We take about 800 support calls a month. Around 40 of them are from someone who has just been scammed, or is on the phone right now with a scammer and called us to double-check. We wish that second group was much bigger — the check almost always comes too late.
So here's the shortest, most useful thing we can write: five sentences a real tech company will never say to you. If you hear any of them, hang up the phone or close the browser tab. You will not offend anyone worth caring about.
1. "Your computer has a virus and I'm calling to help."
Microsoft, Apple, HP, Dell, and Google do not monitor your personal computer for viruses. They do not have the phone lines, the staff, or the legal permission to call you unsolicited. If your screen or a caller claims Microsoft has "detected" a virus on your machine and is proactively reaching out — it is 100% a scam. There is no exception.
The only companies that legitimately call you about your computer are ones you hired, and only about tickets you opened. Even then, they'll reference the ticket number you already have.
2. "Please buy a gift card so we can process the refund."
No tax agency, no bank, no software company, no utility, no antivirus company, no shipping carrier, no legitimate anyone will ever ask you to pay in gift cards. Apple, Google Play, Amazon, Walmart, Target — all of them. The reason scammers use gift cards is that once you read the numbers over the phone, the money is gone forever. It's the same as handing cash to a stranger in a park.
3. "Don't tell your bank what we're doing."
Every version of this — "your bank has been compromised, don't trust the teller," "this is a confidential government operation," "we need you to move the money to a safe account and not mention it" — is a scam. Full stop. No real institution ever asks you to keep something secret from your bank. Real banks want you to talk to them. Real government agencies send letters.
If you're in a session with anyone and they say some version of this sentence: hang up, drive to your bank branch, and tell a real teller what just happened. Do it in person, not on the phone.
4. "I need to remote into your computer to fix this."
This one is trickier because we do remote in — that's our whole job. The difference is: you called us. You went to our website, booked a session, and expected us. We announce who we are and give you a code. You choose whether to type the code in.
Nobody legitimate ever calls you first and asks to remote in. Not Microsoft. Not your bank's fraud line. Not "Windows Support." If it feels backwards — like they contacted you and now they're guiding you to type things into your computer — it's a scam every time.
5. "You need to act right now or it'll be too late."
Urgency is the single most reliable red flag. Every real problem with your computer can wait 10 minutes while you call someone you trust. A locked account can be re-opened. A "virus" isn't going anywhere in the next 20 minutes. The IRS is not sending police to your door tonight — they literally can't.
Scammers manufacture urgency because it is the only way to stop you from checking. Every time you have felt panicked on the phone with someone insisting you must not hang up: that feeling itself is the scam. Real professionals let you hang up, think about it, and call back.
What to do if you already said yes to one of these
You are not stupid. These scripts are refined by full-time criminals against millions of people a year, and they work on smart people constantly. What matters now is speed.
- Right now: If they still have remote access, unplug your computer's ethernet cable or turn off Wi-Fi. Physically shut the laptop.
- Within the hour: Call your bank. Freeze cards. Reverse any wire transfers if it hasn't been more than a few hours.
- Within the day: Change your email password from a different device. Then change your bank passwords.
- This week: File a report at reportfraud.ftc.gov and, if any money moved, at ic3.gov.
One last thing. Print this article. Put it on the fridge. Give it to your parents. Read it aloud once at Thanksgiving. It won't stop everything, but it will stop enough — and when someone in your family gets that phone call in six months, they'll remember one of the five sentences and hang up.