Got tricked by a fake 'Google' support call last Tuesday

I was working from my home office and got a call from someone claiming to be from Google saying my account had been compromised. They had me open a terminal and type some commands before I realized it was a scam and hung up. Has anyone else had scammers spoof Google's number like that, and what's the best way to verify if a call is real?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_carter152mo ago

Whoa wait, they actually had you type commands in a terminal? That's wild, man. I can't believe how far these scammers go now. I mean, I've gotten the basic "your computer has a virus" calls before but they never asked me to open a terminal. That's next level scary. Honestly if someone calls and claims to be from Google, just hang up and call them back on the official number you find on their website yourself. Don't ever trust the number they give you or let them lead you through any steps on your computer. These guys are getting smarter every day and it's terrifying how convincing they can be.

eric7232mo ago

Wait did you just get lucky and they didn't push you further, or did you actually hang up on them? I had almost the same thing happen last year and I just started asking THEM really dumb questions like "what's my favorite color" until they got frustrated and hung up. It worked surprisingly well.

henderson.wesley2mo ago

Terminal commands are just basic troubleshooting steps that anyone can look up online.