Amazon, Microsoft, CBI crackdown on tech support scams in India: How to safeguard yourself against such scams

Amazon, Microsoft, CBI partner to stop international scams: Exponential adoption of technology has paved way for fraudsters to scam people of their personal data and their money. At a time when such scams are on a rise in India and markets across the globe, Amazon and Microsoft have partnered with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to crack down on tech support scams in India.

CBI’s Operation Chakra-II

CBI, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) wrote that that it raided 76 locations in various states across the country, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Bihar, Delhi, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh, as a part of its Operation Chakra-II. During its investigation, the organisation seized 32 mobile phones, 48 laptops and hard disks, 33 SIM cards and pen drives, and a dump of 15 email accounts. It also freezed numorus bank accounts, all of which were a part of two International Tech Support Fraud Scams. These scams were not only targeting people in India but also in other countries, including the US, UK and Germany.

What did CBI discover?

Upon investigation, CBI discovered that fraudsters were impersonating a global IT major and a multinational corporation with an ‘online technology-driven trading platform’. The fraudsters were reportedly running several call centres across five states and Union Territories wherein they were targeting foreign nationals by masquerading as Technical Support Representatives.

“It was alleged that the fraudulent activities associated with these centres had persisted over the five years, with the perpetrators employing various international payment gateways and channels to facilitate the movement of illicitly acquired funds…These scammers had allegedly posed as customer support agents for these reputable tech firms,” CBI wrote in a release.

CBI LAUNCHES OPERATION CHAKRA-II TO COMBAT AND DISMANTLE ORGANIZED CYBER ENABLED FINANCIAL CRIMES;
DURING NATIONWIDE CRACKDOWN, SEARCHES CONDUCTED AT AROUND 76 LOCATIONS; LARGE NUMBER OF DIGITAL GADGETS INCLUDING LAPTOPs, HARD DISC ETC RECOVERED pic.twitter.com/0Jx1DdQ2o9

— Central Bureau of Investigation (India) (@CBIHeadquarters) October 19, 2023

Furthermore, CBI said these scammers contacted victims via internet pop-up messages that falsely appeared to be security alerts from these companies by claiming that the victim’s PCs were having technical issues. The fraudsters would then sell various fake subscriptions of the said MNCs to the victims. They would also provide the victims with a toll-free number, which they would call to sort the technical issue. “These companies would then take remote access of the victim’s computer and convince the victim of presence of non-existing problems and then allegedly make them pay hundreds of dollars for unnecessary services impersonating these MNCs,” CBI added.

How did Amazon and Microsoft help?

Amazon and Microsoft worked jointly to help CBI crackdown on the operations of these fraudsters. Amazon said that the fraudsters had set up call centers in India that were set up to impersonate Microsoft and Amazon customer support. “The illegal call centers impacted more than 2,000 Amazon and Microsoft customers primarily based in the US, but also in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, and the UK…This operation was supported by a joint criminal referral made by Amazon and Microsoft through joint prosecution agreements in the US and India, as the same cyber criminals were targeting both our customers,” Amazon noted in a blog post. The company also said that this is the first time that the two companies have collaborated to combat tech support fraud.

Sharing more details about the operation, Microsoft asserted that it would ‘never send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information, or to provide technical support to fix your computer’.

How to protect yourself form tech support frauds?

In a separate blog post, Microsoft also highlighted the ways using, which innocent users can protect themselves from such scams. Here are some important that you need to keep in mind:

• If a pop-up or error message appears with a phone number, don’t call the number. Error and warning messages from Microsoft never include a phone number.
• Microsoft and other companies will never ask users to pay for support in the form of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Dogecoin, or gift cards. So, tread with caution if a platform is asking for support payments other than debit or credit cards or UPI.
• Download software only from official stores and websites only.
• Do not give remote access to your PC to anyone. Tech companies usually ask the users to walk into their nearest service center if they cannot walk the users through the solution over a simple audio call.
• Do not share your financial information including your OTP with anyone.