A new twist on the fake tech support scam calls which I have written about on two occasions is apparently out in the wild. This one seems to target owners of Dell computers and included very specific information to lull you into falling for the scam. I’ll let someone who got one of these calls tell you about it:
Scammers pretending to be from Dell computers phoned me in November — but these scammers knew things about me. They identified the model number for both my Dell computers, and knew every problem that I’d ever called Dell about. None of this information was ever posted online, so it’s not available anywhere except Dell’s own customer service records. (Even my e-mail account is secured with “two-step verification”…)
Now if you read the rest of this post, a Dell rep says they’ve been hacked. Though the author thinks that they’ve contractors for Dell who are running a scam. What’s more is that Dell’s own forums say that this has been going on for almost a year now. Regardless, the M-O is the same as other scams of this type. The scammers get you to give them remote access to your computer, and then they go to town on it stealing anything they can while charging you a pile of money in the process. Now the FTC has shut down an operation like this recently. But one has to wonder that’s truly the case.
This is downright scary and I am surprised that Dell isn’t warning owners of their computers about this scam. One has to wonder what other sorts of information that these scammers have access to. In the meantime, no software or hardware company will proactively phone you to repair your computer. Ever. Thus if you are a Dell owner and you get one of these calls, hang up.
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This entry was posted on January 8, 2016 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Dell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Dell Tech Support Scam Suggests That Dell Has Been Hacked
A new twist on the fake tech support scam calls which I have written about on two occasions is apparently out in the wild. This one seems to target owners of Dell computers and included very specific information to lull you into falling for the scam. I’ll let someone who got one of these calls tell you about it:
Scammers pretending to be from Dell computers phoned me in November — but these scammers knew things about me. They identified the model number for both my Dell computers, and knew every problem that I’d ever called Dell about. None of this information was ever posted online, so it’s not available anywhere except Dell’s own customer service records. (Even my e-mail account is secured with “two-step verification”…)
Now if you read the rest of this post, a Dell rep says they’ve been hacked. Though the author thinks that they’ve contractors for Dell who are running a scam. What’s more is that Dell’s own forums say that this has been going on for almost a year now. Regardless, the M-O is the same as other scams of this type. The scammers get you to give them remote access to your computer, and then they go to town on it stealing anything they can while charging you a pile of money in the process. Now the FTC has shut down an operation like this recently. But one has to wonder that’s truly the case.
This is downright scary and I am surprised that Dell isn’t warning owners of their computers about this scam. One has to wonder what other sorts of information that these scammers have access to. In the meantime, no software or hardware company will proactively phone you to repair your computer. Ever. Thus if you are a Dell owner and you get one of these calls, hang up.
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This entry was posted on January 8, 2016 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Dell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.