After receiving a call today from a man concerned that is
mother had become victim of an online scam, I did a little investigative work
to check out the source of his troubles- Live-Technician.
In general, I find that if people are suspicious enough
about an email/website/phone call/travelling salesman (or an offer seems too
good to be true) to call the Centre in the first place, it most likely is a
scam.
But, just to confirm I first called the hotline (1-866-216-8304)
and very bluntly asked them if indeed they were a scam. The operator told me
that she would be able to answer my question once I gave her remote access to
my computer. Politely, I declined and asked her more about her services.
She then hung up on me.
To find out more, I looked through the website, checking out
what they offer along with any other information that would lead me to know for
sure whether or not they are a real company.
From the blog that was clearly inserted into Google
translate to the unsecured login page and the “free” yearly service that costs
$239.99, I determined that it was a scam.
This is how the scam
works:
The problem starts when a victim becomes concerned about a
technical problem with his or her computer-It could be anything from a printer
malfunction to a blocked email address or a threat of a virus. The victim then
Googles whatever their problem may be in order to find a solution. Instead,
what they find is a link for technical support that claims to fix whatever
problem you may have through remotely accessing your computer.
Remote access allows the ‘support person’ to make changes on
your computer- including accessing your files and downloading viruses. This
tool is extremely helpful if the person is professional and trustworthy, but
potentially dangerous if they have other motives.
There are several ways
scams like these make money:
1)
This “service” in particular charges over $200
to remotely access your computer one time and offers a yearly subscription for
unlimited access for products that normally cost less than $50 per year.
2)
Once your computer has been remotely accessed by
a fraudster, they can steal any information you have on your computer including:
private work related information, banking information, passwords, photos and
other information you definitely do not want accessed by a stranger.
Come to think about it… perhaps
Carly Rae fell victim to one of these scams…
3)
Once the fraudster has gathered your personal
information, they can make more money by selling it online to a third party.
Here are a couple ways
to discover whether a website you visited is fraudulent or not:
- Google the name of the company and the tech support number- If several links come up promoting the website that are from blogs, forums or any other site that is free or easily built than it could be fake. Try typing ‘scam’ after the name and see if anyone else has reported problems with the company.
- Read through the website- does it seem as though the writing was translated through an online translation tool?
- If there is a section of the website that requests that you log in, look at the address bar. The address should begin with ‘https’ beside a symbol of a padlock. These features indicate that it is a secured website and is safe to access.
- Hover over any links provided on the website. If they lead towards a social media account with no content and a few inactive followers, it could be a sign of fraud.
The risk of identity theft increases significantly when
others access the information stored on your computer. Allowing someone to have
remote access to your files is like giving your car keys to a stranger. Avoid
this at all costs and if you ever need technical support, go through an
established and reputable business.
