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A man impersonating an Epson representative took control of my computer to supposedly fix a printing issue. When I realized it was a scam I hung up on him. The icon for Terminal is still on my Dock. I am worried this may still be allowing him access to my computer. What should I do?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.7
The Terminal app icon in the Dock is not cause for concern. If Terminal is still running, as indicated by a small dot below the icon, you can simply click the icon and then click Terminal > Quit Terminal from the menu bar.
I'm wondering what was it about the telephone support that made you suspect it was a scam?
If you initiated the call to Epson using a telephone number published on their website or in their printer documentation, then it was likely legit assistance.
Of course, if the call came to you out of the blue or you called a phone number that popped up on your screen with a message suggesting your Mac had a problem, well... that would be suspect.
You might find this light reading useful moving forward.
• Effective Defenses Against Malware - Apple Community
• Avoid phishing emails, fake 'virus' alerts…and other scams - Apple Support
An icon in the Dock is just a convenience for launching an application - it means nothing.
Much more importantly, when you say someone took control of your computer...what exactly did you do and what did it allow them to do afterwards? Did you connect to a remote desktop software instance they were running? Did you give them your password(s) - one really hopes not...
Why did you give someone impersonating an Epson representative control of your computer? Did they contact you as a cold call, or were you actually having issues and contacted someone yourself?
The people here will need details to work with to advise you.
The icon for terminal has appeared on the dock of my MacBook pro
