- Jurisdiction
- US Federal Law
The details surrounding common Windows Tech Support scams, a ubiquitous telphone scam for many years, was exposed over a decade ago here on our website. It was disappointing to find this useful page deindexed from a major search engine for reasons I cannot explain. It not only allegedly tracks a scammer's methods and means, but it even appeared to have attracted the scammer to come here after one of our users traced the phone number and associated website across the globe.
In the Windows Tech Support Scam, the victim is convinced to install software called TeamViewer on their computer. This is "remote access" software which allows the trusted tech support assistant - supposedly from Microsoft - to login to the victim's computer and help remove a non-existant virus from their computer. If the victim is fortunate, they will pay only $50-100 for the 'service' and never hear from the scammer again. Given the small amount of the fraud, it is often not discovered since it is forgotten quickly by the victim and disposed. But allowing remote access to a truly malicious party can result in losses that far exceed this amount, including obtaining access to sensitive files and also planting other malware on unsuspecting users' computers.
I hope that this useful thread on the Windows Tech Support Scam is reindexed, as it should be, being one of the more valuable resources online regarding this popular telephone scam, this one allegedly being pepetrated from India. Given the scams that appeared here this week, I fondly recalled another we helped expose here many years ago.
In the Windows Tech Support Scam, the victim is convinced to install software called TeamViewer on their computer. This is "remote access" software which allows the trusted tech support assistant - supposedly from Microsoft - to login to the victim's computer and help remove a non-existant virus from their computer. If the victim is fortunate, they will pay only $50-100 for the 'service' and never hear from the scammer again. Given the small amount of the fraud, it is often not discovered since it is forgotten quickly by the victim and disposed. But allowing remote access to a truly malicious party can result in losses that far exceed this amount, including obtaining access to sensitive files and also planting other malware on unsuspecting users' computers.
I hope that this useful thread on the Windows Tech Support Scam is reindexed, as it should be, being one of the more valuable resources online regarding this popular telephone scam, this one allegedly being pepetrated from India. Given the scams that appeared here this week, I fondly recalled another we helped expose here many years ago.
