What to Know
- The victim's computer buzzed and froze and prompted her to call a number for tech support.
- The victim agreed to pay $300 but then changed her mind and contacted her credit card company.
- The credit card company canceled the charge after getting information about tech support scams from NBC4 Responds.
A Virginia woman paid hundreds of dollars to a company that claimed her computer was infected with a virus when in fact it was fine.
Diane Hayes’ computer made a loud buzz, then froze.
“At the bottom it said, ‘Call this number immediately, and we will help you. You have been hacked into and you need assistance right off,’” Hayes said.
She said she had no choice but to call.
“I couldn’t shut it off, and this had never happened before,” she said.
She was told she had been hacked and they could fix it. She agreed to pay $300, but as soon as she hung up, she had a bad feeling.
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“I shut it off and I started to cry because I just had a strange feeling,” Hayes said.
She contacted her credit card company, but they wouldn’t remove the charge without going through the dispute resolution process. She didn’t want to wait that long.
A call to the attorney general didn’t help.
NBC4 Responds contacted her credit card company and provided it with information from the Federal Trade Commission about computer tech scams. Shortly after, it removed the $300 charge.
“Amazing!” Hayes said. “With all these other people out here to call, no one could assist us but Channel 4.”
The computer tech company did not respond to NBC4 Responds’ request for information.
