According to APAC CIO Outlook scam has been on the rise during the pandemic and many people have been affected with different types of scams. APAC CIO Outlook in a recent article shares news about the technical support scams that are being carried out across the APAC regions and ways to avoid them.

What is Technical Support Scam?

A technical support scam refers to any class of telephone fraud activities during which a scammer claims to supply a legitimate technical support service, often via calls to unsuspecting users. Such calls are mostly targeted at Microsoft Windows users, with the caller often claiming to represent a Microsoft technical support department.

The scammer will typically plan to get the victim to permit remote access to their computer. After remote access is gained, the scammer relies on confidence tricks, typically involving utilities built into Windows and other software, so as to realize the victim’s trust to buy the supposed “support” services.

The scammer will often then steal the victim’s Mastercard account information or persuade the victim to log in to their online banking account to receive a promised refund, only to steal extra money, claiming that a secure server is connected which the scammer cannot see the small print.

How To Spot Scams?

Tech support scammers use many different tactics to trick people. Spotting these tactics will help you avoid falling for the scam.

1. Phone Calls — Tech support scammers may call and pretend to be computer technicians from a well-known company. They say they’ve found a virus or some problem with your computer. They often ask you to offer them remote access to your computer then pretend to run a diagnostic test on the system. Then they act like fixing it for payment to repair or install a certain tool in your computer.
2. Pop-up Warnings — Tech support scammers may try to lure you with a pop-up window that appears on your computer screen. It might look like an error message from your operating system or antivirus software, and it might use logos from trusted companies or websites. The message in the window warns of a security issue on your computer and tells you to call a phone number to get help.
3. Online advertisement — Tech support scammers try to get their websites to show up in online search results for tech support. Or they might run their own ads online. The scammers are hoping you’ll call the phone number to get help.

How to Avoid Tech Scams

If you think there may be a problem with your computer, update your computer’s security software and run a scan.

If you need help fixing a problem, go to someone you know and trust. Many software companies offer support online or by phone. Stores that sell computer equipment also offer technical support in person.

How To Protect Yourself From Email Scam

Apac CIO OUtlook has been sharing articles to protect from spam and phishing activities and also how to protect yourself from these activities.

Spam is that the electronic equivalent of the ‘junk mail’ that arrives on your doormat or in your mailbox. However, spam is quite just annoying. It is often dangerous — especially if it’s a part of a phishing scam.

Phishing may be a sort of online fraud during which fraudsters trick users into submitting personal information to illegitimate websites.

How to protect yourself against spam email and phishing

1. Set up multiple email addresses
It’s an honest idea to possess multiple email addresses:

2. Private email address
This should only be used for private correspondence. Because spammers build lists of possible email addresses — by using combinations of obvious names, words, and numbers — you ought to attempt to make this address difficult for a spammer to guess.
Your private address shouldn’t simply be your first and surname — and you have to protect the address by doing the following:

1. Never publish your private email address on publicly accessible online resources.
2. If your private address is discovered by spammers — you have to change it. Although this might be inconvenient, changing your email address will assist you to avoid spam.

3. Public email address
Use this address once you got to register on public forums and in chat rooms, or to subscribe to mailing lists and other Internet services. the subsequent tips also will assist you to scale back the quantity of spam you receive via your public email address:

1. Treat your public address as a short-lived address. the probabilities are high that spammers will rapidly line up of your public address — especially if it’s frequently getting used on the web.
2. Don’t be afraid to vary your public email address often.
3. Consider using a variety of public addresses. That way you’ll have a far better chance of tracing which services could also be selling your address to spammers.

Best Ways to Avoid Phishing Scams

Whether it’s getting access to passwords, credit cards, or other sensitive information, hackers are using email, social media, phone calls, and any form of communication they can perform to steal valuable data. Businesses, of course, are a particularly worthwhile target.

There are various phishing techniques that attacker uses:

• Embedding a link in an email that redirects your employee to an unsecured website that requests sensitive information.
• Installing a virus through a malicious email attachment or ad which will allow the intruder to exploit loopholes and obtain sensitive information.
• Spoofing the sender address in an email to appear as a reputable source and request sensitive information. Email spoofing is the forgery of an email header/address/content so that the message appears to have originated from someone or somewhere other than the actual source.
• Attempting to obtain company information over the phone by impersonating a known company vendor or IT department.