Posted on March 5, 2020 at 9:43 AM

The Hacker has been Hacked – Tech Support Scammers Exposed

These days, cyber scams have become increasingly common with lots of scams going on within the cyberspace. Recently, a Vigilante who calls himself “Jim Browning” exposed a fraud call center in Gurgaon.

From the reports, Browning was able to hack into the fake call center and gain complete control of their CCTV footage. The hack allowed the vigilante group to expose the scammers who have targeted British victims. In addition to the video footage, Browning also gained access to more than 70,000 phone calls, exposing the scammers even more.

The UK gets 21 million fraud calls monthly

According to a BBC report, UK residents receive about 21 million fraud calls every month where the fraudsters fake their identity. They pretend to be from the government, retailers, computer companies, and banks.

Browning said even though his actions are illegal, he is doing the cyber world a favor by hacking the hackers. Already, he has begun to upload some of the footage he received from their CCTV camera on YouTube. Browning has gained a lot of followers on his YouTube channel where he tries to expose the work of scammers and hackers.

Last year, he said he discovered several call centers in India where many of them were tech support scammers who targeted English speakers.

Hacking activities of tech support

As the name implies, tech support scammers usually contact people in the US or UK, claiming to represent a big company and deceiving them that their computers were infected by malware. The end goal of these scammers is to gain remote access to their victim’s computers and demand money to fix the supposedly infected system. 

If the intended victims are hesitant, the scammers usually increase their methods and claimed that they have detected child abuse imagery in their computers. The scammers claim they must clean up the system or report to law enforcement agencies if the users refuse. These scammers gain financially from their tech support scams, and the amount can range from $100 to $1,000.

Scammers were using Windows Support Scam

The Windows Support scam has been around for a long while, although Microsoft has seriously attempted to shutter them. From Browning’s explanation, the scammers were using the same old Windows support scam.

Already, the BBC has located some of the call center scam victims and discovered that some of the victims were scammed of hundreds of pounds.

The hacking activity of Browning is illegal under the US and UK laws, which is the reason why he is using a fake name to avoid being identified. He said, “I do not try and gain access to someone’s computer unless they’re trying to scam me.”

Illegal, but a job well done

Although this type of scam is one of the least complicated, it’s usually difficult to catch these scammers because they perpetrate their crimes from thousands of miles away.

But the recent activities of digital vigilantes such as Browning have started exposing these scammers to the world.

They are using a number of different methods to lure, manipulate and expose the identities of those behind the tech support scam.

Browning informed BBC about his technique. He said he allows the scammers to have access to his computer, which is programmed to attack the scammer’s computer via the same remote desktop connection.

However, he did not mention which software of how he carries the task. But it could involve using common hacking tools and using the visualized operating system to isolate the activities of the scammer.

Browning said his most successful hacking back activity was when he retrieved CCTV camera footage within the fake call center used in one of the scam campaigns. He was able to access records of 70,000 calls made y the scammers.

In addition, the captured footage included the scammers making scam calls with their headsets while sitting at their desks. The footage revealed that the hackers were staying in a building in Kolkata.

Browning also succeeded in recording the scammers when they were trying to convince him to pay for the clean-up of his computer.