Q: Is Premier Tech Support a scam or legitimate?

Read Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages.

You may be the victim of a crime, perhaps a felony offense, but for all you or anyone knows the criminals may be well beyond the reach of your jurisdiction's law enforcement resources.

Your actions at this point can range from doing nothing at all, to erasing the Mac and reconfiguring it. Separately, it would be prudent to assume the intruder has gained sufficient information from it to effectively commit identity theft. Computer tampering and identity theft are legal matters that go well beyond the scope of this support site, and for which you should seek appropriate legal counsel. Therefore I can only offer technical guidance regarding your Mac itself, which may be considered evidence in a criminal proceeding that only you can decide to take upon receiving that counsel.

At a minimum it should be immediately disconnected from the Internet (unplug its Ethernet cable and turn Wi-Fi "off") after which you can decide whether to preserve it in its present condition as evidence, or its contents completely erased, permanently removing that evidence. Decide how you want to proceed and write back.

Dear Mr Galt,

I had exactly the same issue 2 days ago as "the winnman" mentioned above. That is, a message appeared on my Mac's desktop saying that my computer was seriously infected with  viruses and malwares and not safe to use it. I then arrived at a pop-up from Premier Tech Support claiming that they could remove any viruses and malwares from my computer. I bought this Mac from the Apple Store in Christiana Mall in Delaware last December, that is, less than a year ago  and I thought that Premier Tech Support is affiliated with Apple Store. They told me that my network was not protected that is one of the reason my mac got malwares and viruses by the hacker. They said they would remove all viruses and malwares and the warning message would not appear on my mac again but I had to pay $199. I said I could not afford the fee since I am senior citizen so they agreed to charge me $120. I accepted the offer and let them remove the viruses. They installed Google Chrome and told me to start using it and never ever use Safari again. My question is whether Premier Tech Support is a scam or legitimate. I use my mac for checking emails, doing banking transaction, etc. If this happens again in the future is there a way to reset my Mac to original factory setting?

I would appreciate for your time and advice to my concerns.

Thank you, Mr. Galt

You have been scammed. erase your hard  drive and reinstall the operating system. Restore a backup of your data from a date before you gave access to this remote person/company. If you do online banking notify your bank and credit card companies of the intrusion onto your computer.

There is no way for a remote company/person to know if your computer has a virus. It is a phishing scam designed to take advantage of you and charging you for questionable installation of software and removal of non-existent viruses.

If you are uncomfortable reinstalling the operating system take your computer to an Apple store for assistance.

Bob John Galt explains it well. BobTheFisherman also gives great counsel. (sorry John, cart before the horse)

Our friend thomas_r's website has relevant articles on RansomWare > http://www.thesafemac.com/?s=ransomware

John Galt has this User Tip >  Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages - which Comprehensive in nature.

Footnoting that User Tip, he has these:

References and other resources:

FBI statement: http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/august/new-internet-scam

Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/mmpc/shared/ransomware.aspx

Moneypak: https://www.moneypak.com/ProtectYourMoney.aspx#

Related articles: How to install adware <(tongue is firmly in cheek in this title - insert NOT for accuracy)

My question is whether Premier Tech Support is a scam or legitimate.

"Premier Tech Support" may or may not be be a legitimate company, but the situation you describe is a complete scam if for no other reason than the claims made by the popup "warnings" are literally impossible. The claims they made when you spoke to them are also 100% completely absurd.

It's not even possible to know if the number you called is that of any legitimate organization doing business by any name, or whether you called some schmuck on the other side of the planet armed with nothing but a $10 throwaway phone and computer, maybe one rented by the hour in an Internet cafe. So, the above reply is equally applicable to your circumstance.

It's very disheartening to hear stories such as yours. Although it is very likely that the criminals are simply looking to make a quick buck, it would be irresponsible of me or anyone else to say there is nothing else to worry about. Having allowed unauthorized access to your Mac, there is no way I would be satisfied with anything less than erasing it completely.

You are also very likely to get your $120 charge reversed by calling your credit card issuer. This is an obvious case of fraud.

Many thanks for your comments and share with my concern, Mr. Galt. Per your advice, I called my credit card issuer to get my $120 charge back. I am really sorry that I did not purchase Applecare after I bought my macbook. I just called  Applecare and bought it and it's good for 3 years from my purchase date of my Macbook so that Applecare will resolve all issues in the future if there is any.

Once again, I really appreciated your comments.

Sincerely yours,

Thank you for your valuable advice, Bob. I just called Applecare to get the service that is good for 3 years from the purchase date of my Macbook and will never bother to any warning on my macbook from any sources in the future.

Yours sincerely

datwhic

The $120 may be the least of your worriesw if you do not pay heed to this part of John's post

... it would be irresponsible of me or anyone else to say there is nothing else to worry about. Having allowed unauthorized access to your Mac, there is no way I would be satisfied with anything less than erasing it completely.

erase your computer is IMPERATIVE - the nefarious folk may have left hidden access to your Mac - erasing is the only way to be sure.

Great! I think that's a terrific decision. Thanks for the update.

Please ignore the wording on the last line "datwhic" in my last email.

[by a nose, it seems - like your new avatar! - new to me anyway]

Thanks for your advice Chitlins.  I will call Applecare to help me. I will not use my MAc until it erases everrything

To be clear... until you take it to the Geniuses > Make a reservation - Genius Bar - unplug it from any wired connection to the Internet, Power it down and unplug the AC power - overkill cannot hurt.

best luck

ÇÇÇ

Dear Mr. John Galt,

Here is Paul (pphan43) again. I just read your article entitled " Phony tech support/ ransomware popups and webpages" and found out that it exactly happened to my MacBook last month as I wrote to you earlier. That is an unexpected popup appears alleging the detection of virus and part of the statement says : "...Your Mac has detected a serious attack on this system, as your IP address seems to accessed from two different locations at one time. A suspicious connection was trying to access your logins, Banking details & Tracking Your Internet activity.  Please contact the Mac Support team immediately at...."

Upon reading this I called to the number which shows the company name's as Premier Tech Support (PTS) which led me to believe that this company is affiliated with Apple Support known as "Apple Care". That is why I made a big mistake when I agreed to pay them $120 and gave them remote access to my MacBook to fix the problem. Per your advice, I already called the credit card issuer to reverse the charge and I took my MacBook to the Apple Store in my area in Pentagon City and have a technician to erase my hard drive and reinstall the OS.

Now that the PTS tried to charge me again $120.00 after I successfully asked the bank issuer to remove the charge last month. I would be happy to pay them the service if they actually fixed the issue but in this case it's merely a phishing scam from a "phony techsupport". Had I read your above article I would have known that it was a "phony tech support" and I would not bother to call them and could fix the issue by following your instruction indicated in your article.

I would appreciate for any advice given to me. I cannot find their physical address nor  their website. I only know their phone number is 1-800-925-4490. Should I file a complaint to Better Business Bureau so that other consumers will be aware of this scam?

Many thanks and have a blessed Thanksgiving day!

Paul Phan