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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