Remember that age old scam where you inadvertently click something on a webpage and everything freezes… Then a phone number appears offering help and when you call, an Eastern accented voice convinces you to let them remote control your computer… and then he or she convinces you that you’ve got viruses and they can get rid of them for a low price of only $600…? I’m sure you’ve seen, or at least heard of this one. People still fall for it, but now that the public is getting more informed on this scam, it’s evolving. The next iteration involved these scammers cold calling you on the phone to let you know that you’ve got viruses on your computer. It seems crazy, but people fall for this one, too. By the way, if you get a call like this you should just hang up… there’s no way they can know if you have viruses on your computer.
Here’s the latest iteration of this same scam: You decide you need to call a company for some help and you’d like to ask some questions; maybe about your tax return, maybe about your Garmin device, maybe about your phone or internet plan, etc. So you open your computer and go to Google, and do a search for something like ‘Spectrum customer service number.’ Conveniently, a phone number appears, and you give a call. A pleasant voice answers the phone and seems happy to help. All of a sudden they change the subject from your questions to a more dire need…, all the viruses on your computer. Wait… what!? How did that happen!?
Somehow… these scammers have figured out a way to manipulate Google’s search results so that their fraudulent phone numbers appear at the top of the search results. Once you call that number, the same old scam begins again.
How do I avoid this?
The bottom line here is that you just cannot Google search customer service phone numbers. Ever. If you need a customer service phone number, what you can do is:
1 – Find a paper bill in your stack of mail that has a customer service phone number printed on it. If calling about a product you ordered, look for a phone number in the literature it came with, or look for a phone number printed on the box. Use those numbers to place your call.
2 – Visit the website of the company you’re trying to reach. This means typing the website address directly into the address bar of your browser… most of the time you can guess the site will be something like: companyname.com.
3 – Google search the company’s name to see if you can link directly to the company website. It’s still possible to reach a fraudulent site this way, but it’s less likely than Google searching a customer service number. Fraudulent sites often have pages that are missing or incomplete. Even though you might see links like; Products, About Us, Contact, etc., those links may not go anywhere because they are just pretense. Clicking around a bit and seeing multiple pages load correctly will make sure the site is fully fleshed out, a sign that a real company is likely behind the site.
Note how the latter two options both involve landing at the company’s website. Once you’re there, look for a link that says ‘Contact Us,’ or something similar in order to find a customer service number that originates from the company website, and not a Google search.
Once you’ve found a legitimate website, be sure to bookmark it so you don’t have to go through all that again. Next time you need to find the company website, you’ll have a bookmark that is known and trusted that you can use instead of Google searching. In similar fashion, once you’ve been on the phone with a company and you sense the number you called is the real deal, save it in your phone’s Contacts. That way you won’t have to scramble through paperwork to find a legitimate number next time. You might not think there will be a next time, but…, there probably will be a next time. So set yourself up for success!
What if I still somehow end up on the phone with a scammer?
Just hang up. Don’t give ’em a piece of your mind, and don’t give ’em your credit card number. Just hang up! Unfortunately, now that they have your number, they’ll be calling you over and over in the hopes that they can salvage the scam. They might even offer you a refund to keep you on the phone. Either don’t answer, or block their number, and sooner or later, they’ll leave you alone. If you did give out your credit card number, be sure to call your bank or credit card company and contest the charges.
It’s a jungle out there… be careful!