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Legend
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358 Messages
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11.2K Points
"Computer Infected" Scam
I just watched on a MAJOR news network a warning about the "Your computer is infected" scam which has been so common here at the TM home users community. It said that the FBI investigated about 17 MILLION of these complaints between January and September of 2017. WOW! I knew there were a lot, but not that many. Just a heads-up and confirmation of how widespread this scam really is. Stay safe with your Trend Micro security, and don't let anyone other than a trusted Trend Micro support tech, whom you call for assistance (not the other way around), ever take control of your device.
tm_justinem
Prodigy
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167 Messages
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3.8K Points
7 years ago
The technical support scam really became an epidemic since people behind them sound convincing when they say that their victim has a malware or problem on the computer. To combat this epidemic, we have added a feature on the Trend Micro program that checks a website if there is a phone number that is suspicious and warns our users to not call the number or interact with the people behind the Tech Support Scam. We really appreciate your post here since you are correct that people should be the ones to call their rightful security software providers and not the other way around.
Once again thank you very much.
Trend Micro Home Users Community
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erza
Prodigy
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176 Messages
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4.4K Points
7 years ago
Thanks for raising the awareness.
Yeah, they've been around for sometime now. We've been reporting and blocking suspected Fake Tech Support websites since. The latest version of Trend Micro Security now has capability to detect a suspicious Tech Support Scam page and will alert you with a pop-up.
As Tom said, pay attention to phone calls :)
Check out the warning signs and how to avoid them on these articles:
http://www.trendmicro.tw/vinfo/us/security/news/online-privacy/offline-cyber-threats-how-to-spot-a-t...
https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/surging-tech-suppor...
^erza
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woodartisan55
Legend
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358 Messages
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11.2K Points
7 years ago
Thank you Tom and erza for putting additional information out here. I neglected to mention that in the newscast along with the 17 million FBI-involved cased, it cost those users an estimated 21 Million dollars (U.S.). They also mentioned "pop-up" ads as a source to get an unwary user to click on and start the process of being scammed.
I also got to thinking: How many cases went unreported?
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erza
Prodigy
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176 Messages
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4.4K Points
7 years ago
Could you point me to an article about it?
Rest assured, we are strengthening our solution against Tech Support Scam day after day :)
^erza
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aeroplanino78
Superstar
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245 Messages
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9.7K Points
7 years ago
Obviously there are a lot of web treats, but usually there are not fake Microsoft support or any other kind of people trying scamming you by phone.
I really do not know why...
Here there is the Energy and GAS scam: if you not pay attention, they scamming you by replacing your energy-gas provider...
It is the same, but here does not exist 'informatic' scam, where the target is your computer, I mean.
Anyway It is funny to view 'anti-scam' people videos on Youtube! XD
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woodartisan55
Legend
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358 Messages
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11.2K Points
7 years ago
erza: I can't get you a link as this was on the "Consumer Watchdog" section of a television news broadcast, but again, I could not believe how widespread it is. The best I can do is point you to ABC news. channel 7, San Francisco, Ca. U.S.
And yesterday Tom (above) commented on another thread of a report of another scam in Britain, "fake-bank", and also above, Max Slo and the energy and gas scam.
These people will do anything to take money from you anywhere in the world.
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