What’s the first thing that comes up when you type “tech support” in Google search? Sponsored ads are among the first things that a person usually sees. A Wall Street Journal investigation found that tech support ad scams have been responsible for taking billions of dollars from Americans over the past few years. Fraudsters are purchasing ads and pretending they are service providers for major tech companies like Apple. When a person calls the number on the ad, the scammers pretend they have remote access to the computer and claim to have discovered the customer’s computer is infected. They then offer support services at  a very high cost even though there was nothing wrong to begin with (at least not until they contacted the fraudsters).

A recent study also found that 72% of tech support sponsored ads on major search engines resulted in scam websites. Microsoft Corp. reported a 24% increase in tech support scam complaints through 2017.