A report by online security firm Avast has revealed that tech-support fraud continues to be major security threat in India. Researchers at cybersecurity company said on Monday that they have detected and blocked more than 200,000 tech support scam attacks in India in the first quarter this year. In tech support scams, fraudsters use scare tactics to trick innocent individuals into purchasing overpriced and unnecessary “support services” to fix an alleged computer, device, or software problem.
Alexej Savcin, Senior Malware Analyst cautioned that whether it’s a phone call or a website, legitimate tech support won’t ever proactively seek out to the users out to fix an issue.
“Above all, remember that whether it’s a phone call or a website, legitimate tech support won’t ever proactively seek you out to fix an issue. If in doubt, don’t engage, give access to your devices, or share any personal information,” he was quoted as saying IANS.
The report said fraudsters go to great lengths to convince victims of their legitimacy, including creating web pages that imitate antivirus or firewall software warnings or even setting up fake companies to validate their con. Once granted access, bad actors can also install malware, or other malicious programmes that damage the data housed on devices, or even worse, harvest personal information.
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“Once on the phone, scammers try to convince the callers to establish a remote connection to their computer and sometimes download a second remote management software without the user knowing to keep up a constant connection to the user’s PC,” the researchers warned.
