Support people directing callers to scammers ?

[NYJimbo]

Guy comes in with a laptop, says he was trying to install his new version of McAfee and it didn't work for some reason, so he called the support phone number on the software box/packet. The tech tried to get it to work for about 15 minutes but then told the customer "A guy in Australia has your IP and is attacking your computer and that's why you cant get this to work." The tech at McAffee then gave the customer the phone number of Microsoft to call to get further support.

As you can imagine the "tech" at the other number worked with the customer so he could login to the customers PC, then proceeded to do a bunch of things he can't recall but then the "tech" showed him a huge list of "errors" and messages and told the customer he had to pay $499 to get it fixed. When the customer said he didn't have $499 the "tech" started working his way down in price until the customer almost went for it. He said something didn't feel right so he told the tech he had to go out and shut down his computer.

This is not the first time I have had a customer who seemed to have called a real tech support number but then was redirected to a second "tech support" company that ended up exactly like the scammers we see pulling unrelated error lists or logs out of your PC to get you to pay for a repair.

I'm thinking that some of these techs at legitimate phone support companies are working as middle men for scammers. You call the real support, the tech then lies to you that you got a bigger problem, he redirects you to his choice of scammers, you pay hundreds of dollars for a "repair" and then he gets a cut from the scammers.

I can't imagine that the real tech support company would be doing this intentionally nor would the software company (McAfee) would allow this sort of thing.

 

[MichaelBits]

It could be they "googled" for a mckafee support number and called a 3rd party support number.

I've had it happen here. They google for a support number for a company, and click the paid ad one at the top which actually goes to a 3rd party support.

 

[nlinecomputers]

And most places monitor their calls so I can't see that happening at least not for long.

But clients lie. They will claim they called McAfee when in reality they used their infected computer to look up who to call. The bogus search engine directs them to the fake call center. They never called McAfee but they will gladly lie and blame them for their own mistake or they honestly thought they had McAfee but only had the fake company from the git go. Either way there wasn't two calls only one.

 

[NYJimbo]

It could be they "googled" for a mckafee support number and called a 3rd party support number.

I've had it happen here. They google for a support number for a company, and click the paid ad one at the top which actually goes to a 3rd party support.

No, this was a real number he got off the software. I had this happen a while back with another mcafee customer and the showed me the little card that had a phone number. The key here was that he had to call another number after calling the real support and that's when they get you.

 

[nlinecomputers]

No, this was a real number he got off the software. I had this happen a while back with another mcafee customer and the showed me the little card that had a phone number. The key here was that he had to call another number after calling the real support and that's when they get you.

And I am not buying it. They figured out they f'ed up and then found the real number. And being too embarrassed they blame it on McAfee and claim they called the real number first. They never did. I can't prove it but human nature leads me in this direction. Saving face is one of the number one reasons people lie.

 

[NYJimbo]

And I am not buying it. They figured out they f'ed up and then found the real number. And being too embarrassed they blame it on McAfee and claim they called the real number first. They never did. I can't prove it but human nature leads me in this direction. Saving face is one of the number one reasons people lie.

Could be, but this guy was adamant about it. Just seems odd to make up such a complex story with so much detail.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Part of the deal is the guy himself isn't convinced that he wasn't really talking to McAfee. The idea that his computer would lie to him is not conceivable to most people. To them it is the phone book. It is impossible for a phone book to somehow point you to the wrong phone number. Some one would have to break in and replace your good phone book with a bad one. We understand how easy it is to do that on a PC. Most end users have no grasp of that. I am certain he thinks the number on that box is the same number he found on "not so google."

 

[nlinecomputers]

Also I am betting that part of the scam is to first claim your McAfee then claim you need to talk to Microsoft and ofter to transfer the call to them for you. It's all internal of course but it adds to the confusion which is what they are counting on. They remember talking to both McAfee and Microsoft but forget that they only placed one call. And the first one seemed helpful but not the second also adding to the confusion.