How Can I Avoid Tech Support Phone Scams?

Tech support scams are nothing new. They have been plaguing people for years and unfortunately we’ve highlighted to customers the technical support scams plaguing companies around the world, including in the IT industry. These scams are not new. Fraudsters continue to design ways — from fake websites to phishing emails— to steal personal information for criminal purposes.So how can you avoid tech support scams? With a few tips and a little common sense

One such scam affecting Dell and other well-known companies — the telephone technical support scam — is becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to distinguish from legitimate tech support calls. In this scam, individuals claiming to work for Dell make unsolicited calls to customers and insist there is a technical problem with their Dell product. They ultimately try to defraud customers by pressuring them to pay to fix the issue.

Our thanks to those who have alerted us that they have been contacted by scammers. This information has been invaluable to Dell in helping us investigate these scams. We’re also working alongside our industry peers and law enforcement to aggressively address this issue.

So, what’s the result? We know that sharing information on these scams has led to positive developments. Scammer websites have been shut down, fraudulent call centers closed, their participants prosecuted, and suspect internet addresses blocked from payment processing companies. However, these scams continue to operate. When we see one successfully shut down, another sprouts up at an alarming rate.

As we’ve said before, the best protection from these scams is to hang up immediately if you receive a suspicious call. Here are Dell’s top five tips to help you avoid being scammed:

1. Hang up! If an unsolicited caller pressures you to act quickly and give up sensitive personal and financial information to fix an issue and/or engages in threatening, aggressive behavior, that’s a sign of a scam.

2. Never hand over your financial information to unsolicited callers who try to charge you to remove computer viruses, malware, or ransomware, even if they have specific information about your computer.

3. Never pay for tech support services with any type of gift card or by wiring funds. Dell will never ask you for these forms of payment.

4. Never visit unverified websites and never download and install software that unsolicited callers try directing you to.

5. Never agree to give control of your computer to any unsolicited caller to fix an issue you did not report—despite how convincing they may sound.

For our U.S. and Canada customers: If you feel you may have been scammed, contact us immediately via our online form or call us toll-free at (866) 453-1742 Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.

For our customers outside the U.S. and Canada, please click here.

The battle to protect customers from these fraudsters is ongoing. As long as these scams continue to happen, we’ll continue to fight on your behalf.

What steps do you take to keep your smartphone data private? Drop me a line and let me know.

If you have any questions about your technology and your devices, please feel free to contact us at Integral. Our friendly tech experts at Integral are always standing by to answer your questions and help make your technology useful and fun. Reach out to us a www.integralcomputerconsutants.com or phone at 888.256.0829.

I'm the Chief Technology Expert at Integral. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn , and Twitter and watch great tech tip videos on my YouTube channel. I love technology. I've read all of the manuals and I want to make technology fun and exciting for you. I can be reached by email at burton@integralcomputerconsultants.com