Tech Support Scammers Continue to Stalk and Harass Consumers (by Click4Support)

Scammers, especially those who claim to be from reputed companies like Microsoft or Click4Support!

They are scary because they contribute to the endless list of tech support scammers who make people feel unsafe. But they are not just scary; they are many things more, as in-

·         Aggressive (like the malware)

·         Frustrated (like all of the users worried from their everyday issues)

·         Pestering (just like ad pop-ups)

Reports of having called by scammers have increased a lot over the years, and it’s good that more and more people are getting aware of this but seems insufficient the way the scammer care getting bolder.

Various users have responded to the popular online magazines that seem to make them aware of the tech scams spike. Fake support schemes seem to have touched many users, some of them are tech nerds and others are innocent. The techie people seem to brush them away as a disturbing fly, but others are not so lucky. They took the most common bait, like “Are facing a problem in your PC,” or “Has your PC gone slow?”

One of the Microsoft’s executive commented on the situation in a blog, saying that the scammers show no sign of slowing down. The blog also informed that the scammers are getting persisting in their attempts in not only making a fool of naïve user but also many small businesses.

Their tactics

·         Aggression

The callers generally try to override the apprehension and suspicion of the people they have called by aggressions, and in the process feed more of these.

·         Half-baked truths

Scammers generally ask to press some combination of keys in PC which can lead to some (known) troubling outcome (which obviously the user doesn’t know). They ask to check Windows log to show you errors (that are of not much consequence).

·         Deception

When the caller tells that he is from Microsoft or Click4Support (leading to Microsoft or Click4Support Scam), he is in the mode of deceiving. The only thing caller can do is to hang up and nothing else.

·         Telling lies outright

If any tech support caller tells you to take a subscription for a year, it’s a lie, because in most of the cases they are not there after that call. What’s more, their services and software (which could even be a malware) are of no worth at all.

In awareness mode

Earlier, companies took these scams as fad and though that it would die on its own. However, that never appeared to be so. Therefore in response to such scams, various companies took steps, like-

·         Microsoft started warning the Windows users, since 2011.

·         U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) came up to watch the trend these scammers followed and filed charges against some of the regular ones.

·         Click4Support launched a campaign against the tech support scamming companies.