Internet users at the time we enter the network of networks offer us a wide variety of opportunities. Web browsing, online gaming, the cloud and downloading files are some of the positive things we can do. However, that does not mean that we take precautions. In that minimum aspect we need to have a good antivirus and the updated operating system. If we are not prepared we can be victims of malicious actors. Cybercriminals are increasingly using more sophisticated phishing attacks, ransomware and other types of malware to try to make a profit. Sometimes they even ask victims to give them remote access to solve a problem. In this article we are going to see how to prevent customer support fraud using VPN.
Computer crimes caused losses of more than 1% of world GDP over 800,000 million euros. At the time this is being talked about, most people think that it is due to data theft and ransomware attacks on large companies. This is not entirely true, because it also affects many small businesses. That without forgetting the attacks on home users where one that stands out is the technical support scam.
What is tech support fraud
The tech support fraud we can define it as a message that users receive through a pop-up window or an unsolicited phone call, in them they warn us that there is something wrong with our computer and that it must be corrected. What cybercriminals are looking for is remote access to the user’s PC. Then, once they get it, they collect personal and financial data to then commit crimes such as bank fraud and identity theft.
One of the most common are those that pretend to be Microsoft technical support, which in this case they were trying to do with the data of a well-known Spanish bank less than a year ago. In this aspect, Microsoft is one of the most supplanted companies when it comes to fraud of this type.
Use these tools to protect yourself
The first tool we can use to prevent tech support fraud is a ad blocker. In many cases this is effective because they block many of the scam tech support pop-ups that Internet users encounter when visiting disreputable websites.
On the other hand, we must also have good antivirus and antimalware software. In that aspect, at least we must have Windows Defender activated and well configured. To this we have to add that we must have our operating system updated with the latest patches. Also, with a well-known antivirus and other programs that tell us that everything is in order, it will be much more difficult to fall for this type of scam.
Also a VPN, although it will not prevent you from giving a cybercriminal remote access to your PC, it will make it more difficult for them because they do not work well with common remote access software. In addition, you also buy some time and give you the option to maneuver. On the other hand, many VPN service providers offer malicious website filtering and are capable of acting like the ad blockers mentioned above.
One very important thing to know about tech support fraud is that no big company like Microsoft, Apple, or Google is going to call us or create a popup for us to contact them. Other companies that won’t either are reputable antivirus developers. Finally, we must be very vigilant against this type of scam and keep our computers updated and with the corresponding security software.
