Young People Are Falling For Tech Support Scams Too

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A new study by Microsoft found that it isn't just senior citizens falling for tech support scam, young people are likely to fall for them too.

As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, Microsoft has released the results of a new global survey revealing 2 out of 3 people have experienced a tech support scam in the last 12 months. Further findings from the survey include:
  • 1 in 5 consumers surveyed continued with a potentially fraudulent interaction after first being contacted, meaning they downloaded software, visited a scam website, gave the fraudsters remote access to their device or provided credit card information or other form of payment.
  • Nearly 1 in 10 have lost money to a tech support scam.
  • Of those who continued with a fraudulent interaction, 17 percent of them were older than 55, while 34 percent were between the ages of 36 and 54.
  • Surprisingly, 50 percent of those who continued were millennials between the ages of 18 and 34.
  • Consumers in India (54%), China (35%) and the United States (33%) had a greater likelihood of continuing with the fraudulent interaction.
  • In India and the United States, 1 in 5 reported losing money to these scams.
  • The most common victim experience with tech support scams is through software downloads or visits to malicious websites.
  • In the United States, 55 percent of those who continued with a scam, lost money.
  • 92 percent of those who lost money in the United States said they have recovered at least some of their money. Fifty-eight percent in China and 67 percent in India have also recovered at least some of the money.

 
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The reputation that Millennials have for being tech savvy is extremely undeserved. Millennials know how to basically utilize their touchscreen phones, and they prefer to text rather than call. They are not more technically or technologically fluent than previous generations, and in fact may be less technically inclined than Boomers. How many Millennials do you see restoring classic cars or performing home repairs?

We are so screwed.
 
The reputation that Millennials have for being tech savvy is extremely undeserved. Millennials know how to basically utilize their touchscreen phones, and they prefer to text rather than call. They are not more technically or technologically fluent than previous generations, and in fact may be less technically inclined than Boomers. How many Millennials do you see restoring classic cars or performing home repairs?

We are so screwed.

There will always be a subset of the generation who are more technically advance but yes, the masses of the generation are techy savvy in a sense that they know how to use their fancy new toys at the most basic level. Apple's design teams have ensure that.
 
I won't throw millenials under the bus en masse, but I just did an impromptu study and found that 2 out of 3 computer users are pretty dumb.
 
PLANET EARTH - the MMORPG for a lifetime

Please select your character type:


Baby Boomers:

Strong Point: Resource gathering. DIY
Weak Point: Outdated design. Low adaptence of IT

"Its mine and you cannot have it. Go get your own stuff even though i already took it all."


Generation X:
Strong point: very varied music style, Good integration with IT
Weak point: uphill battle for resources. Having a hard time grasping they are not the target audience of youth channels

"Why don't MTV play music anymore."


Millennials:
Strong point: Can use all the tech devices and social media to interconnect
Weak point: Has no fucking clue how the world works. Way to reliant on "mommy" and getting provide for.

Combo is perfect for tech scam. Highly easy reach ability and low critical thinking.
I am really not surprised.
 
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PLANET EARTH - the MMORPG for a lifetime

Please select your character type:


Baby Boomers:

Strong Point: Resource gathering. DIY
Weak Point: Outdated design. Low adaptence of IT

"Its mine and you cannot have it. Go get your own stuff even though i already took it all."


Generation X:
Strong point: very varied music style, Good integration with IT
Weak point: uphill battle for resources. Having a hard time grasping they are not the target audience of youth channels

"Why don't MTV play music anymore."


Millennials:
Strong point: Can use all the tech devices and social media to interconnect
Weak point: Has no fucking clue how the world works. Way to reliant on "mommy" and getting provide for.

Combo is perfect for tech scam. Highly easy reach ability and low critical thinking.
I am really not surprised.

you still didn't explain why MTV doesn't play music anymore
 
I agree, the average millenial doesn't know how their tech actually works. The only reason I got into tech (i am gen x) was because I was cheap. I couldn't afford new stuff growing up and to get better pc equipment I had to learn how to make the old stuff better myself.

Doesn't make the average gen x any better. But how do people fall for this crap? Of any age? Baby boomers I understand because my grandmother had memory issues near the end. But young people (and middle age people) have little to no excuse.
 
I agree, the average millenial doesn't know how their tech actually works. The only reason I got into tech (i am gen x) was because I was cheap. I couldn't afford new stuff growing up and to get better pc equipment I had to learn how to make the old stuff better myself.

Doesn't make the average gen x any better. But how do people fall for this crap? Of any age? Baby boomers I understand because my grandmother had memory issues near the end. But young people (and middle age people) have little to no excuse.

I don't think anyone baby boomers genx mills really have any excuse. its stupidity and lack of critical thinking. so unless you do have a medical issue or as in your mentioned case any other mental inefficiency ( this was supposed to be PC btw) you should know better.

But then again looking at "IT' focused shows its really hard not to understand where their misconceptions might come from.
Seen the series scorpion? hacking it just something you do. its such an mundane task that you just do it if you need to and its a 99%+ sure way to succeed.

So if that is how IT and security is portrayed then yeah i might give them a little break.... but not much :D
 
There's a few YouTubers who screw with the scammers. Kinda interesting to watch these people make up bogus claims as to what is wrong with their PCs.

And yes, young people do fall for them. My sister did a few years back.

I'd be A-Ok if Google/Firefox added a built in ad OCR that looked for common scam-ads and just blocked them from being viewed. I think right now, they just flag the site and make you "accept the risk".
 
PLANET EARTH - the MMORPG for a lifetime

Please select your character type:


Baby Boomers:

Strong Point: Resource gathering. DIY
Weak Point: Outdated design. Low adaptence of IT

"Its mine and you cannot have it. Go get your own stuff even though i already took it all."


Generation X:
Strong point: very varied music style, Good integration with IT
Weak point: uphill battle for resources. Having a hard time grasping they are not the target audience of youth channels

"Why don't MTV play music anymore."


Millennials:
Strong point: Can use all the tech devices and social media to interconnect
Weak point: Has no fucking clue how the world works. Way to reliant on "mommy" and getting provide for.

Combo is perfect for tech scam. Highly easy reach ability and low critical thinking.
I am really not surprised.

I rolled Millenial, but was lucky to find a hybrid GenX/Boomer rune to enchant myself with to put me in a class of my own.

Enchanted Millenial:
Strong Point: Tends to DIY when one has the ability, time and tools, integrates well with IT, broad music spectrum, new ideas.
Weak Point: Uses outdated thoughts and ideas mixed with new progressive ideas resulting in getting flak from either end.

"There's no such thing as compromise".
 
I won't throw millenials under the bus en masse, but I just did an impromptu study and found that 2 out of 3 computer users are pretty dumb.

I think the ratio of dumb to smart computers users is more in the range of 95/5 from my experience.. and that may be giving 1-2% more credit than they deserve.
 
The reputation that Millennials have for being tech savvy is extremely undeserved. Millennials know how to basically utilize their touchscreen phones, and they prefer to text rather than call. They are not more technically or technologically fluent than previous generations, and in fact may be less technically inclined than Boomers. How many Millennials do you see restoring classic cars or performing home repairs?

We are so screwed.
What is driving this is not 'tech savviness'. Its the reflexive imperative to virtue signal they are not racist, classist or xenophobic. The fear of the tiny risk of potentially being exposed as such a 'meanie' is more powerful than the likely risk it is a scam. It trumps all logic and makes them putty in unscrupulous hands. Usually those hands are educators and the media who are responsible for them being in that state, but some freelancers have gotten in on the act.
 
Why "too"? I find young people to be among the most oblivious tech users. Next, next, accept, install - faster than you can blink.
 
The reputation that Millennials have for being tech savvy is extremely undeserved. Millennials know how to basically utilize their touchscreen phones, and they prefer to text rather than call. They are not more technically or technologically fluent than previous generations, and in fact may be less technically inclined than Boomers. How many Millennials do you see restoring classic cars or performing home repairs?

We are so screwed.

not to mention 75% of them can't change a fucking tire. I'm 27 so I guess I fall into that but believe me I can change a fucking tire, and change my own oil.... spark plugs... brakes... etc. But that partially falls on the parents. I would not let any child I was teaching to drive to go out on their own without knowing how to change a damn tire.

They're not tech savvy. they're social media savvy. that is it.
 
not to mention 75% of them can't change a fucking tire. I'm 27 so I guess I fall into that but believe me I can change a fucking tire, and change my own oil.... spark plugs... brakes... etc. But that partially falls on the parents. I would not let any child I was teaching to drive to go out on their own without knowing how to change a damn tire.

They're not tech savvy. they're social media savvy. that is it.

So much this.

My dad was having me help work on major vehicle repairs by the time I was 12. Stuff like changing heads, completely rebuilding engines, transmissions, carburetors, drivetrain, electrical, etc. Pretty much anything and everything.

When I got my first car, I traded my old computer for it and had to rebuild the engine and do some other work before it could be put into service.

When I got my second car, a 1976 280z, it had been sitting in somebody's yard for a few years with a busted windshield and in very bad non-running condition. Took a while to get it going, but I drove it for 4-5 years before I finally parted it out and sent the remains to the scrap yard because it had a bent frame, rust, etc.. I sold enough parts off of it to just about make up what I had initially paid for it ($225).. hehe.

I still have the engine and transmission from it as well as some other parts. That sucker could roast the tires without even trying. 8k rpms in 2nd gear was fun :) Mistakenly popping the clutch in 2nd gear instead of 1st and roasting the clutch instead of the tires was NOT fun.
 
I think the ratio of dumb to smart computers users is more in the range of 95/5 from my experience.. and that may be giving 1-2% more credit than they deserve.

My sample size was only 3 people....and 1 was borderline clueless but I gave him the benefit of the doubt :)
 
Kids these days don't have to suffer the frustrations of getting a Nintendo to play a game correctly. Teaches you to work for things you want.
 
I agree, the average millenial doesn't know how their tech actually works.
They don't even know how their tech got to be about. One epic fail moment is when a retard talks about wanting to ban western science because it's oppressive then goes on to browse the net on a tablet.
 
Anecdotally, this doesn't surprise me at all. Working tech support, we have plenty of people calling in saying they called a number they found for our company on a search engine, was asked to pay a bunch of money upfront, for someone to take over their computer and install a bunch of stuff; or the people who saw a pop-up saying they needed to call tech support, then paying a bunch of money to the scammer, who also installed a bunch of malware on the computer. It is across the spectrum of age groups, the people who call in.
 
They don't even know how their tech got to be about. One epic fail moment is when a retard talks about wanting to ban western science because it's oppressive then goes on to browse the net on a tablet.
Lol what? Are you referring to something specific because that sounds exactly right.
 
I agree, the average millenial doesn't know how their tech actually works. The only reason I got into tech (i am gen x) was because I was cheap. I couldn't afford new stuff growing up and to get better pc equipment I had to learn how to make the old stuff better myself.

Doesn't make the average gen x any better. But how do people fall for this crap? Of any age? Baby boomers I understand because my grandmother had memory issues near the end. But young people (and middle age people) have little to no excuse.

It comes down to the tools that people use. Technology has become more complex, but at the same time, people have had time to create tools to simplify the process. We're humans. We specialize. Who cares about how memory works if we have computer languages that hide pointers and references, and have garbage collectors? The programmer can get more done with fewer bugs, but they understand less under the hood. And with people who use tech. Building a computer now means to be able to plug in a card into the motherboard which you can't possibly screw up, rather than needing to know how to soldier transistors and other parts to get it working. For computer programs, people don't need to worry about conventional memory nor expanded memory anymore. The tools allow things to just work. So sure, it makes sense that when a person hears about a low level problem, they have no clue what's going on, allowing them to be taken advantage of. Scammers will always exist. That doesn't mean though that I want to go back to the days of things being more difficult to use.
 
How many Millennials do you see restoring classic cars or performing home repairs?

We are so screwed.

You have to have space to do that, and most don't want or can't afford a home.

I would probably be into wood working and definitely would be into restoring old radios and electronics but you can't really do either in an apartment. Not everyone is clueless like you believe.
 
So much hate toward 'millennials'. Be honest though, how many of our parents and grandparents thought we would amount to anything?

Same thing each time around, new younger ideas don't agree with older folks and their old ideas. I am 35 and don't understand why I am supposed to dislike them.
 
You have to have space to do that, and most don't want or can't afford a home.

I would probably be into wood working and definitely would be into restoring old radios and electronics but you can't really do either in an apartment. Not everyone is clueless like you believe.

In my entire bioengineering class of about 60 people, I was the only one that knew how to use a power drill and was comfortable with a hammer. In my work department of about 20, only 2 of us can effectively troubleshoot and repair the equipment we use. Me a millenial, and a baby boomer. The rest are Gen X and millenials. They also generally lack common sense and critical thinking skills.
 
you still didn't explain why MTV doesn't play music anymore

There is a logo to explain that. See the difference? (actual logos)

mtv_logo.gif
 
I get a lot of students (18-22) bringing me laptops with failed HDDs and telling me they have no backup.

None of them understand the concept of cloud or backup. Tards!
 
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