they didn’t want me to tell anyone so they could “catch” the scammer in the act. They insisted I keep my phone line open and not hang up. I got really nervous when they said they would send someone to my house and accompany me to my bank where I was to withdraw $30K and deposit it in a crypto machine. I hung up, left my cell phone at home, and immediately drove to my bank where I informed them of the scam and asked for extra security on my account. The scammers had added software to my laptop, and I couldn’t send any email because they started erasing messages while I was typing, like in a thriller movie. I was really frightened and took the laptop to the Geek Squad who removed their software. Then I filed a police report and notified the Social Security Administration and the IRS. I also bought a subscription to Malwarebytes. My first mistake was believing there was really a problem with my computer. All I should have done was shut down my laptop to get rid of them. I hope my scary experience helps others avoid a similar one. Stay safe, AMAC family!
About ten years ago, before I knew much about computers, I was on my computer, it locked up and a loud screeching alarm was going off. I tried to get rid of it but I couldn’t. Something popped up on the screen that said to call a certain number because they were the only people who could help me. I called the number, the guy was from India, he told me that I had been hacked, but he could help me. He told me he could stop the alarm and stop the hackers before they got in to my bank accounts and take control of my credit cards… for $325. I was so scared and confused that I paid him to do it. It was a scam. They called me for years, I’d continuously hang up on them, but then I got smart. I bought some air horns, I use them quite often when “live” telemarketers call me. One long blast in their ear, their heads ring for the rest of the day. I get a good laugh out of it every time. lol
I LOVE MY PIXEL PHONE! ALL PHONE CALLS FROM #’S NOT IN MY CONTACTS ARE GIVEN THE CHOICE TO SAY MY NAME OR WHO THEY ARE FROM BEFORE I EVEN ANSWER THE PHONE!
it is easy to be scamed. I had an issue with a Microsoft problem and did a search on Google for a contact telephone number for Microsoft. The first search result identified itself as Microsoft and I called it. It was a scamer. I learned the hard way here but I did not pay any money and I did not pay for product support. This company scanned my computer and I was lucky to finally hang up but the damage was done. I tossed the computer out and purchased a new one. Everyone should purchase identity thief protection such as Lifelock, Zander Insurance, ID Resolve, or some other identity thief protection. In today’s high tech environment, we need to protect ourselves.
I read somewhere that older adults are more confident in their abilities to navigate today’s tech world than they should be. The older we get, the more we need to understand that tech may have moved past our abilities to keep up. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
I was scammed by Microsoft pop-ups about 15 years ago but was able to remove them with McAfee at the time my divorce started and I think my ex wife had something to do with it. But I have never had my bank account information tied to my computer and sign on/passwords are only in my phone under my own form of code that only I know and can read because I know what of my code to use or not to use. For instance, a SS# can look like a zip code if you do it right. A password can look like a name with zeros and o’s mixed up and so-on. Banking information in my opinion does not belong on my computer even though I can access it on my computer. I got a scammer who called from a number in my phone but I called my contact 40 minutes later and they didn’t call me. It was a trusted company but the hacker got nothing. Thanks to rough roads, they got disconnected. I usually scam the scammers and have been threatened with jail and I tell them that I would like free room and board so come and get me. They threatened to freeze my accounts and I told them they would have to put money in my account to freeze it because I am broke. They have tried to get me to send them a gift card or money order and I told them to send me the money and I could. Then one of them said that I needed to send them money to get my prize and I told them to deduct the processing fee from the winnings and send me the balance. They never learn and have yet to get money from me.
I am a subscriber to the Epoch Times and one of their reporters, Roman B. ( not sure of the spelling) recently had a report on his Facts Matter show about a very sophisticated scam that involved someone’s Apple account. He got multiple notifications-email, text, phone that Apple had detected suspicious activity on his account. He fell for it because the scammer used a known Apple phone number. Roman created a timeline of the scam as it occurred. Then, at the last moment, the scammer used a fake email and the guy shut it down and contacted Apple itself. They helped him save his account. The really scary thing about this scam was that the victim himself knew better-that’s how clever the scam was. My credit card company will send me an email regarding charges over a certain amount.