How can you avoid being a victim of a phone scam?

BRENTFORD, U.K. - April 3, 2013 - PRLog -- With so many people using the Internet it has become easy for fraudsters to conduct their scams online.

Fraudsters are clever at preying on innocent individuals by posing as technology companies. It’s not just larger corporates who are being targeted by scammers using their company name. IT Support providers like Online Support (http://www.onlinesupport.co.uk/) are the perfect fit for scammers too. By having a legitimate company name and website innocent individuals won’t always question a call from either a known brand or from a company that has a professional looking website.

A common scenario that scammer use is to call individuals to alert them that their PC has been corrupted or has a virus. The scammer will then want you to download a remote access service like ammyy.com or logmein to grant them access to your PC. They will then want you to install a certain antivirus which they will then want payment for over the phone. In most cases the antivirus they sell you and install is usually counterfeit or just a trial version.

To help consumers not to be a victim of a phone scam Online Support (http://www.onlinesupport.co.uk/) have taken simple measures. Charlie Wetherall, Sales Director, Online Support, states “by placing a banner on our home page explaining that we never take payments over the phone is one way of helping these scams from progressing to the payment stage. It’s difficult to stop scammers but by being cautious and never paying over the phone for something that you didn’t order or don’t really understand will ensure you are never a victim of a phone scam.”

To avoid becoming a victim of a phone scam we recommend you can take the following steps:

1)    Never cooperate with the caller. The best thing to do is to hang up the phone.

2)    Check all the facts. If you get a call and concerned that it may be a scammer, ask the caller where they are calling from and call the company that they are posing as. Google the company and check their website out as they may have an alert banner like Online Support have to inform individuals that  scammer are trying to pose as them.

3)    Alert the company that the scammers we posing as to make them aware that scammers are using their details.

If you have been a victim a phone scam you may want to take the following steps:

1)    Call your Credit Card Company or bank straightaway and explain what has happened. Dispute the charge as your credit company will have to investigate resulting in blacklisting the scam company and closing their account.

2)    If any Antivirus or software was purchased should be removed and legitimate security software should be used.

3)    If you provided remote access to the scammer, ensure you Back up your data and files reformat the hard drive reinstall. This will ensure you are safeguarded from future online theft.

4)    Alert the company that the scammers we posing as to make them aware that scammers are using their details.

If you would like to find out more about our IT Support and how you can best safeguard your data and files, please contact Online Support on 020 8232 1190 or visit us at www.onlinesupport.co.uk