You’re reading the news online when the screen suddenly fills with red warnings. An alarm sounds. A message says your computer is infected, your bank details are at risk, and you must call “Microsoft Support” on the number shown, right away.

It’s a scam, and a very common one. In the FBI’s latest report, people aged 60 and over lost more than $1 billion in a single year to tech and customer support scams.

Plain talk: pop-up

A pop-up is a box or window that suddenly appears on your screen. Scam pop-ups are just web pages designed to look like warnings. They can’t actually see what’s on your computer.

How to spot a tech support scam

  • A warning with a phone number. The FTC says real security warnings will never ask you to call a number.
  • An unexpected call, text or email saying your computer or account has a problem. Legitimate tech companies don’t contact you out of the blue like this.
  • Alarms, flashing screens and countdown timers designed to make you panic.
  • Requests for remote access, such as asking you to install a program so they can “fix” your computer.
  • Requests for payment by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency or a payment app, or a “refund” that’s too big so you have to “send the difference back”.

Safety tip

Never let someone who contacted you, or whom you called from a pop-up, connect to or control your computer, phone or tablet.

How to close a scary pop-up

Don’t click anything inside the warning, including “OK” or “Close”, which can be fake buttons.

On a Windows computer

  1. Press Ctrl, Alt and Delete together, then choose Task Manager.
  2. Click your web browser (for example Edge or Chrome) in the list, then click End task.
  3. Restart the computer.

On a Mac

  1. Press Command, Option and Esc together.
  2. Choose your browser (for example Safari) and click Force Quit.
  3. Restart the Mac.

On an iPhone, iPad or Android phone

Close the browser tab, or swipe up to see your open apps and swipe the browser away.

When you open the browser again, if it offers to “restore” your last pages, say no.

If you already let them in

Act straight away. It’s not too late to limit the damage.

  1. Disconnect from the internet. Turn off Wi-Fi, or unplug the internet cable.
  2. Call your bank on the number on your card if you gave card or bank details, paid anything, or logged in to online banking while they were connected.
  3. From a different device, change your passwords, starting with your email and online banking.
  4. Get the computer checked by a trusted technician or a local repair shop you already know. Ask them to remove any remote-access software the scammer installed.
  5. Report it. See where to report a scam.

Try this

Write “Real warnings never ask me to call a number” on a sticky note and put it on the edge of your screen. It’s the one sentence that beats this scam.

Watch out for the follow-up

Tech support scammers often call back weeks later, pretending to offer a refund or to be from your bank’s fraud team. It’s the same gang. This is how many people end up in the safe account scam. Hang up, and call your bank yourself.

Scam-Proof includes word-for-word scripts for fake tech support calls and a checklist for the first hour, day and week after a scam.