The $25 Million Tech-Support Scam

A pop-up appears on your computer screen, freezing the browser. It warns that your computer has been infected with malware and urges you to call a toll-free number for assistance. The number connects you to Client Care Experts, and the person who answers claims to be an IT specialist. But the person on the other end of the line is no expert. He is one of more than a hundred employees who are sitting in a boiler room in Florida, answering calls day and night, making false claims and manipulating callers into buying software they don’t need. This may sound like a typical IT scam. However, before it is shut down, Client Care Experts’ meticulously run scam will steal more than $25 million dollars from 40,000 victims around the world.