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Get Apple Support 
Article in Forsyth Faimly Magazine by Vonda Henderson
The Triad Mac team has been in business providing Apple support (at-home, repair, off-site backup, business IT, and new/used Macs) for over four years. They average about 150 repairs per month. They are Apple-certified specialists in training, repair, and technical support. As stated in their mission statement, “We care about educating, increasing productivity, and giving people peace of mind. We help you get the most out of your Apple technology.”
At Triad Mac, looking out for the technical welfare of their customers is of upmost importance. Robert Phelps, President of Triad Mac, makes a practice of alerting customers to potential scams that may impact their equipment and their personal data. Robert shared that a new “scareware” scam is making the rounds. This is not a malicious virus; it is a way for a scammer to get access to your data and could lead to identity theft.
There are three ways that this scam may begin:
- You may receive a pop-up message on your computer with a message that “You have a virus. Please call this number immediately.”
- You may receive an e-mail message stating that you have a virus.
- You may receive a phone call from someone identifying himself or herself as a Microsoft or Apple employee.
The ultimate goal of these messages is to ask for and gain remote access to your computer to “remove the virus.” You may be told you have a webkit virus. In actuality, webkit is what runs the Internet browser and it is certainly not a virus.
Once the scammer has your attention and access, you will be asked to pay a fee for them to clean your computer (typically, a one-time cleaning or a lifetime option ranging from $600 to $1,200). All the while during this conversation, the scammer is busy collecting your data (tax information, banking, personal data, etc.).
So what should you do?
Robert recommends that if you get one of these messages, take no action with the caller or e-mails. Call a professional specialist; Triad Mac has already dealt with 24 of these scams in the past year. Change all passwords and shut down your computer. Triad Mac will back up your data, clean the computer, and reset it back to its factory settings. At that point, they will reload your data. You may have to reload some or all your software, but you will have peace of mind that your computer and your data are safe. Triad Mac’s fee to recover from a scareware event is a flat fee of $49.
Tips/reminders from Triad Mac to keep data safe and secure:
- Do not let anyone have access to your computer, other than a legitimate repair service center.
- Remember that no website exists that will tell you that you have a virus.
- Microsoft or Apple will not call you to tell you that your computer has a virus.
- Do not respond to any e-mail that requests your passwords.
- To protect your data, use long passwords of more than ten characters. Robert recommends a sentence that you can easily remember; this is considered safer than a mix of characters.
- Protect your passwords.
- When making purchases via the Internet, check for a lock icon on the website’s address bar. The lock indicates that the website is secure.
- Contact Triad Mac if you have concerns. They can run diagnostics to check for issues. Check their website (triadmac.com) for free software options.
Triad Mac is located at 851 Old Winston Rd., Unit 109, Kernersville, NC, 27284. Contact Triad Mac at 336.310.6622, or via the web at triadmac.com. Triad Mac is ready to assist with all your Apple needs.
