Customer Awareness

Tech Support Scam

Fraudsters make telephone calls and claim to be computer technicians associated with a well-known company or they may use internet pop-up messages to warn about non-existent computer problems. The scammers claim they have detected viruses, other malware, or hacking attempts on the victim’s computer. They pretend to be “tech support” and ask that the victim give them remote access to his or her computer. Eventually, they diagnose a non-existent problem and ask the victim to pay large sums of money for unnecessary – or even harmful – services. Tech Support Scams operating from abroad often use U.S.-based money mules (including legitimate-seeming businesses registered in the U.S.) to receive victim payments and transmit proceeds to perpetrators.

Refund scheme: After victims make payments, perpetrators often call back and offer refunds to victims, claiming their tech support services are no longer available. Perpetrators claim to send refund money to the victim’s bank account but falsely claim that too much money was refunded. Perpetrators then induce victims to send payments (often through stored-value cards such as gift cards), purportedly to reimburse the tech support company for its “over-refund.” Victims have lost hundreds or thousands of dollars to this refund scheme.

Source: Federal Trade Commission

For more information on these and other scams please visit https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/senior-scam-alert