Scams That Target Traders, and How to Shut Them Down

Traders make good targets, and it is worth understanding why. You keep real money in accounts that can be moved quickly. You spend the whole day at a computer, so a warning on screen reaches you instantly. And when something appears to threaten your setup during market hours, you are under time pressure to make it go away — which is exactly the state of mind every one of these scams is built to produce.

Our tech support team has helped customers through all of the scams below. This is what each one looks like from your side of the screen, and what to do about it.

The fake tech support call

Fake support scams are ordinary now. In the United States, 77% of the FTC's 1.3 million fraud reports began with an unsolicited phone call. Microsoft has said it receives around 10,000 calls a month from people reporting fake support scams in its name.

The pitch usually opens in one of two ways:

“Hi, this is Technical Support. We've checked our information and found that your Windows license key is expiring. You'll need to renew it or your Microsoft products will expire.”

“We've found a virus on your computer. There are infections getting in from some of the websites you've visited. We can fix that for you.”

Both are false on their face. Windows licenses do not expire, and Microsoft does not monitor your machine for viruses and then telephone you about it.

Seven signs you are being scammed

• They called you, or a frightening pop-up told you to call them.
• The caller is from a generic “Tech Support” department and never names a company.
• They urgently claim your computer is sending out errors.
• They offer to “show you the problem” by walking you through the Windows Event Viewer. It is a normal log full of routine warnings, and it is theater.
• They send you to a no-name website to fix it.
• They ask to log on to your computer remotely.
• They ask for money, personal information, or both.

The callers use trustworthy-sounding first names and speak with confidence, and they will use enough technical vocabulary to make you feel out of your depth. That is the tactic. Feeling out of your depth is what makes people hand over control.

The scary pop-up

The pop-up version skips the phone call and waits for you to make it. A message fills the screen warning that your accounts are at risk, that suspicious activity has been detected, or that your computer has been locked to protect the network. It will mention whatever sounds most alarming — card details, bank information, webcam images.

Then it gives you a phone number, often an 800 or 866 number, so it looks official.

Here is the rule that settles it: a genuine security warning never asks you to phone anyone. Windows does not do it. Your antivirus does not do it. A phone number on a security warning means the warning is the attack.

Close the browser. If it will not close, hold the power button until the machine shuts down, then start it again. You have lost nothing but the tabs you had open.

Ransomware

Ransomware is the version with real teeth. You are working, and the machine locks. A full-screen message appears — sometimes dressed up as an FBI or IRS notice, sometimes as a virus warning — telling you your files have been encrypted and you must pay to get them back. Payment is demanded by card, wire, or cryptocurrency.

Do not call the number on the screen, and do not pay it.

If you bought your machine from EZ Trading Computers, call us on 800-387-5250. Ransomware removal is one of the free services included with lifetime technical support. If you bought your computer somewhere else, call anyway and we will do what we can.

Nearly all of it arrives the same way, so nearly all of it is preventable:

• Do not open links or attachments in email from someone you do not know.
• Do not open them from someone you do know if the message reads oddly. A short note saying “check this out” with a link is the classic sign of a friend's account being used to send it. This is where most ransomware comes from.
• Keep Windows and Windows Defender current. If you run different antivirus software, keep that current too, and do not leave the rest of your software years out of date.

Social Security impersonation

This one goes after your identity rather than your machine, and the Social Security Administration has warned about how common it has become. It arrives three ways:

• Email that appears to come from the Social Security office. Scammers have managed convincing sender addresses before.
• Phone calls, often from a local area code to look familiar, claiming something is wrong with your Social Security account.
• Websites built to resemble a government services portal, which collect your details when you fill them in.

The approach is nearly always panic: an account has been opened in your name, your bank account has been frozen. Sometimes it is the opposite — an offer to increase your Social Security check for a fee. There are real strategies for increasing a benefit, and you raise them with a financial advisor you chose, not with someone who telephoned you.

Three habits handle almost all of it:

• Let unknown numbers go to voicemail. Government agencies use the mail. They call after you have contacted them, not before.
• Do not press a button to stop the calls. It does not stop them. It confirms a real person answered, and that makes your number more valuable.
• Be careful saying “yes”. A recorded yes can be replayed as consent. If a caller threatens legal action, ask them to send documents by post and hang up.

To report one: the SSA takes reports at oig.ssa.gov/report or on its fraud hotline, 1-800-269-0271, on weekdays.

Identity theft, which is mostly not a computer problem

Most people assume the risk lives online. It does not. Cards get skimmed at restaurants and gas stations, and post left on a hall table is a working source of personal information.

How identities actually get taken

• Social media accounts get hacked.
• Fake accounts get opened using details from unopened junk mail.
• A shop or service you used gets breached, and the data is sold on.
• Card details are captured during an online purchase.
• Card details are captured in person, at a restaurant, a gas station or a till.

Habits that prevent it

• Do not use a debit card online. A debit card is a direct line into your bank; a credit card is the bank's money until you settle it.
• Read your card statements properly, looking for small odd amounts rather than large ones. Thieves test with small charges first.
• Check your credit report at least quarterly.
• Think before joining marketing lists and loyalty programs. Every one is another copy of your details on someone else's server.
• Shred post before binning it, junk mail included. If you have no shredder, tear off the part with your details and rip it up.
• Keep documents in a locking cabinet, and the important ones in a safe. A small fire safe is enough.
• Use a different password on every account, and if you keep a written list, keep it in the safe.

Scan anything before you open it

Careful people still get caught, because the bad file usually arrives from a source that looks fine. A second layer helps, and this one is free.

First, stop your browser opening downloads by itself

You cannot scan a file that has already opened itself.

Chrome: open the menu from the three dots at the top right, choose Settings, type downloads into the search box, and switch off the option to open certain file types automatically after downloading. Leaving “Ask where to save each file” switched on is worth it too — it puts a deliberate step between clicking and downloading.

Firefox: open the menu from the three lines at the top right, choose Settings, and under General scroll to Files and Applications. Set the entries there to Always ask.

Then check the file or the link

Go to virustotal.com. It is owned by Google, it is free, and it runs whatever you give it through more than 60 antivirus engines — far more than any single program on your machine.

Upload a file and it reports back from every engine. Or use the URL tab: right-click a suspicious button or link in an email, copy the link address, paste it in, and see what comes back before you ever visit it. It takes about ten seconds and it works on the links you are least sure about, which are the ones that matter.

If it has already happened

Move quickly, and in this order.

• Disconnect from the internet if someone had remote access or the machine is locked. That ends their session.
• Call us on 800-387-5250. Do not call any number a pop-up gave you.
• Change your passwords from a different device — broker first, then bank, then email. Email comes third only because the first two can be drained fastest; it matters because it is what resets the others.
• Tell your broker and your bank. Both have fraud procedures and both would rather hear from you early.
• If you paid, call your card issuer straight away. Card payments can often be reversed. Wire transfers and cryptocurrency usually cannot, which is exactly why scammers ask for them.

One more thing worth saying plainly: people who fall for these are not careless or foolish. These scams are built by professionals to work on intelligent people under time pressure, which describes most traders during market hours. If it happens, deal with it and move on.

Not sure whether your machine is holding you back for ordinary reasons rather than sinister ones? The free benchmark test takes about two minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Microsoft ever call you about your computer?

No. Microsoft's own published position is that it does not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer. So an unsolicited call from “Microsoft” or from a generic “Tech Support” department is a scam without exception, and the correct response is to hang up rather than to engage. The same applies to callers naming Windows, Dell or any other manufacturer.

What should I do about a pop-up saying my computer is infected?

Do not call the number on it. Real security warnings never ask you to phone anyone, so a phone number on a warning means the warning itself is the attack. Close the browser, and if it will not close, hold the power button down until the machine turns off and start it again. You lose only your open tabs. Then run a scan with your own antivirus software.

What do I do if ransomware locks my trading computer?

Do not call the number on screen and do not pay. Disconnect the machine from the internet, then call us on 800-387-5250 — ransomware removal is included in the lifetime technical support that comes with every EZ Trading Computers machine, and we will help even if you bought your computer somewhere else. Paying funds the next attack and offers no guarantee your files come back.

How can I check whether a file or link is safe?

Use VirusTotal at virustotal.com. It is free, owned by Google, and it runs a file or a URL through more than 60 antivirus engines rather than the one on your computer. For a link, right-click it, copy the link address and paste it into the URL tab — you find out before you visit it. Switch off your browser's habit of opening downloads automatically first, or the file may open before you get the chance to check it.

Will Social Security call me about a problem with my account?

Almost never as a first contact. Government agencies write letters, and they telephone after you have contacted them. A call claiming your Social Security account is suspended, or that an account has been opened in your name, is a scam trying to panic you into confirming details. Let unknown numbers go to voicemail, never confirm information to a caller who rang you, and report it at oig.ssa.gov/report or on 1-800-269-0271.