RingMyTech can help you read a screen, change a password you still control, and find the official report pages. We cannot reverse a wire, freeze a bank account, or investigate a crime. Banks, card companies, and the agencies below do that work.
Anyone who calls after a loss and offers to recover the money for an upfront fee is another scam. The FTC tells people to ignore those offers.
I clicked a suspicious link
If you did not enter a password or payment, close the page and do not call any number it showed. Run the update or scan that your own device already offers, if you know how. If you did enter a password, change it from a bookmark or a typed address, then check the account for changes you did not make.
I gave someone remote access
Disconnect from the internet. If they are still on the screen, turn off Wi-Fi or unplug the router. Do not follow further instructions from that person. Call your bank if financial accounts were open on the computer. Then call a helper you chose. Details are on the remote-access page.
I sent money
Contact the company that moved the money right away: the gift-card issuer, the bank, the wire service, or the payment app. Tell them it was fraud. Save receipts and screenshots. Report the incident at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and, for internet crime, at IC3. Do not send more money to unlock a refund.
I gave someone my password
Change that password from a device the other person is not controlling. Sign out other sessions if the account offers that control. Turn on two-factor authentication. If the password was reused, change it on those other accounts too, starting with email and the bank.
Someone has my Social Security number
Start at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC's official recovery site. It walks through the reports that fit what happened. The Social Security Administration's scam page explains what SSA will and will not ask. A credit freeze at the major credit bureaus is a standard protective step the FTC describes. RingMyTech can help you open those official pages. We do not file them for you as a legal representative.
My email may have been hacked
Email is the key to everything else, because password resets arrive there. Change the email password, review forwarding or filter rules if you can find them, and warn close contacts not to trust unusual payment requests. If you cannot get in, use the email company's own account-recovery page, typed by you.
Someone claims to be my bank
Hang up. Call the number on the card or statement. If money moved, ask the bank's fraud department what they can reverse. Do this even if the caller already knew part of your account number.
Someone claims to be Microsoft or Apple
Those companies do not call to say your computer is infected and then demand gift cards or remote access. Hang up. If you need real support, find it from the company's website yourself, or ask RingMyTech to look at the actual problem with you.
Unsure whether something is legitimate?
If the other person is still on the phone or on the screen, hang up and disconnect first. Then call us or a trusted person.
Sources
RingMyTech explains these topics in plain language. The agencies below publish the primary guidance.
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
- Federal Trade Commission: tech support scams
- Federal Trade Commission: report fraud
- CISA: avoid social engineering and phishing
- Social Security Administration scam awareness
- Medicare fraud and abuse reporting
- U.S. Department of Justice Elder Justice Initiative
- U.S. Postal Inspection Service
- IdentityTheft.gov