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Tech support scammers are often based in foreign countries, making it harder to stop them. But thanks to a tip from Microsoft and Amazon, officials in India shut down two tech support operations in the country that were preying on consumers for over five years.
On Thursday, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation announced it had stopped the tech support scammers as part of nationwide crackdown on cybercrime that occurred in 76 locations.
“These scammers had allegedly posed as customer support agents for these reputable tech firms,” Indian authorities said. “It was also alleged that these scammers would contact the victims via internet pop-up messages that falsely appeared to be security alerts.”
Indeed, tech support scams often try to scare unsuspecting victims into thinking that something is wrong with their computer. This can include displaying a pop-up on a browser that claims the PC has been infected with a virus. The pop-up will then direct the victim to call a number, where they can talk with a technical support agent to resolve the problem. But in reality, the tech support agent is merely a scammer, usually out to trick the victim into handing over their funds.
In this case, the tech support scammers in India impersonated customer support agents at Microsoft and Amazon. They’d then try to trick victims into installing remote access software, enabling them to hijack access to the computer. The tech support scammers would then claim the computer suffered from non-existent problems, which could only be fixed by paying hundreds of dollars in unnecessary services, Indian authorities said.
“They targeted over 2,000 customers across Amazon and Microsoft primarily based in the US, but also in Canada, Germany, Australia, Spain, and the UK,” Microsoft said in its own blog post.
The case represents the first time Microsoft and Amazon have partnered together to stop a tech support scam. Inevitably other fraudsters will fill the void, but Microsoft said it’ll continue to work with Amazon and Indian law enforcement in supporting future crackdowns. “Our joint efforts signify a commitment to long-term engagement in combating these scams,” Amazon added.