In late 2015, Dell warned their customers about more aggressive unsolicited calls from scammers claiming to be tech support from Dell. They even provide a link to a recorded call that one of their employees received from these scammers. That employee received 243 follow up calls from the scammers (from 14 different phone numbers) since she hung up on them. The scammers are getting more aggressive.
Some reports suggest that the Dell support scammers are using an identical script to a Microsoft Tech Support Scam from earlier in the year. And calls have been reported from across North America.
Dell estimates that there may be as many as 1,000 similar scamming groups who offer tech support via phone. Tech support scams are also using screen popups that suggest that a computer has been infected and directing the user to a website where they are encouraged to download software to fix the problem.
What to be suspicious of:
- Unsolicited calls telling you there is a problem with your computer – especially from invalid area codes
- The scammers often have heavy foreign accents but use common North American sounding names
- Claims that your “event log” is full or malicious files
- Requests for remote access to your computer
- Directions to unfamiliar Tech Support websites where you’re prompted to download and install something that will “fix” your problem