Tech-support scams manufacture a computer emergency and then sell you the “fix.” An unsolicited pop-up, a cold call, or a fake search-ad helpline convinces you that something is urgently wrong — a virus, a hack, a compromised bank account — and that a helpful “technician” from a trusted brand like Microsoft, Apple, your bank, or your antivirus vendor will resolve it if you cooperate right now. The problem is fictional; the “fix” is the crime.
Three entry vectors dominate: scareware pop-ups (a full-screen “infection” warning, often with an alarm and a “do not restart” instruction, showing a number to call); cold calls and robocalls (“Windows support” reporting a problem you never noticed); and search-ad or SEO-poisoned fake helplines that intercept people looking for a real company’s number. All three funnel to the same sequence — build fear and authority, get you to install remote-access screen-sharing software, stage “proof” of infection, then demand payment in hard-to-reverse forms: gift cards, wire, crypto, or a coached bank transfer.
Its defining signature: the same party invents the problem and sells the cure, and the cure requires you to surrender control, secrecy, or untraceable payment before you can independently check whether anything was ever wrong. Real support strengthens under verification; this scam resists it.