Columns of the past two weeks have been prep work for what you read today. Knowing what search engines, Internet searches and browsers actually are and how they function is critical to staying out of trouble on the Internet. Today: how the Internet bad guys trick people into clicking the wrong thing using bogus search results, also known as “search spam.”
It works something like this. There you are, merrily computing away, when suddenly a problem arises. A program crashes, your screen locks up, or maybe something just doesn’t look right. Being the do-it-yourself type, you decide to see if you can take care of the problem on your own. Not really knowing what you are doing, though, you decide to get some helpful hints by searching the Internet about your problem. A good idea in theory, but, for you, because you don’t really understand how search engines and browsers work, that’s where it all starts to go downhill.
Based on your computers quirky behavior, you deduce that, because you use Microsoft Windows, Microsoft should be able to give you some good information in order to solve your problem. Not knowing how to contact Microsoft, you decide to do a Google search to find their phone number. Again, a good idea in theory, but, for you, your movement downhill is gaining momentum.
You type “Microsoft tech support” in the Google search box and the search is on. Almost immediately, you are presented with numerous search results. However, not having trained yourself to carefully read everything on your screen before clicking, you mindlessly click the first result in your search list, which proclaims, “24/7 Microsoft Support.” At this point, the full-on downhill slide is on. You fail to notice the yellow letters next to the search result, which should have been a red flag to slam on the brakes. The letters spelled out the word “Ad.”
Not knowing where your click is taking you, you land on a website called myPhoneSupport.com. Surely, this must be the place! Why, there’s a photo of someone who is obviously a tech support guru. He has a telephone headset, and is smiling, looking at a laptop screen, obviously eager to lend a hand. There’s a toll-free phone number and a banner proudly proclaiming the company to be a “Microsoft Partner.”
Upon calling the free, toll-free number, you give remote control of your computer to the “Microsoft expert,” followed by your credit card number, so the numerous problems that no doubt have been found can be fixed.
But, guess what? They are not “Microsoft.” They are not “Microsoft Tech Support.” Their phone number is not a Microsoft number. If you call them, you will not be talking to anyone who works for Microsoft. To add to the insult, all it takes to become a “Microsoft Partner” is to fill out a form providing a brief company profile. It’s free; anyone can do it. The downhill slide is complete. You have been had.
Do another Google search, only this time for, “myphonesupport.com scam,” and a different picture emerges. You will notice it’s not a very pretty picture, either. Countless stories are recorded in which people call, thinking they are working with “official” Microsoft tech support folks, and giving their money to Microsoft, only to find they have been saddled with credit card charges that are very difficult to challenge, and their computer problems have not been fixed.
The same holds for the other top search results yielded by Google, Yahoo and Bing. So-called “tech support” companies look like super-official Microsoft support experts, but they aren’t Microsoft, at all. Not even close. Finally, at Number 4 on the Google search result list, we find the actual Microsoft Support website, which is support.microsoft.com. Just to verify that is correct, you can go to the official Microsoft website, www.microsoft.com, and click the “Support” link, which should take you to the same address.
All of the above applies, whether you are looking for tech support from Microsoft, Apple, Norton, Linksys, McAfee, Dell, Netgear, Toshiba, Samsung, you name the company, the Internet bad guys have made sure there are dangerous search results you can discover for almost every major company that exists.
Before you turn loose of your hard-earned bucks for “tech support,” do some additional searching to make sure you are dealing with the company you actually had in mind, instead of a look-alike trickster.