Community News

BBB says be wary of tech service scams

There is a new trend among tech support scams reported to BBB Scam Tracker this year. Con artists are incentivising?this classic scam?by offering refunds for tech services. 

 

These con artists contact you by phone, email, or computer pop-up, they don’t intend to refund you any money. Instead, they claim you’re owed money to lure you into the scheme. In order to receive your bogus refund, you’ll be asked to either provide your banking information or to follow a few commands on your computer, which will allow the con artist to remotely access your computer and associated data. 

 

Once the supposed tech support company has access to your computer, it will appear as if the tech support agent is placing money into your online bank account. Scam reports indicate the company will appear to overpay the refund amount and then scare you into believing you are now responsible for paying back the difference. 

 

You should ignore subsequent requests to pay back the difference by purchasing gifts cards, sending a wire transfer or using Walmart2Walmart transfers, as these types of anonymous payments are favorite deceptive methods of scammers. 

 

Excerpts from?BBB Scam Tracker?reports: 

...Now they are calling again saying they are going out of business. They will refund my money but need me to go to my computer and do something in order for them to give me the refund. 

 

This business received a phone call from someone who said the business had paid for computer technical support last year and that the company was ordered to close; therefore, the business was due a refund. 

 

This company is calling my home about 10 times a day. They say they owe me money for computer repair services they couldn't provide. 

 

I got a message on my screen saying my refund of $2,100 was being processed. The caller told me the only way to get the real $210 refund was to pay them back $1,800. He threatened to come to my house and take my appliances and computers. He said I owed him $1,800 and it has to be done now because my computer was locked. So I went to the store and purchased four Google Play cards. He said he would give me $90 for the inconvenience of getting cards. Then I gave him the security numbers off the cards. 

 

If you need to seek computer repair help, check?bbb.org?for a trusted, local tech support company near you. A company that calls or emails you out of the blue offering tech assistance or a refund should not be trusted until you can verify the legitimacy of business. Click here for tips on avoiding this scam. 

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