Online Technical Support and Customer Service Helpline Scams
Scammers have created fake Hotmail Customer Service, Canon Printer Customer Service, Mac Mail Customer Service, Gmail Password Recovery Technical Support, McAfee Customer Service and Yahoo Customer Service websites, Facebook pages, and other social media web pages, in an attempt to trick online users into calling bogus toll-free numbers. Once potential victims have called the bogus numbers, the scammers will attempt to trick the callers into giving them their online accounts’ credentials, personal and financial information, by pretending to be technical or customer service helpline representatives.
Scammers are using the following fake technical/customer phone numbers to trick their potential victims into calling them, thinking they are calling a real technical/customer helpdesk.
The Fake Technical/Customer Telephone Numbers
- 1-844-282-6955
- 1-800-473-0932
- 1-844-449-0455
- 1-855-233-7309
- 1-855-531-3731
We will add more numbers when we receive them, because scammers will no doubt use other numbers as soon as the numbers they are currently using have been discovered as fraudulent.
How the Scam Works?
Scammers post the fake toll-free numbers on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Google+ and Youtube, where the fake phone numbers can be easily shared with millions of online users. Once the potential victims call the fake numbers, they will be asked by a real person or an automated system for their online account credentials, personal and financial information. Once the scammers have received their victims’ information, they will use it to hijack their online accounts, steal their identities and money.
Potential victims may also be tricked into downloading and installing malicious software, which will infect their computers with a malware called a Trojan horse, or they may be tricked into downloading and installing legitimate remote desktop software, to allow remote access to their computers.
Once the potential victims’ computers are infected with a Trojan horse, the scammers will be able to remotely take control of their computers from anywhere in the world. Once the scammers have access to their potential victims’ computers, they will spy on them, steal their information, and may use the computers to commit other cyber-crimes, which will be traced back to the victims.
The scammers may also trick their victims into downloading and installing legitimate remote desktop software, and trick the potential victims into giving them access to their computers via the same remote desktop software. Once the scammers have access to their potential victims’ computers, they will also spy on them and steal their personal and financial information.
Victims of the technical/customer scam should change their online accounts’ passwords, contact their banks and report the scam to their local authorities.
Remember, be careful on social media websites, because not everything posted on them are real. Scammers are using social websites to find potential victims by creating fake pages and posting bogus information on them, in order to find potential victims and scam them.
Related articles:
- Beware of Fake Facebook Technical Support, Customer Service or Helpline Telephone Numbers
- Beware of Microsoft Technical Support Virus Scam Calls from 850-785-9004
- Microsoft Windows Technical Support Telephone Scams
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Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.