Technical Support Scam Reporting

Programs that provide a hotline, website or other mechanisms that people can use to report scams involving contacts by phone, pop-up messages or email by individuals representing themselves as tech support staff at a well known company e.g., Microsoft or Apple who want to notify the individual of a serious problem with their computer, cell phone or other device which they can fix if given access to run a diagnostic test. If a pop-up warning, there may be a number to call for help. The scammers often ask the victim to pay by wiring money, putting money on a gift card, prepaid card or cash reload card, or using a money transfer app because they know those types of payments can be hard to reverse. Legitimate tech companies won't contact individuals by phone, email or text message to tell them there's a problem with their computer and security pop-up warnings from real tech companies will never ask the individual to call a phone number. Individuals receiving a call or other contacts from scammers should hang up and report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission at "ftc.gov/complaint". The FTC will use the information to build a case against the scammers.