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India Arrests Dozens of Tech Support Scammers

Police in India have arrested around 39 people operating shady call centers that defrauded thousands of dollars by seeming to provide tech support.

The detainees reportedly posed as tech support staff at Microsoft, Google, Apple, and other major technology product suppliers.

Most of the victims were American and Canadian, reported The New York Times quoting a senior police official in the country’s capital New Delhi.

Microsoft says it received complaints from 7000 victims in 15 countries around the world.

These men first approach potential customers offering copyrighted technology products at cheap price. When these customers load the software onto their computers, they find virus warnings pop up on the screen.

“These messages are often very convincing and use scare tactics to entice consumers into contacting a fraudulent “tech support” call center,” says Microsoft in a blog post.

When the gullible customers contact these shady call centers, agents there would request remote access to their computers, saying they would fix the problem. The scammers made money by providing this unnecessary tech support services and products.

“In addition to losing money, victims leave their computer vulnerable to other attacks, such as malware, during a remote access session,” Microsoft added.

During their raid, according to the tech giant, police have seized substantial evidence including call scripts, live chats, voice call recordings, and customer records.

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Cyber crime police in Britain and the United States have also arrested several people over the past few months as part of their crackdown on tech support scammers.

Narayan Ammachchi

News Editor for Nearshore Americas, Narayan Ammachchi is a career journalist with a decade of experience in politics and international business. He works out of his base in the Indian Silicon City of Bangalore.

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