Looking for the customer service of a company or service? Be careful with your online search. There are websites that pretend to be customer service portals, but they are fooling you!
Since the corona crisis started, many companies have become more difficult to reach. They are often inundated with questions. Scammers are also aware of this, and saw new opportunities.
That is how it works
Suppose you have problems with WhatsApp. Via Google, type ‘WhatsApp customer service phone number’ and you will be sent to the website customer service phone number dot com. You think you are dealing with WhatsApp, but you are actually talking to a scammer. Sometimes they charge money for the ‘help’ they provide, or ask you to pay a small amount to confirm or grant access to something. Sometimes software is requested so that the person can watch: but of course they immediately plunder your data.
People are not stingy with the covers. They may be pretending to be anything and everyone. Think of Gmail, McAfee, Apple, Netflix, Ziggo, KPN, Facebook and Windows. Usually the same telephone number is used for all these services. Sometimes they don’t wait for you to call, but approach you directly. For example, by pretending to work for Microsoft, and want to repair your computer remotely.
These websites are currently active. We omitted the period in the link:
customer service phone number dot com
customer service phone number dot com
customer servicedutch dot nl
Real or fake?
Of course, new websites are also being added. Watch out for the following signs:
- Poor Dutch on the website.
- The ’employee’ on the phone does not speak Dutch, but English. (often with Indian or Pakistani accent)
- The ’employee’ asks you to pay a fee for the help that is offered to you.
- The ’employee’ asks you to download software onto your computer.
- The ’employee’ wants to access your computer or your bank account in a different way.
- Payments seem to fail.
And these are the signs that you are dealing with genuine customer service:
- See if you can find the phone number on the site of the company you are trying to contact. Look carefully in the address bar to see if you are on the site of the company or service you are looking for. For example, are you looking for KPN customer service? Then only call a number that you can find on the KPN website.
- Be aware that results on Google are not necessarily reliable customer services. Sometimes the scammers pay for ads to get high in the search results; the high position does not mean that it is also a relevant and good result.
- If you don’t trust it, you can look up ‘name website + experiences’. This way you can quickly see complaints (or positive reviews) from other consumers.
Source: Tros Radar
