Kia ora (Name),

Based on your report it looks like you may have been affected by a tech support scam. Take a look at the information below for advice on what steps you should take to stay safe.

Have you been called by someone who claimed there was an emergency situation with your computer or internet connection (including threatening disconnection)? Or were you presented with a message that appeared on your screen claiming you needed to call ‘Microsoft,’ Spark or another supposed IT company? This is a really common scam that’s been reported all over the world.

What to do if you’ve been contacted:

1. When you receive these calls, we recommend you tell the caller ‘no thank you’ and hang up the phone.
2. If you continue to receive calls from the scammers, you can contact your phone company to report these calls as nuisance calls. This is whoever you pay your phone bill to, this could be Vodafone or Spark for example.
3. If you’re unsure if the call has come from a scammer, or if it’s a genuine enquiry, hang up and call the organisation they claimed to be calling from on their publicly listed number. Something to keep in mind is that with the phone systems scammers use, they can make their number look like almost any number they want. Even if the call looks to be coming from within New Zealand, they are more likely to be calling from overseas but it's still worthwhile reporting these calls to your phone company. 
4. It's understandable for people who have been targeted by a scam like this to find the situation distressing. It's important to reach out to any friends or family members who you think could be vulnerable to this scam. The best way of protecting New Zealanders against this scam is to help educate people about what to look out for. 

What to do if a pop-up has demanded you call them:

• Close the internet browser or pop up window with the fake warning. The scammers might use tricks to make it difficult to close, if they have you’ll need to use the Task Manager on your computer to force the computer to close the bogus warning message.
  
  • With Windows computers, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager, you can highlight the Internet Browser program and then press End Task.
    
  • With Apple (macOS) computers, click on the internet browser icon (usually Safari) in the dock and hold down the left mouse button. This will bring up a Force Quit option which you can press to close the fake pop up.
    
    
• In some situations, these bogus warning messages are presented by malicious software. It’s best practice to scan your computer to make sure this isn’t the cause. Our advice is to run a full scan to see if malware has been loaded.  You can use a free online virus-scanner to look for threats on your computers. As an independent not-for-profit, Netsafe doesn’t recommend a particular product but we have listed some options here from well-known, reputable companies.
  
  For PC: ESET online scanner.  After this scan has been completed, you can run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free edition. 
  
  For Mac: Bitdefender Antivirus for MAC or ESET Cyber Security for Mac or AVG Antivirus for Mac are also good alternatives.

What to do if you’ve given remote access:

If you gave the scammers remote access to your device, or if the scammer took control of your computer and appeared to by typing things in or moving the mouse around, you’ll need to follow the four steps below to protect your information and your device.

1. Change ALL your passwords from a DIFFERENT computer. That is banking passwords, social networking sites like Facebook, email passwords, any trading accounts like TradeMe, anything else like TAB, etc.  This is just to be sure that the scammers cannot use your accounts. Learn how to choose a strong password here.
2. Run a full security scanto see if there is any malware on the computer. As an independent not-for-profit, Netsafe doesn't recommend a particular product but we have listed some options here from well-known, reputable companies.
   For PC: ESET online scanner.  After this scan has been completed, you can run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware free edition. 
   For Mac: Bitdefender Antivirus for MAC or ESET Cyber Security for Mac or AVG Antivirus for Mac are also good alternatives.

3. Notify your bank if you use online bankingas they may have been able to access bank details or credit card account. Keep an eye on your accounts and check statements for rogue purchases over the coming months. Even if you don’t use online banking, if you’ve shared any information relating to your bank account, our advice is to consider reporting the incident to your bank.
4. If you’re still concerned that something may have been loaded onto your device,then disconnect the device from the internet and do not log back on until you have had your hard drive re-formatted and your operating system re-installed.  This requires some specialist technical skill and you may need to seek the advice of a computer hardware specialist – remember to backup any essential files before doing this.
5. If you think the scammers might have collected sensitive personal information about you, or collected it from your computer, use this Identity Theft Checklist as a helpful guide on what could happen with the information you provided. If you believe you were exposed to identity theft, we recommend you contact iDCare as they provide free help and support for New Zealanders.

If you've lost money:

• This type of scam is one that has been reported all over the world for over decade. Although the vast majority of incidents related to this scam originate from outside of New Zealand, there have been instances recently where people from within New Zealand were involved. The New Zealand Police have asked that anyone who has been a victim of this scam, or knows someone who has lost money to it, to please contact their local Police Station with urgency. You can find more information about this from the Police notice here.

• If you’ve lost money to a scam and haven’t had any success recovering your money through your bank or the police, you may wish to consider contacting Cybera (www.cybera.io/netsafe). Cybera specialises in recovering money lost through fraudulent scams involving payments via domestic & international banks and crypto exchanges.Cybera’s service is free for most individuals, unless you opt in to their premium service or request a trace report on payment. Cybera will donate 5% of any revenue generated from Netsafe referrals, to Netsafe.Netsafe can’t guarantee that Cybera will accept your report, or successfully recover your funds; however, we are aware of clients who have achieved a successful outcome using Cybera’s service.

You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter at netsafe.org.nz/newsletter or follow ‘NetsafeNZ’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to keep up with the latest in online safety news, advice and tips.

Ngā mihi,

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