To avoid similar tech-support scams, do not trust any phone calls, text messages or browser pop-ups that tell you that you need to upgrade your software, that your PC or Mac is infected or that your computer needs to be tuned up. Needless to say, you do not want a stranger half a world away poking around on your PC.
The other two buttons would have downloaded two other legitimate desktop-sharing applications, Supremo and Alpemix. The company may be aware its products are being used for criminal purposes, as the ShowMyPC site displays a warning: "Do not accept help from unknown callers." ShowMyPC appears to be legitimate desktop-sharing software made by a company in Campbell, California. MORE: Best Antivirus - Top Software for PC, Mac and Android We told him he was a scammer and hung up.
ShowMyPC would have granted the phony technician access to our PC, which would have let him install anything. This was the point at which the scam went from harmless to harmful.
The phony technician, whom we assume was sitting in a call center surrounded by dozens of fellow co-workers performing the same scam, asked us to click "TECHLEVEL#2." We did, and our browser downloaded a Windows executable file - an installer or application - called ShowMyPC.exe. (This website is registered to a proxy service in Scottsdale, Arizona, making it hard to find the real site owner.) This opened up the website in the default browser. The scammer's next step was to ask us to type "into the search window in the Start menu. It's not clear why the scammer had us go through these steps, except maybe so that he could later claim that the stopped services were evidence of system malfunction. Of course, we did, as most Windows systems will have some stopped services. The tech scammer then had us open the Services tab in the System Configuration interface and tell us if we saw any services in a "Stopped" state. This brought up the Windows System Configuration interface. He instructed us to go to the Start menu and type in "msconfig," then hit Enter. The aforementioned Indian chap was polite and helpful, and told us that we needed to upgrade our version of Windows. A pre-recorded female voice told us that our Microsoft services would be "terminated" and that we needed to call (844) 308-6819 straight away.īeing up for a little adventure, we did. In our own case, we got a call at home a few minutes ago.
MORE: How to Protect Yourself from Tech-Support Scams Anyone who phones your house out of the blue and pretends to represent Microsoft is a scammer, and you should hang up on them right away. Let's be clear: Microsoft will NEVER call you at home to tell you that your Windows software is out of date.