India has begun a massive crackdown, with help from Canadian and American law enforcement agencies, to shut down a network of global cyber con-artists operating in its capital city enclaves,

Over the past two weeks’ Indian authorities have shut down 16 call centers and arrested 32 people behind cyber-fraud schemes suspected to be involved pop-up virus alert scams and tax collection cons.

Most of the operations were out of the New Delhi satellite cities of Noida and Gurgaon.

In addition to the recent raids, Indian police have also dismantled 24 fake call centres in Noida and arrested 100 people and unearthed another 25 others in Gurgaon.

The fear is that there are many more, Indian media reported.

According to a report by The New York Times, one out of five people who receive alert messages warning of possible virus infection on their devices tend to contact fake tech-support centers and six percent of them pay for fake services.

Ajay Pal Sharma, the senior superintendent of police in Noida, said, “The modus operandi was to send a pop-up on people’s systems using a fake Microsoft logo.”

The bogus tech support people would call their targets and pretend to be a Microsoft employee, telling them of a virus or that his or her system could have been hacked. Eventually, they ask for money ranging from $99 to $1000 to fix the problem that doesn’t exist in reality.

The scam runs on a massive level as indicated by the fact that Microsoft receives around 11,000 or more scam complaints every month.

Microsoft has been working with other tech companies such as Apple and Google along with law enforcement agencies to solve the menace that is spreading all over the world.

The Canada Revenue Agency says so many Canadians get calls from scammers pretending to be tax enforcers that real tax agents are having trouble reaching people.

The CRA and the RCMP say that they are trying to crack down on call centres with fraudsters who phone Canadians, say they owe back taxes and threaten them if they don’t pay the money back. Some people are so used to receiving the fraudulent calls that they assume any communication from the tax-collection agency is bogus.

With help from police in India, the Mounties say they have dismantled three major operations there and arrested a dozen people here in Canada who are involved in the scheme. The RCMP has counted 4,000 victims who have lost a total of $15 million. Virtually none of the money has been recovered.

The RCMP say newcomers to Canada, especially people who don’t speak English or French, can be especially vulnerable.

A new Microsoft survey of 16 countries released, focused on tech support scams and their impact on consumers, shows fewer people are now susceptible to these scams. And the percentage of respondents who’ve been exposed to them is decreasing. Overall, people are losing less money.

If faced with unsolicited contact from a reputable tech company, 38 percent of consumers would try to block that company from making contact in the future and 33 percent would look up the issue online. Forty-six percent of consumers rely on search engines to research tech support scams and 31 percent use company websites.

But that doesn’t mean the danger is any less.

People are still losing money – and time. Three out of five consumers have been exposed to a tech support scam in the previous 12 months. And one out of five consumers were tricked into continued engagement with scammers, often leading to victims losing hundreds of dollars to these fraudsters.

And that, in turn, causes a lot of stress.

Scammers have adapted to changing technology by using more sophisticated tactics to target users online via phishing emails, phony websites and pop-up windows to gain access to computers. In addition to stealing personal and financial information, scammers install malicious software and con people out of hundreds of dollars for fake tech support to fix non-existent computer problems.

“It’s a huge problem,” says Doug Shadel, state director of AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) Washington, who says the organization’s fraud center receives thousands of calls every month from people targeted by scammers. 

“When somebody calls them up to tell them that there’s something wrong, they get anxious and may just follow instructions. A variety of things that can happen. A robo-dialer might call, threaten to cut their service off or warn them that someone is trying to hack them. Out of fear, they call back or dial one, and the next step is that the scammer takes over their computer. The more benign scenario is the scammer tells them they’ll take care of the virus for $300, and maybe that leads to recurring fees. Or, they can download malware that infects computers, going into personal address books, stealing logins and passwords.”

Tips to avoid tech-scammers

If you receive a notification or call from someone claiming to be from a reputable software company, here are a few key tips to keep in mind:

Be wary of any unsolicited pop-up message on your device; don’t click on it and don’t call the number.

Microsoft will never proactively reach out to you to provide unsolicited PC or technical support. Any communication we have with you must be initiated by you.

Never give control of your computer to a third-party unless you can confirm that it is a legitimate representative of a computer support team of whom you are already a customer.

If you’re ever unsure about whether Microsoft is trying to contact you, hang up and contact Microsoft directly at support.microsoft.com.

If you think you may have been the victim of a Tech Support Scam, report your experience to Microsoft as well as file a report with law enforcement authorities, including your local consumer protection authority.

Tips to avoid tax scammers

These scams may insist that this personal information is needed so that the taxpayer can receive a refund or a benefit payment. Cases of fraudulent communication could also involve threatening or coercive language to scare individuals into paying a fictitious debt to the CRA. Other communications urge taxpayers to visit a fake CRA website where the taxpayer is then asked to verify their identity by entering personal information. These are scams and taxpayers should never respond to these fraudulent communications or click on any of the links provided.