What is TeamViewer doing to protect people from Scammers?

DanK978 · 2021-08-16T21:59:15+00:00

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Just got a call from someone claiming to be "Amazon Tech Support". He was walking me through the process to download TeamViewer Quick Support. It seems they are using TeamViewer to gain access to peoples computers to either infect it with a virus, help themselves to that persons personal data, or do God knows what to get something out of these poor people. I get these calls 10 times a day, but this is the first time one of them pushed me to TeamViewer in order to "get my $120 back and unfreeze my Amazon account". It's sad that people fall for this, but I think it's due to some people having zero understanding of how to protect themselves from these predators.

With all the security measures in place to prevent unauthorized Commercial Use of TeamViewer, I'm just curious what is being done to stop people from using this software to take advantage of uneducated users out there?

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Justin

Hello @DanK978,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

I am sorry to hear that you have been contacted in this way.

TeamViewer strongly condemns any criminal activity, and we are appalled by the behavior of such people and their actions towards TeamViewer users.

TeamViewer is working together with many major tech companies, the international and local authorities to lessen this type of fraud.

I am happy to hear that you're aware of such scams. We are trying to spread the awareness you have, in our community as well as in TeamViewer itself.

Furthermore, we have an article regarding that kind of topic, with a lot more tips on how to proceed in such situations, as well as further helpful links.

You can read more about it, here:

https://community.teamviewer.com/English/discussion/109948/what-to-do-after-a-scammer-attack

I would invite you to report your incident to us on our “Report a scam” page and our security team will have a look.

You can find that form right here:

https://www.teamviewer.com/report-a-scam/

Best,

Justin

DanK978

Hi Justin,

Thank you for responding and providing the link to report this scammer. I gave them the full story via a pdf file because I couldn't fit it all in 1,500 characters lol.

I'm including it in this reply for the world to read. Hopefully it's entertaining, but also educates people on how to better protect themselves from scammers like this. Never, NEVER, allow anyone Remote access to your computer. I they called you about some fraud or other security issue then they should have YOUR information already. Never provide it to them. Under no circumstances should you ever provide anyone with your Password. An actual representative of the company does not need this to do their job.

I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors, and my use of American slang.

August 16, 2021 5:30 PM EST

I received a phone call from +1 202-529-1248 by someone claiming to be "Amazon Tech Support". Let’s call him “Mark”. Mark advised I was the victim of fraud and that my Amazon account was compromised. He said someone, possibly even a family member (gasp), had tried to purchase a $120 Amazon Gift Card but something had gone wrong, and my account was "frozen". Keep in mind that I knew this was a Scammer on the phone. I get 4-5 calls a day from these people, mostly from India, and always on a VOIP softphone that makes that classic bloop sound when they accept the call.

I played along to see where it was going to go. Mark asked if anyone else had access to my account, so I told him no. He then asked if I was aware of the attempted transaction "at 4 PM this 'morning'?" I answered NO. I told him that I’m on my Amazon account right now but do not see any notifications, or have any emails, advising there was any activity. Mark said that I could not see any of this information because there was a "freeze" on my account. But he could help me get this resolved... Just to see what information they are trying to grift out of people I asked him straight out “what do I need to give you to get this sorted out? I need my account unfrozen as soon as possible because there are things I need to buy, today”. Then he got excited!

Mark asked if I was on a phone or computer. I advised I was on a computer, and he seemed very happy about this and praised me for being a good consumer. He then asked if I was on a Mac or PC? I answered PC. His next question was if I have the Google Chrome Browser? I answered Yes. Mark then asked me to go to the “long search bar”, which I then asked if he meant the Address Bar? This question seemed to throw him off a bit but he recovered and pressed on… NO, he said, the Long Search Bar. I continued to play along but asked him “okay, so I’m going a website?” Yes, he said, just type this in the long search bar and hit the Enter key.

This made me a bit concerned. I didn’t want to just type in whatever he said and then be hit instantly with some auto-installer. I opened Notepad and then asked him to go ahead with the website address. He then told me to type WWW dot, but I threw him a curveball and told him that you don’t need the www dot anymore, which made him pause for a second and then press on. He spelled out some word but was so excited that he more rattled it off. I had to ask him to slow down, focus, and read the address again. This time he was able to get the letters out, so I typed them as he said them. W W W DOT T E A M V I E W E R….

That’s when I realized what these people were attempting to do. He was walking me through the process to download TeamViewer Quick Support. It seems they are using TeamViewer to gain remote access to people’s computers to either infect it with a virus/ransomware, help themselves to that person’s personal data, or do God knows what to get something out of these poor people. It only takes a few minutes to download and install TeamViewer Quick Support and then provide them with a secure ID and Password to allow unrestricted access to the computer. All Mark needs to do is drop a file on my desktop and then open it, then BAM! I have a ransomware on my computer. But, luckily, he can help me remove it if I pay him a lot of money…

Now, I get these calls 10 times a day, but this is the first time one of them pushed me to install a remote access software like TeamViewer to "get my money back and unfreeze my account". I told him that I already have TeamViewer installed on my computer. I use it for work and to monitor my kids’ computers remotely. It took him a few seconds to register that he didn’t have to walk me through installing TeamViewer. Now he was paging through his script to get to the next part where he’s going to tell me to give him my ID and Password to “allow him to help me get this issue resolved” … At this point, I wasn’t going to keep messing with him. I had wasted enough of my time on this guy and decided it was time to drop the hammer of reality on his head.

I said to him “can I ask you a question?”, which he responded “yes, of course MY FRIEND”. I asked him if people were actually gullible enough to go through all this so their computers can be infected with ransomware? Mark chuckled a little bit before he hung up on me, realizing I was baiting him the entire time. About 5 minutes later I get called back, twice, from the same phone number, but T-Mobile blocked it as a Scam call, so all I received was the notification from the Scam Blocker app, that comes installed on all T-Mobile phones, that the calls had been blocked.

My guess is his manager listened to the call and demanded he call me back to get the job done, or he was mad that I had been one step ahead of him the entire time and wanted to have a few words with me. I guess we’ll never know. The sad part about all this is that people do fall for this scam every single day. They wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t work. I just hope there is more done to track these people down and make it impossible for them to do this to other people.

TheFatController

@Justin

Why doesn't Team Viewer just think outside the box?

Just imagine, if the installation procedure had a really prominent banner advising new installers to exercise caution because scammers are utilising team viewer and all similar products, in conjunction with cold calling, to cause untold harm. New users would then be alert to the dangers.

Advise the new users to be absolutely certain they are happy with the credentials of anybody claiming to help them via Team Viewer - especially cold callers - and offer a link to examples and definitions of the known scams.

The only people who would be offended are the scammers.

No genuine support company offering services via Team Viewer would object - it's good for them.

No existing user who is being reminded of, or warned against the scammers would be offended - it's good for them.

No new user who is being alerted to the dangers would be offended - it's good for them.

Team Viewer shouldn't be offended - it's good for them.

Pre-emptive solutions are Win-Win. Would you agree?

Offering links to posts about what to do after you've already been ripped off is adding insult to injury. Would you disagree?