How to prevent falling victim to technical support scams

Technical support scams starts with scammers claiming to be associated with companies offering legitimate support services. Some of them rely on social engineering skills or send pop-up messages and warn you about your computer problems that they have detected viruses or some malware on your computer and ask you to give them remote access to your computer. They will diagnose the non-existent problem and ask users to pay for the services to fix the issues.

If you get an unexpected call, email or pop-up about problems on your computer do not answer the message or click on any links or give control of your computer or pay for any services. If you need help, contact business, or the website you know you can trust. Also, do not rely on online search results about the services, they are risky and might just be another scam.

Do not rely on Caller ID of your phone if you get a unexpected phone call from someone who claims to be tech support instead hang up and look for company's contact information online and call them. Never share credentials or give control of your computer. They can plant malware in your computer which may be used to steal your financial information.

If you think you have encountered the support scam, don't forget to report these scams to the law enforcement agency. It helps law enforcement to go after the people or companies behind the tech support scams.

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