Tech support are considered one of the oldest scams in the book.
There are two main variations, one of which is a unsolicited call and another one is pop-ups appearing on computers which tell the victim to dial a number.
The pop up will render the victim’s computer unusable unless using alt+F4 to close the window or the task manager.
$7.1 lost to such scams since Jan 2022
According to the Police and Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), at least 154 victims has reported a total loss of over S$7.1 million to such scams.
The calls are typically routed to a call centre in India and the scammer would often use a very standard script such as:
“This is the Microsoft support centre, we have detected a virus in your computer and we will assist you to get rid of it or your files will be all gone”
OR claiming that their online banking accounts are at risk.
The scammer would often use an outrageous scared tactic to force victims to listen to their orders.
The scammer will often instruct victims to install a remote control software to control the victim’s computer and the scammer will often start initiating a “script” which appears as if the victim is intiainting a program to get rid of the trouble.
The script will appear as follows:
The scammer will reassure that the script is secure and the victims can enter their personal bank details into the script.
The scammer will then say that they cant see the victim’s credential as the script is showing symbols of asterisk, “********”.
However, the script will save a copy of whatever the victim wrote into a file. The file will then be downloaded by the scammer without the victim knowing.