2. Telephone Technical Support Scam

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Although this one seems to have hit the U.S. fairly recently, it may have been going on in other parts of the world for a while. The caller states he is working for Microsoft technical support or for some other well-known company’s technical support department. The caller states that the potential victim’s computer is “sending errors” out onto the internet or some other ridiculous claim. He then tries to guide the potential victim to a web site and instructs them to download a particular program. The program may be capable of a number of things, such as allowing the scam artist to control the victim’s computer, collect information from the victim’s computer or other unpleasant things. Again, these scams have many variations and the scam artists will change and adapt them with time.