How to Protect Yourself from Tech Support Imposters

Many of us rely on our technology throughout our everyday lives. So, when something goes wrong, we look to tech support to save the day. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have used our reliance on tech support to make a profit in the form of tech support scams. And now it appears that a brand new scheme has emerged, which has disguised itself as a McAfee tech support pop-up and is going after victims’ financial information.

While there have been other tech support scams impersonating McAfee, this one is a bit different. Previous scams would redirect users to McAfee’s site using an affiliate link (site clicks generate commission), whereas this one starts by stating the user’s subscription is about to expire.

If the user believes the faulty expiration messages and clicks on the “Renew Now” button, they will be prompted to enter their credit card and personal information. Once the user submits this information, they will be redirected to a page asking to call a tech support number to set up the service. The so-called “agent” will refer to themselves as “Premium Technical Support” and claim to be either McAfee or a partner of McAfee. They will then request to remotely connect to the user’s device in order to install the software and will tell the user that the credit card information did not go through. At this point, the victim will be prompted to purchase the software through McAfee’s site and connect to what appears to be a McAfee affiliate link – which actually distributes adware and unwanted software.

Essentially, these victims were just tricked into giving up their credit card information to scammers and their device could potentially be infected with malware. They’re now at risk of having even more information swooped and could even be a victim of identity fraud. Fortunately, there are proactive steps these users can take to avoid these scams and keep their data safe. Start by following these tips:

• Go straight to the source. If you receive a pop-up claiming to be from a company, do not click on it. Instead, go directly to the company’s website. From here you will be able to get in contact with the company’s real tech support and check the status of your subscription. If you are a McAfee customer, you can always reach us at https://service.mcafee.com/.
• Be extremely cautious about giving out personal information. Before handing over your personal or credit card information, do your homework. Research the company and check the customer reviews. If you decide to make a purchase, make sure it is directly from the company’s website.
• Be suspicious of callers claiming to be tech support. You need to field each call from a random number with caution, especially if they reached out to you first. Never respond to unsolicited calls or pop-ups warning you of a technical issue, and never let anyone remotely take over your device.

And, as always, to stay on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, be sure to follow me and @McAfee_Home on Twitter, listen to our podcast Hackable? and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.

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