I think we’ve all seen those virus alerts to some degree or another that pop-up on our desktops telling us that we’ve been infected. They’ll typically pretend to be from legitimate companies like Symantec or Microsoft (in some cases, even using a fake Microsoft logo to establish credibility), and they always want you to call a fake number — which leads to paying money for a fake service.

I’d like to believe that anyone reading this blog is someone who can detect this kind of scam, but regardless, whether you’ve fallen for this in the past or not, new information on the source of this costly annoyance appears to have come to light.

And it takes us all the way to India, thanks to The New York Times.

The article begins by telling us that 1 out of 5 people who receive such alerts tend to contact the fake tech support centers, while 6% of users in general actually pay for the fake services – which is crazy in and of itself.

Nothing about those alerts look legitimate, but hey, there are A LOT of people on this planet…

The meat of the piece points to Microsoft and how they helped police trace who was behind these large-scale operations. Apparently, these scammers have their roots in New Delhi, the capital of India, which is also the epicenter of call centers in general.

According to the software giant, more than 11,000 calls per month about fake security warnings were being received. And many people as a result, lost significant sums of money to the fraud.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, police from two New Delhi suburbs raided 16 fake call centers and arrested more than 50 in connection with the scam.

The Scam

Fixing the non-existent virus could involve calling a tech support center, where an operator would talk a victim through a fake fix and then charge them for the work. In other cases, the bogus tech support team would call their targets themselves and pretend to be a Microsoft employee, bringing to their attention a virus or false claim that his or her system could have been hacked. Eventually, they ask for anywhere from $99 to $1,000 to fix the problem that doesn’t exist in reality.

Courtney Gregoire, an assistant general counsel in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, perhaps said it best when she was quoted as saying, “This is an organized crime.”

No doubt.

The scam is incredibly lucrative according to researchers at Stony Brook University. They published a detailed study of fake tech support services last year that estimated just a single pop-up campaign, spread over 142 web domains, could bring in nearly $10 million in just 2 months.

Microsoft said it was working with other tech industry leaders such as Apple and Google, as well as law enforcement, to fight the digital epidemic, which is migrating beyond the English-speaking world to target other users in their local languages.

Microsoft has also published advice about ways to spot the fake calls and avoid becoming a victim.

5 Reasons Why Your Company Should Outsource IT Support

Companies commonly outsource its accounting and bookkeeping duties, customer service, and HR management… so why should technical support be any different?

It shouldn’t.

Outsourcing provides a lot of benefits, especially to small businesses with limited resources. Plus, good IT support teams are especially hard for companies to build and maintain.

Here are 5 reasons as to why outsourcing is a good business move:

1. Reduces Costs

Reducing labor and equipment costs is one of the major reasons why companies outsource IT support. Employing a company to do the work for you is cheaper than hiring a whole IT staff. The employees’ initial training to get them onboarded, plus the regular training to ensure their knowledge is up-to-date, add to the cost as well.

Buying all the equipment you need for a functional IT department and maintaining the system also costs a lot of money. Removing these factors and paying a fixed cost contract will help you manage your annual operating costs more easily.

And If your operating cost is high, you will likely pass it on to customers by raising your product prices. This makes you lose your competitive edge.

2. Provides Support 24/7

If your business is one that needs to be open to customer calls 24 hours a day, that’s one of the reasons to outsource IT support. Instead of getting another IT staff, which will only cost you more, solely for answering calls outside of your normal working hours, outsourcing to a company will guarantee that someone is always available to help your customers.

A 24/7 team will also allow you to recognize flaws and bugs even before they affect your infrastructure and business.

3. Adjusts According to Demand

When the demand suddenly increases, and more calls start coming in, what do you do if you have a permanent staff?

Hiring temporary employees poses a lot of issues. You don’t know when the demand decreases, which will force you to terminate them immediately. You’re also not sure of the technical skills and personality if you’re in a rush to get someone onboarded.

Meanwhile, an IT company can easily scale up or down depending on your needs because of their access to vast resources.

4. Gives Access to Cutting-Edge Technologies and Industry Experts

Security of your data and your customers’ data is paramount. That’s why Facebook is in a lot of heat nowadays — its platform is vulnerable to third-party entities mishandling the users’ data. Even large companies are susceptible to attacks, with hackers successfully gaining access to JP Morgan’s 76 million households plus 7 million small businesses in 2014.

To keep your data safe and secure, however, you must have the newest technologies and the knowledge of industry experts. You and your staff must be up-to-date with the industry standards, which might be hard to do if you’re a small-time player.

Outsourcing solves this problem. It’s their job to get cutting-edge technologies and train their employees regularly so you don’t have to do it. Getting access to these will also ensure that your systems are working smoothly.

5. Allows You to Focus on Your Business

When you no longer have to worry about the security and integrity of your system, it allows you to focus on what you need to do in order to grow your business. Your employees, without network interruptions and possibly the added IT responsibilities, will also be able to perform with their best for the company.

You can focus on improving your products and services while the outsourced IT team deals with the technical issues so you and your staff can keep on working without worry.