Best report
ϟ
Jun 17, 2016
Technically you're a year too young to post on 800Notes. See its Terms of Service. Ideally you should have an adult you trust examine your system and/or take it physically to a real PC tech.
Often a fake tech will fool you into letting him access your system and show you its many "errors" and "viruses". In fact, those are normal, minor, and harmless things reported by your system as it does its business. Then will come the offer to "fix" what was never broken for a stiff price. The faker might take the money and run, or might do real damage to your machine. Either way, if you're fooled once, he or his buddies will call again hoping to fool you twice.
If you're lucky, after sifting your files the faker on the phone found no credit card numbers or anything worth stealing or reselling to his crooked friends, so he dumped you empty-handed. For all you know, the thief has installed something which hides from your virus scanner and snoops on what you're doing, so that over time you will give the criminals what they want.
To be clear, the "fixer" on the phone knows nothing about your system before he calls, and is not trained or qualified to work on anyone's computer. Usually he's someplace in South Asia, in a room full of fiends who are trying all day to steal from people who don't know how their computers work. What they are doing is against our laws in the USA. Heck, the cold phone call itself breaks the law. Why? You never asked him to call, you never knew him before he started hassling you.
The Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft have each issued warnings to explain this kind of fraud. They also have each taken several fake tech goons to court to stop them from harming more people. It's a good idea to tell them your story so that the fight may continue.
Tech Support Scams
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams
(FTC explains the fraud)
Tech Support Imposter Scams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nSP_cnipTY
(animated short from the FTC)
Avoid tech support phone scams
https://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
(Microsoft warning)
Strange call pretending to be from Microsoft tech support
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/f ... 2e-2ab81645553d
(Microsoft forum discussion)
Often a fake tech will fool you into letting him access your system and show you its many "errors" and "viruses". In fact, those are normal, minor, and harmless things reported by your system as it does its business. Then will come the offer to "fix" what was never broken for a stiff price. The faker might take the money and run, or might do real damage to your machine. Either way, if you're fooled once, he or his buddies will call again hoping to fool you twice.
If you're lucky, after sifting your files the faker on the phone found no credit card numbers or anything worth stealing or reselling to his crooked friends, so he dumped you empty-handed. For all you know, the thief has installed something which hides from your virus scanner and snoops on what you're doing, so that over time you will give the criminals what they want.
To be clear, the "fixer" on the phone knows nothing about your system before he calls, and is not trained or qualified to work on anyone's computer. Usually he's someplace in South Asia, in a room full of fiends who are trying all day to steal from people who don't know how their computers work. What they are doing is against our laws in the USA. Heck, the cold phone call itself breaks the law. Why? You never asked him to call, you never knew him before he started hassling you.
The Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft have each issued warnings to explain this kind of fraud. They also have each taken several fake tech goons to court to stop them from harming more people. It's a good idea to tell them your story so that the fight may continue.
Tech Support Scams
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams
(FTC explains the fraud)
Tech Support Imposter Scams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nSP_cnipTY
(animated short from the FTC)
Avoid tech support phone scams
https://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
(Microsoft warning)
Strange call pretending to be from Microsoft tech support
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/f ... 2e-2ab81645553d
(Microsoft forum discussion)