Speaking with a Scam: 10 Red Flags in One Phone Call

It's official: phone and support scams have dramatically increased from 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016.

Impostor technical support companies fool unsuspecting people out of hundreds of dollars by telling them their computers and printers have viruses or other problems, connecting to the device and installing a virus so they later need to call back and spend even more money.

Support scams like this have affected many of our members, so one of our supervisors decided to call an illegitimate tech support company for himself.

4:42

4:42

• Speed
  1x
  • 0.5x
  • 1x
  • 1.25x
  • 1.5x
  • 1.75x
  • 2x
• Quality
  360p
  • Auto
  • 224p
  • 360p
  • 540p
  • 720p

About WistiaReport a problemCopy link and thumbnail

3:23

Thanks for reporting a problem. We'll attach technical data about this session to help us figure out the issue. Which of these best describes the problem?

Choose oneVideo plays but frequently stuttersVideo has poor qualityVideo fails to playOther

Any other details or context?

CancelSend

message

If you are targeted by a support scam, please hang up and report the call to the Federal Trade Commission. Do not ever give your personally identifiable information to any suspicious caller or email sender.

Speak with an expert Technology Advisors to scan, identify and remove malicious threats at (866) 515-4865 or by chat.