Is Premier Tech Support a scam or legitimate?

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

Hi Paul, there are a couple of ways to report fraud to the BBB or other consumer protection agency, and yes I suggest that you do so.

Those agencies are at the bottom of this User Tip: Effective defenses against malware and other threats and are as follows:

US Federal Trade Commission: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams

Better Business Bureau: http://www.bbb.org/blog/2013/01/new-twist-on-scam-tech-support-calls-installs-vi ruses-on-victims-computers/

The only caveat is that I disagree with one of their recommended actions, which is to "download legitimate security software and scan your computer." Downloading anything, regardless of the source, in response to this type of scam is inappropriate and is likely to result in other, unrelated problems. Don't do that.

I cannot find their physical address nor their website.

The reason is that they may have none. All a criminal needs to commit this fraud is a phone and a computer, both of which might have been rented by the hour, and could be at the bottom of a river by now. You really have no way of confirming whether the company you called was even "Premier Tech Support", whether that is in fact a company or any incorporated entity existing in the United States, whether it was someone on the other side of the globe fraudulently claiming an association with them, or anyone else, legitimate or not.

The only fact possible for you to determine and assert it is an act of fraud, based on the obviously fraudulent information accompanying the phone number. That is the basis on which to dispute the credit card charge.

I reported to BBB. They also DBA "NexWay"