Andrew Paul is Popular Science‘s staff writer covering tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.
, particularly targeting older demographics. Usually imitating a legitimate company’s customer service or IT department, tech support scammers trick victims into granting access to their computers, which they then use to extract payments. Last year, overreported a cumulative loss of nearly $806.5 million stemming from just such fraud schemes.
On October 19, India’s Central Bureau Investigation announced the completion of Operation Chakra-II, which involved 76 raids targeting illegal call centers located within several states across the country. According to an, cyber criminals impersonated both Amazon and Microsoft customer support representatives, impacting over 2,000 customers—mostly in the US, but also in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, and the UK.
The scammers in question used a combination of cold calls and pop-up ads claiming to detect technical issues on a the victims’ computers and instructing them to call a toll-free number. After a variable amount of cajoling, scammers were then sometimes granted remote access to an individual’s computer. Then, they convinced some users to pay hundreds of dollars for unnecessary services under the “pretense of non-existing problems,” per the CBI.
“We firmly believe that partnerships like these are not only necessary but pivotal in creating a safer online ecosystem and in extending our protective reach to a larger number of individuals,” Amy Hogan-Burney, Microsoft’s Associate General Counsel for Microsoft Cybersecurity Policy & Protection, echoed in afrom the Microsoft Security team, Microsoft reiterates that no reputable tech company will ever contact users via phone, email, or text message claiming to detect issues with a device.
As Microsoft’s video also explains, scammers often also rely on scare tactics to pressure victims into falling prey to their schemes. Once access is granted to a device, the con artists can plant malware or even steal users’ personal information. Both regularly checking for devices’ software updates, as well as reporting fraud attempts can help deter and combat scammers.Andrew Paul is Popular Science's staff writer covering tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V.
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