This April, the company said it had received 153,000 reports worldwide regarding support scams in 2017, up 24 percent from the previous year. Microsoft estimated in 2015 that in America alone, 3.3 million people would be defrauded that year, to the tune of $1.5 billion. It's impossible to know exactly how much money tech support scams bring in. You can disable notifications at any time in your settings menu. And to think, 40 minutes earlier they were singing Sia's song 'Cheap Thrills' to each other over the phone. A few words into the next sentence, the scammer hangs up. 'I'm angry, but I'm trying really hard to just be honest and nice with you,' he says.

it breaks my heart.' By 'her,' of course, he's talking about the elderly woman the call center workers think they've been passing around. And the lengths that you went through to try to take advantage of her are. 'I'm probably your age,' he admits to the woman currently on the call, 'and I've known the whole time that this was a scam. I'm not actually a grandma,' Kitboga says as he turns off his speech manipulator and begins talking in his normal, male voice.

Nearly two hours and 20 minutes - and several transfers between call center staff - later, Kitboga drops the vulnerable-old-lady act. And may I know, is that a desktop or a laptop?' The PC has apparently been hacked, as confirmed by allowing the support team remote access, but resolving this comes at a cost. Don't worry, let me assist you with this. 'I unplugged my computer right away,' she continues, and after she explains her worries in a little more detail, a female voice on the other end of the line replies, 'That's all right. 'Well, my grandchildren were over and it's something about a pornography virus,' says the soft voice of an elderly woman over the phone.

Teamviewer scams reddit