How to Protect Against Tech Support Scams

Tech support scams are an industry-wide issue where scammers use scare tactics to trick you into unnecessary technical support services to supposedly fix device or software problems that don’t exist. Microsoft has published their full article on tech support scams here. Below you can read a snapshot of the full article with the key points.

Scammers may call you directly on the phone and pretend to be representatives of a tech company. They might even spoof the caller ID so that it displays a legitimate support phone number from a trusted company. They’ll probably ask you to install applications that give them remote access to your device. Using remote access, these experienced scammers can misrepresent normal system messages as signs of problems.

• Microsoft does not send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information, or to provide technical support to fix your computer. If you didn’t ask us to, we won’t call you to offer support.
• If a pop-up or error message appears with a phone number, don’t call the number. Error and warning messages from Microsoft never include a phone number.
• Microsoft will never ask that you pay for support in the form of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, or gift cards.