Microsoft's advice: Hang up on tech support scammers

Microsoft's best advice to combat tech support scams? Hang up the phone.

"You get a call from someone that's unsolicited, talking about technical support, hang up," said David Finn, the executive director of Microsoft's Digital Crime Unit, during a hearing held by the U.S. Senate last week. "That's the first thing. That is not a legitimate effort to sell something to you."

Finn was one of several people who testified last Wednesday before the Senate's Special Committee on Aging, which held a hearing on technical support scams, which disproportionately target the elderly.

Such scams, Finn said during his prepared testimony, are the "single largest consumer fraud perpetrated in America today." They victimize an estimated 3.3 million people and rake in $1.5 billion annually. "This translates to a victim nearly every 10 seconds, with an average loss of $454 per consumer," Finn said.

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