The Better Business Bureau says the tech support phone scam is reaching epidemic proportions.
Nebraskans receive a call from an unknown, or "402" number with a person claiming they've received an alert from your computer that there is a virus and they need to help you get rid of it. If you try to tell them not to call you they can become more aggressive, and sometimes won't hang up.
The BBB says no tech companies will contact you with problems unless you pay an IT service to do so.
"I think that what we need to understand is that these are criminals and they are not interested in your best interest and they're not going to be respectful of your wishes. Their goal is to get into your computer system, get into your pocketbook, get you to send them money, get you to believe that what they're telling you is true," said Jim Hegarty, CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Nebraska, South Dakota, Great Plains Kansas, and Southwest Iowa.
Whether it's debt consolidation, tech support, or vehicle warranty the calls seemingly never end.
The BBB indicates companies like Microsoft get 40,000 calls a month from people asking if they called them.
They recommend not answering calls you don't know because these overseas scams won't put you on a "Do Not Call" list.
"These are almost always occurring from off-shore, and they generally are occurring in jurisdictions where the US has no authority, and clearly the perpetrators have no regard for US law," Hegarty explained.
You can report the fraudulent calls to the Better Business Bureau's Scam Tracker which records complaints in real time at: https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/us
