Tech support scams: what are other people doing?
We’ve talked a lot about tech support scams over the past few years, typically focused on what we see ourselves. But tech support scams are much bigger than that, targeting every tech company under the sun. So what are other people doing about it? Let’s take a look at some of the other players working to keep you safe.
IT Advocate
Independent researchers will occasionally conduct sting calls based on a combination of victim complaints and their own research. IT Advocate presents some of the most thorough research and professional videos in this genre, providing context to each company before they make the call.
Others who refer to themselves as “scam baiters” will present calls on Youtube, typically designed to waste the scammer’s time, or execute a practical joke. These are amusing, but also frustrating because they aren’t useful; most videos don’t disclose where they got the number, what their specific setup is, or any specific details on the company. IT Advocate, in contrast, focuses on collecting hard, actionable evidence that can be used in takedown requests to keep users safe. They publish fairly frequently and you can find their YouTube channel here.
Fatsecurity.com
The One
Microsoft is arguably one of the most abused companies in a tech support scammer’s pitch. So how are they fighting back? They have extensive coverage of tech support scams in their blog, as well as a consumer education sheet with useful info here.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that they also have a reporting tool for victims and researchers to report a scam directly to them: www.microsoft.com/en-us/reportascam. When conducting threat analysis, more data tends to make for better judgments, so these types of reporting tools tend to yield good intelligence.
In short, there’s a wide range of researchers working hard to keep you safe from tech support scams, from the biggest names in the industry, down to single individuals working as an avocation. The more of us who pitch in makes it more likely that you won’t have to deal with a scammer.
If you have any questions leave us a comment or send us an email to suncitycomputersolutions@gmail.com
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