Tech Support Scam

Victim Location 43351

Type of a scam Tech Support

I got a call today from a man with an accent, Sean Levine, offering me a $399.99 refund for virus protection. He said he was working for the Better Business Bureau. I gave him remote control of my computer.

Victim Location 76230

Type of a scam Tech Support

I got a call for computer insurance, first it was a robo call then I called it back and a person answered. They told me they were going to take $380 out of my bank account.

Victim Location 43068

Type of a scam Tech Support

ScamPulse.com ordered him to shut down his business and refund the customers. He asked for my account number. He said he worked on my computer and wanted to get into my computer. He said I was owed $299.99. He was Indian.

Victim Location 43081

Type of a scam Tech Support

We keep getting calls from Indian people trying to get us on a tech support scam. They now say we are owed a refund. About 3 months ago we did buy a computer program. They don’t want to talk to my wife, they want to talk to me, and I’ve been ill. When my wife told them not to call back, they used foul language.

Victim Location 30032

Type of a scam Tech Support

Person says they are a programmer the hacked my account within the last 6 months and they had an old password in the subject line of my email. They are asking for money or they will “send pictures to my contacts” and have a bitcoin account I can send the money to.

Victim Location 65233

Total money lost $749

Type of a scam Tech Support

A woman called and said I had no security on my computer. She told me my computer was in bad shape and I needed an expert to put security on. She told me I needed an upgrade on my security and she described a firewall that I needed. I put into my computer and she walked me through steps to put this supposed security on. A man got on the phone and said he was a technician. She told me to hold up my credit card and she took a picture of it. The credit card company called and asked if I approved a charge for $749 and I approved it. The credit card company called back and did a further authorization and I declined it. The credit card company put the charge on pending. They told me I had 48 hours to dispute it. I called the police and the FTC and they told me it was from overseas.

Victim Location 94591

Type of a scam Tech Support

This is the thirird time this company has tried to scam me. I had to contact my bank and get a new account and change all of my passwords. This is my 80 year old parents computer. Please help them avoid beung scanned again.

Sandra Romo

707 343-5388

Victim Location 83605

Type of a scam Tech Support

This company calls my home on a daily basis. The operator states that they notice I am having security issues with my computer (specifically windows) I do not have windows installed on my computer. The operator requests remote access to my computer. I have been angry, I have been polite, I have kindly requested to be removed from their calling list. That is when they hang up, and call again the next day. Scam!

Victim Location 30004

Type of a scam Tech Support

They say they know your sitting in front of your computer and want to know if you own your computer and then tell you things are wrong and the can help you.

Victim Location 21201

Type of a scam Tech Support

I was reviewing a puppy website to determine if it was a trusted site. The first time I tried to access the site I was redirected to a car website. I reverted back to my google search and clicked the link for the site again to ensure I was not redirected in error/ clicked the wrong link. This time, I was directed to a pngage with a link that changed RAPIDLY until it redirected to a url harmful.stream/live…- which was a pop up message about Windows Tech support services. One of my two pc monitors changed the pop up message into a full screen view. I tried to close the pop up but noticed that the cursor disappeared when I hovered over "X" to close. The pop up message reads:

"Please call us immediately at: (877) 297-2205

Do not ignore this critical alert

If you close this page, your computer access will be disabled to prevent

further damage to our network.

Your computer has alerted us that it has been infected with Pornographic Spyware and riskware. The following information is being stolen…

>Financial Data

>Facebook Logins

>Credit Debit Details

>Email Account Logins

> Photos stored on this computer

You Must contact us immediately so that our expert engineers can walk you through the removal process over the phone to protect your identity. Please call us within the next 5 minutes to prevent your computer from being disabled or from any information loss.

Toll Free: (877) 297-2205"

The popup screen has Microsoft Windows Product Icons displayed at the bottom.

There are also links for : " Manage my account" ; "Find downloads" ; " Support for small business" ; "How to upgrade to Windows 10" ; and "Activation in Windows 10"

I tried to Google the telephone number , but the search did not yield any relevant results.

I know that these sort of Tech support pop ups are generated to trick consumers into calling a tech scammer, who will convince consumers to allow remote access to their computer, and ultimately charge the consumer fees to remove malware/ malicious software that they put on the computer system to begin with! The scammers then begin to chomp away at all the computer data/information, necessary to steal a person’s identity. Consumers BEWARE

Victim Location 30236

Type of a scam Tech Support

I had to Google Amazon’s customer service phone number because I could not find their phone number on their website to return an order I placed on 4/13/18. I called (855-991-3099) and spoke to someone with India accent who claimed to be Richard Quinn at Amazon. The fraudulent Amazon representative had to access my computer to assist me with the exchange but attempted to withdraw $250 from my debit card after obtaining my email address. I became suspicious and contacted Amazon via chat and was told that the phone number was not AMAZON and was given 866-216-1072. I called the correct phone number, confirmed that it was a fraudulent phone number for not only Amazon, but the rep stated that the same number is used for Amazon, Walmart, Khols, Pandora, Turbo Tax, Epson, Roku and many other businesses from his online search. It is important to me that no one else is taken advantage of this way and am willing to assist you in finding these crooks and disabling the phone number that is being used (8559913099) to scam innocent people. Below is the information I received from the fraudulent Amazon representative. Name:Richard Quinn, Phone#8559913099, ID#AZ1025, EXT/# 2067458604, Complaint #9958214AZ, Confirmation #8854632. Thank you and Please feel free to contact me if you need additional information.

Victim Location 59901

Total money lost $550

Type of a scam Tech Support

On March 1, 2018 I received a call from a woman who said she was calling regarding my technical support contract. She stated that she was from the "leader in technical support" which is the slogan for Guru Aid with whom I have a contract. She stated the company was ordered to close and to please call 1-888-406-9087 regarding the refund of the amount of the contract I paid. I ended up leaving a message and a man who said his name was Mike Flemming called me back from # 856-492-1494. On March 5, 2018 he said that I had to be at my computer and open my on-line checking in order for him to transfer the amount of my refund into my account. I did open my account which does not show the account number when opened. Apparently he copied and cloned my account and showed that he accidentally doubled the amount. The refund was supposed to be $560 and he showed my account with $1,120 added to it. He said that in order to give the money back to him so he would not get in trouble with his boss I should go and buy iTune gift cards in the amount of $550. I stupidly did this. When I got back home he called me actually even before I got home. I went to WalMart to purchase the cards and tried to pay for them with a check from my checking account but the check was declined. I am not sure why because I have more than enough money to cover the check amount. Anyway I paid for the gift cards with my Visa credit card. When I did talk to Mike Flemming again he had me give him the card activation numbers. I did try to contact the Apple Store and iTunes to have the cards blocked. I sent an email to them with the request to block the cards on March 6, 2018. I received a message back from the Apple Store on March 7, 2018 but apparently the cards may have already been used. I am still trying to get back with the Apple iTunes store. After I did not get back to this scammer on the 6th he called me from two different blocked numbers and I just said I was not speaking with him any longer.

Victim Location 79424

Type of a scam Tech Support

While using my computer it became in-active, provided an 866 number, had an automated recording saying that if I turned off my computer without calling this number it would destroyer my computer and send my IP address to report fraudulent activity. They said it would cost $99.99 but they ended up charging $100.00 and would only use a check. I would have lost money if I wouldn’t have closed my bank account.

Victim Location 31093

Type of a scam Tech Support

This call referenced that my HP computer has a problem. It was sending a "signal" to the scammer that I had a problem with my computer. I have no problem with my computer. This is as far as it gets for me. In previous years, they have wanted us to go to our computer to a certain website. However, I never do any such nonsense to my computer. I am sickened by these repeated calls. I end up laughing at them for being such a fool. I waste a lot of their time on the phone for nothing! They say some kind of smart aleck remark, then they hang up.

Victim Location 02021

Type of a scam Tech Support

A Microsoft virus warning popped up on our laptop that also used an automated voice saying a virus has been detected and could steal information like credit card info, usernames and passwords and that we needed to immediately call the number provided and that they would then talk us through erasing the virus. It looked VERY legit. I called the number and after several rings a middle eastern man named "Alex from Microsoft" answered. Judging by background noise it sounded like he was at home with a TV on so I immediately hung up and he then called me right back from a blocked number. I didnt answer. After that I realized it was a scam. The number provided was 1( 855) 803 8392. I’m mad at myself for not realizing something wasn’t right before I called because now he has my phone number!!!

Victim Location 85374

Type of a scam Counterfeit Product

We get frequent robocalls of a recording of a woman saying "there is a security breach on the software they recently installed on our computer," and that we should call them at the number 855-222-2316.

How do we stop these phone calls? Please respond with advise. Thank you. Kay

Victim Location 60644

Type of a scam Tech Support

I was on internet and went to a website and virus took over my computer.a window popped up saying they were from microsoft advising me to call number 888-470-0224 for assistance. I called the number and a lady that said her name was Lauren convinced me to let her get access to my computer.Her recomendation was to let her technican fix the problems for 300 dollars which would take 3 hours.I was furious and they hung up but they had already compromised my hard drive

Victim Location 31088

Total money lost $400

Type of a scam Tech Support

Contacted me advising that Norton had been hacked.

Sent me to pick up $200 apple iCard. Called them back and gave the number.

They advised that they need 2 $100 card instead of 1 $200 card and gave them all the numbers

Victim Location 31016

Type of a scam Tech Support

Someone called my house from a Buffalo, NY number this evening claiming that they had a report from Windows about my computer and some type of hacking. I told them I had not been at home and I have McAfee Security and firewall on my computer and there was no sign of hacking. He had a strong accent, and he had a hard time understanding what I was telling him when I began to question how my computer could possibly have that on it when there was no message on my computer from my security. I also had a hard time understanding everything he was trying to say, but he wanted me to turn on my computer, and he was trying to get me to do something, but I decided to hang up the phone, and he didn’t call back. I didn’t give him the chance to do anything to my computer.