The awful, fast-growing tech scams fleecing the elderly out of millions

The U.S. attorney general has vowed an “all-out attack” on elderly internet fraud, but experts say the crackdown is more like a game of whack-a-mole.

The phone rings, and the person on the line claims to be calling from a trustworthy tech company like Microsoft or Apple. There’s a problem with your computer, he says–perhaps it’s infected with viruses or infiltrated by hackers–but he’s happy to work with you to clean things up for a fee.

If you ever get such a call, it’s a scam, and experts say you should simply hang up. Tech companies simply won’t call you to offer services to fix your computer, nor will they pop up messages in your web browser offering help eradicating malware or a digital tune-up.

But in 2018 alone, people reported losing $55 million to tech support scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and people age 60 and older were about five times more likely to report losing money to such fraudsters. Such scams are now considered among the fastest growing internet-based frauds, according to the FBI, which reported a 161% increase in victims’ monetary losses over 2017.

And those are just the victims who reported the fraud to the FTC, the FBI, and partner organizations: It’s likely many targeted by scams didn’t report out of embarrassment, quietly reversed fraudulent charges with their credit card companies, or have yet to realize they’ve been defrauded.

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Solving the Top Issues MSP IT Support Teams Face

For an MSP, choosing the right technical partner can enhance your success and improve business continuity.

It’s easy to lose sight of how big and agonizing a decision it is for organizations when selecting a managed service provider. It’s one of the most profound choices that a modern business will make as it hands management and security of IT networks and systems to a third party. So, as an MSP yourself, how do you inspire confidence in potential clients and maintain the trust of your existing ones? In an already crowded market, the answer has to be excellent customer service backed by bulletproof IT system reliability — the very things that your own clients strive for, and the exact reason they turn to you for support. It also means selecting a technical partner that is able to enhance your offering and understands your long-term business goals. One you can depend on in the same way your clients rely on you.

But MSPs often struggle in exactly the same ways as their clients when it comes to choosing the right solutions partner, and as a result, their IT teams face the same uphill struggle when prioritizing support-related queries and coping with day-to-day systems management. This article looks at a few of the most common day-to-day challenges encountered by IT teams within MSPs and explores some potential solutions.


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How big data is improving remote IT support

Over the past decade, the amount of information companies collect has grown exponentially – whether it is customer viewing habits, purchasing patterns or business performance. Modern businesses are used to the process of aggregating data from multiple sources and turning it into actionable insights, either through in-house business intelligence applications or cloud-based tools. Today, there are very few companies that don't have some kind of business intelligence capabilities. In fact, big data has become so pervasive that most business decisions today are expected to be data driven, or at the very least data informed.

However, you only need to look at the recent Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal to realize that this desire for data, in some areas, has gone too far. It seems as though everything we do online today is tracked, stored and monitored via the devices we use and the apps we download. Many people see this as an infringement of their privacy and are pressing for more to be done to protect our data. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the tightening of US Data Regulations is just the start.

Ironically, however, one area where businesses are under-utilizing big data is remote IT support, even though there is a lot to gain from it and very little downside. I say "ironically", because data management, security and compliance have long been a mainstay of IT's remit, but it's only recently that they are starting to be able to use big data for themselves to improve services and support.

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Why Tech Support is Crucial to the Overall User Experience

Post summary:

• What is tech support?
• Tech support vs customer support
• 7 tips for better tech support
• When your customers run into a problem with your product, they contact your support team.

But, not just regular support.

For “IT” related issues, they contact tech support.

Whether the problem is a “user” error, a bug or technical issue, it doesn’t matter to them, they just want it solved so they can continue with their workload.

If they can’t log in to your product? They contact tech support.

A feature or module isn’t working as it normally does? They contact tech support.

Therefore, any questions relating to the product (how to install it, how to configure, etc.) all need to be answered by technical expertise in order for your customers to get the best value out of your product.

If you don’t have a tech support team in place to answer these questions, then customers will eventually stop using your product. And this leads to higher churn rates.

Put simply, if you run a product based business, then technical support is crucial to your overall success.

Yet, there’s a challenge with tech support.

It’s expensive!

In fact, it’s 100x more expensive than self-service channels.

Each time you fail to solve a tech support question, you’re potentially throwing money away.

Worse of all, you risk losing customers.

This becomes even more significant if you run a subscription-based business where one customer can subscribe to tens or even hundreds of user licenses. Failing to deliver a good experience here can be very costly.

That’s why it’s essential to provide high quality tech support.

To help you and your team, we’ve created the ultimate guide to tech support.

In this guide, we’ll outline what tech support is, why you should care about it, and how it works – as well as hints and tips to help your business improve on the quality of tech support you provide.

Let’s dive right in!

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10 signs you may not be cut out for a support tech job

The role of support tech is ideal for some people—but it might not be the best choice for others. This list will help you determine which camp you fall in. 

So you want to be a computer support technician. Or perhaps you are one already, but you can't decide whether you're just having a bad week or you're really not cut out for the job. What does it take to be an effective support tech? Is this a career at which you can excel and be happy? The ability to do well in any job and to enjoy it depends to a certain extent upon our personalities, skills, and attitudes. But how can you tell if being a support tech is right for you? Consider the following indications that you might be on the wrong track. If they don't apply to you, the list of resources at the end of the article can help you down this career path.

Check out this free ebook for a look at other IT job roles to help you decide if they're a good fit for you.

1: You don't respect other techs

Start by examining your attitude toward support techs. When you have to call your ISP or other service provider, do you treat the techs with respect or do you assume they're all idiots reading flip charts? If you don't respect the role of the support tech, regardless of how well a particular tech performs, you probably shouldn't be one, as you won't value yourself or what you do.

SEE: Telephone interview cheat sheet: Support technician (Tech Pro Research)

2: You view the job only as a stepping stone

How do you see the job as support tech? Is it an end in itself or merely a stepping stone to something "better"? Unfortunately, in many organizations, the support tech job is regarded as the lowest rung of the IT ladder, an entry-level position to be filled by people with little or no proven experience who will be promoted out of the spot at the earliest opportunity.

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5 SKILLS AN IT TECHNICIAN SHOULD HAVE

The role of IT technician has evolved a lot over the years, and the work involved in the position is no longer just about troubleshooting. Technicians are expected to be versatile enough that they can not only handle internal and external help tickets, but help companies develop their best practices, policies, and procedures regarding computer systems and cybersecurity. The question of  “what does an IT technician do?” has shifted to “what should an IT technician be capable of doing?”

We’re here with this blog to answer the latter. If you are thinking of tackling the demanding (and in-demand) role of IT technician, read on to find out what five skills you should be proficient in.

1. Professional Communication

Whether written or oral, IT technicians need to have great communication skills. This soft skill is one of the hardest to find in technically heavy positions in the IT industry. Like business analysts who identify and correct misalignments between IT and business units within a company, technicians are responsible for communicating their problem-solving process to both technical and non-technical departments.

Being technically skilled is obviously very important as a technician, but if your communication skills aren’t strong, you’re going to run into some trouble if you can’t explain in a report to your boss how you got the job done or why you believe company best practices need an update.

2. Wide Knowledge of Technology

Technician roles may have become more complex in recent years, but that doesn’t mean the core responsibilities of the job have changed. IT technicians are expected to have a broad base of knowledge regarding the specs of hardware and software. If you are going to install and maintain computer systems at a company and troubleshoot technical problems for customers, you’re going to need an insider’s perspective of various technology.

Companies are finding that nearly every part of their business operations are becoming driven by technology. This pervasiveness is why IT technicians are essential for making digital transformation as smooth as possible.

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