How to Recognize Tech Support Scams and Protect Yourself

2017-07-04 09_22_15-Free photo_ Internet, Scam, Database, Theft – Free Image on Pixabay – 1895376

In the last twenty years or so, computers have snuck into our lives so much, that we don’t even know how to operate without them anymore. On them, we have our business files, personal data, pictures from vacations and birthdays, games, and so much more.

So naturally, we feel overly protective towards these things, as well as our devices. We try to keep them clean from viruses, we update them as regularly as possible, and we generally try to keep them running for as long as we can. That is because the worst thing that could happen to us is for our computers to malfunction, or even ‘die’.

So yes, one of the biggest computer-related fears of today is that your computer will get broken and that something will be wrong with it. And this is exactly the fear that online scammers count on.

Online scammers are people who will try to trick you into giving away money via the internet. They are not hackers with a superior skill that are capable of taking your device apart from another side of the world.

Instead, they are professional liars that will try to convince you that something is wrong and that you must pay in order for them to fix it. We will now explain how this process goes, as well as methods they are using.

They appear suddenly

The first thing that you need to understand is that these people will try to confuse you and put you in a state of panic. You are someone who appreciates their computer very much, and all is well in your world. And then suddenly, someone appears and tells you that there is a major issue.

You never notice anything wrong, but that doesn’t stop them from claiming it to be true. The emergency will mean that you won’t have the time to stop and think for a second. Which is why they will try to make the situation seem as scary as possible.

They mention their company

Most people understand when they don’t have sufficient knowledge about something, and leave the job to the professionals. Which is why it is much easier for a scammer to trick you if they mention that they work for an important company.

They will use something that most people have heard of, but don’t know much about. By using this method, they will try to trick you into allowing them access, or even paying money. Because, why wouldn’t you? It is their job to do things like this. Right?

Wrong. That is something that the legitimate worker won’t do, which leads us to our next entry:

They contact you

Big companies are way too big to keep track on each individual user, and not even Microsoft can do something like that. That is why they offer customer centers so that you could go to them.

You are the one who is looking for the solution to your issue, and companies don’t care about your device. They would never send someone to help you out on their own, especially if there is a supposed issue that you have never even noticed.

This is one of the first signs of a scam, the sole fact that they are contacting you first. Most of the time, they would just call you over the phone. They will mention a big company that they work for, and try to scare you. These are all steps that the scammers are taking in one go, and the most experienced ones will do it so smoothly that you won’t suspect a thing.

They will insist that the problem is there

The majority of scammers will be encouraged by the fact that you didn’t hang up. Once they get you talking and considering, they know that they are halfway there. All that they need to do now is finish the job, which means scaring you as much as they can.

That is why they will try to insist that you do have a problem, only you don’t know about it. They, however, can ‘see everything on their computer’, and they can tell that you have a virus or something alike.

Basically, they won’t let you relax, think, calm yourself. If you start thinking about what they are saying, you will soon figure out that it is a bunch of nonsense. That is why they have to keep going, keep talking, keep making things up.

They will ask you to install some software

This is one of the final steps in their scams. If they get you to install a certain software, it will probably be their plan to take control over your computer. This doesn’t mean that they will hack you, but instead, they will use some program that will share your screen.

They can still take control, but they will do so in order to try and show you some normal computer process. When they do so, they will claim that it shows that you have an issue. If some process is blocked (again, most of the time, this is normal), they will try to tell you that a virus did it, or something like that.

Basically, since you are still on the phone, they think that you probably don’t know anything about what they are doing and saying. That means that they can show you anything, and as long it looks scary, they will have you completely hooked.

Protect yourself with a VPN

If you wish to protect yourself from such scams, your best option is a VPN. VPNs will protect your online data, and keep you safe from viruses, ads, as well as hackers.

With a protection like that, there is no way for anyone to trick you into believing that you have a virus. How could you, when you are the best online protection there is. The best VPNs for this kind of work are IPVanish, TorGuard, GhostVPN, and Private Internet Access.

Your data will get encryption, as well as a special, secure tunnel to protect it, and you will gain complete anonymity. That will prevent anyone from spying on your data, stealing your info, and even obtaining your phone number. Which means that they won’t even find a way to contact you in the first place.

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Conclusion

Tech support scams have been very popular lately. However, the real, and pretty much only reason why they work is that people don’t expect them. Most casual users don’t know that these things are even possible. And if they have heard about something like that, it was a distant story, from a far-away source, which is probably not true anyway.

Nobody believes that something like this can happen to them, which is exactly why they fall victim to it. So don’t do that, and don’t assume that you are safe. Always keep your guard up, and stay skeptical of these things. Also, nobody legitimate will ever try to control your computer, so don’t fall for things like that either.

Passion for Cyber Security and Technology.

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