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<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nHow to Protect Yourself from Tech Support Scams<\/h3>\n
In an ideal world, you\u2019d be able to identify every scam for what it is and simply move on with your life. Unfortunately, because technical problems make many of us anxious, the scams can cause people to panic and lose their critical thinking skills. To stay safe, remember these rules:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Never respond to unsolicited tech support contacts:<\/b> Ignore phone calls, texts, emails, or pop-ups claiming to be from Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, or any other company.<\/li>\n
- Don\u2019t trust caller ID or search results:<\/b> Scammers can spoof numbers and manipulate search results or ads. Always confirm contact info directly from the company\u2019s official website\u2014type the URL yourself or use a bookmark.<\/li>\n
- Be wary of urgent demands:<\/b> Real tech support doesn\u2019t threaten you or create artificial urgency.<\/li>\n
- Never allow remote access unless you initiated the contact:<\/b> If you didn\u2019t reach out to a trusted provider, don\u2019t let anyone access your device.<\/li>\n
- Use only official support channels:<\/b> When you do need support, contact the company directly. For Apple, use support.apple.com<\/a> or call 1-800-275-2273 in the United States (look here for other countries\u2019 phone numbers<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
If you work with us and we need to call you (for example, because of proactive monitoring), we\u2019ll always identify ourselves clearly. If you\u2019re unsure, hang up and call us back at a number you already have\u2014we won\u2019t be offended.<\/p>\n
How to Recover from Being Scammed<\/h3>\n
What should you (or someone you\u2019re helping) do after falling for a tech support scam? First, we\u2019re here to help for real, so don\u2019t be shy or embarrassed about contacting us for assistance. There are three main areas to focus on:<\/p>\n
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- Change passwords:<\/b> Immediately change any passwords that you may have shared or entered during a remote access session. If you use the same passwords on any other websites, change those passwords too. Wherever possible, turn on two-factor authentication. A password manager like 1Password<\/a> or Apple\u2019s Passwords<\/a> makes all this easier.<\/li>\n
- Run anti-malware software:<\/b> If you already have legitimate anti-malware software, run it to make sure the scammer didn\u2019t install anything malicious on your Mac. If you don\u2019t have up-to-date anti-malware software, contact us to see what we currently recommend.<\/li>\n
- Protect your finances:<\/b> If you paid for any bogus services, call your credit card company and reverse the charges; you\u2019ll also undoubtedly get a new credit card number. Monitor financial accounts for unauthorized transactions and document any suspicious activity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Finally, if you do fall prey to a scam, watch out for subsequent \u201crefund scams.\u201d Months after the initial incident, you might get a call offering a refund or compensation, or claims that the scam company is being investigated. These are almost always also scams designed to extract more money or information. If anyone contacts you about a previous tech support interaction, verify their legitimacy independently via official channels.<\/p>\n
(Featured image by iStock.com\/Supatman)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although Apple\u2019s products and services generally live up to Steve Jobs\u2019s phrase \u201cit just works,\u201d problems do occur, opening the door to scams targeting users seeking tech support. As professional providers of technical support, we\u2019ve seen firsthand how these frauds have evolved from simple pop-ups to disturbingly convincing operations and how easy it is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,69,106,880,8,25,112,185,104],"tags":[721,3397,3398,3396,95],"class_list":["post-9238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple","category-apple-consulting-ct","category-apple-support-ct","category-ipad","category-iphone","category-mac","category-mac-support-ct","category-mactech","category-security","tag-apple-support-ct","tag-apple-technical-support-connecticut","tag-mac-help-near-me","tag-mac-support-connecticut","tag-mac-support-ct"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9238"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9248,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9238\/revisions\/9248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Run anti-malware software:<\/b> If you already have legitimate anti-malware software, run it to make sure the scammer didn\u2019t install anything malicious on your Mac. If you don\u2019t have up-to-date anti-malware software, contact us to see what we currently recommend.<\/li>\n
- Don\u2019t trust caller ID or search results:<\/b> Scammers can spoof numbers and manipulate search results or ads. Always confirm contact info directly from the company\u2019s official website\u2014type the URL yourself or use a bookmark.<\/li>\n