Scammers are always trying to find ways to get their hands on your personal information. Recently, they have been posing as over-the-phone computer technicians and taking advantage of your reasonable concerns about viruses and other computer threats.
It starts when your computer receives a false error message or notification of a virus. You may shrug it off at first, but then a scammer calls claiming to be a computer tech from Microsoft, or any other well-known company, who is calling to fix the issue.
Once they have you on the phone, there are many ways they will try to hack you. They might ask you to give them remote access to your computer, enroll you in a worthless maintenance or warranty program, ask for credit card information or trick you into installing malware, to name a few. Don’t fall for these tricks.
If you do get a call from someone who claims to be a tech support person, hang up and call the company yourself on a phone number you know to be genuine. Don’t give control of your computer to a third party who calls out of the blue, and never provide your financial information or passwords to a caller claiming to be a tech support representative. If you think you’ve been scammed, delete any malware from your computer and change your passwords as soon as possible.