{"id":75543,"date":"2017-08-07T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cloudblogs.microsoft.com\/microsoftsecure\/?p=75543"},"modified":"2023-05-15T23:04:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T06:04:43","slug":"links-in-phishing-like-emails-lead-to-tech-support-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/security\/blog\/2017\/08\/07\/links-in-phishing-like-emails-lead-to-tech-support-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Links in phishing-like emails lead to tech support scam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
Modern social engineering attacks use non-portable executable (PE) files like malicious scripts and macro-laced documents. Every month, Windows Defender AV detects non-PE threats on over 10 million machines.<\/em><\/p>\n

Learn how machine learning drives next-gen protection capabilities and cloud-based, real-time blocking of new and unknown threats:<\/em><\/p>\n

Machine learning vs. social engineering<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

(Note: Our Tech support scams FAQ<\/a> page has the latest info on this type of threat, including scammer tactics, fake error messages, and the latest scammer hotlines. You can also read our latest blog, Teaming up in the war on tech support scams.<\/strong><\/a>)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Tech support scams continue to evolve, with scammers exploring more ways to reach potential victims. Recently, we have observed spam campaigns distributing links that lead to tech support scam<\/a> websites.<\/p>\n

Anti-spam filters in Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP) for Office 365<\/a> and in Outlook.com blocked the said emails because they bore characteristics of phishing emails. The said spam emails use social engineering techniques\u2014spoofing brands, pretending to be legitimate communications, disguising malicious URLs\u2014employed by phishers to get recipients to click suspicious links.<\/p>\n

However, instead of pointing to phishing sites designed to steal credentials, the links lead to tech support scam websites, which use various scare tactics to trick users into calling hotlines and paying for unnecessary “technical support services” that supposedly fix contrived device, platform, or software problems.<\/p>\n

The use of email as an infection vector adds another facet to tech support scams, which are very widespread. Every month, at least three million users<\/a> of various platforms and software encounter tech support scams. However, tech support scams are not typical email threats:<\/p>\n