Each year, millions of elderly Americans are targeted by scammers who use a variety of deceptive tactics to con them out of their savings. To help keep seniors informed, the FBI is highlighting common scams. In this third installment of our series on elder scams, we look at scammers that pose as tech support.
These scams typically start with a phone call or computer pop-up. The message frightens you by warning that your computer, smart phone, or other device has a problem and needs to be fixed. But to do that, they need remote access to your device. When this happens, the scammer gains full access to your digital device where they can extract sensitive personal information like names, addresses, and bank account information while running so-called “updates” and “scans.” To protect yourself from this scam, ignore any phone call or pop-up warning of computer problems and never give anyone remote access to your computer. Any real tech support issues should only be brought to a trusted computer technician.
More information:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/data-spotlight/2019/03/older-adults-hardest-hit-tech-support-scams
