Avoiding Customer Service Scams

If you’ve ever run into a problem with charges or purchases on any of your accounts, you’re familiar with reaching out to customer service for support in solving those issues. Customer service is a valuable resource for consumers, and it can be comforting to talk to a real person over the phone about any issues you might be facing.

However, criminals are impersonating customer support representatives from major companies to steal money and sensitive personal data from their targets.

How It Works

• You receive notice of an issue with one of your accounts or services, such as an overdue bill or suspicious charge, along with a link or a phone number to contact customer service for assistance.
• You need to connect with a customer service representative about a problem, and you search for the number using your web browser (“Company” customer service, for example).
• You have an issue with a company and turn to its social media outlets to complain.
• In each scenario, you get to talk to a helpful customer support representative who offers assistance for a fee or by requesting remote access to your device.

What You Should Know

• Criminals create phony websites and then buy ads in an effort to get their site to the top of customer support searches, impersonating major brands like Amazon, CashApp, Facebook and many others.
• Fraud perpetrators will send an urgent and worrisome notice by email, text, regular mail or by phone in an attempt to manipulate recipients into acting quickly by clicking a nefarious link or calling a scam call center.
• No legitimate representative will ask you to install an app on your device that allows remote access.
• Be wary of requests for sensitive information and payment, especially if payment is in an unusual form, like gift cards, cryptocurrency or wiring funds.

What You Should Do

• If a notice is from a company you do business with and have an online account or app access, login to see if there is a problem rather than using a link or number the notice provides.
• To find a company’s customer service number, type the company’s web address into your browser or find it on a recent paper statement.
• If you were defrauded and it involved withdrawing or wiring funds or purchasing gift cards, contact the financial institution or the gift card issuer immediately to see if they can pause all or some of the transaction.
• If you were defrauded in a customer support scam, report it to local law enforcement or the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.