How to tell we are the real thing.
Tech support is one of the most heavily impersonated categories in consumer fraud. Rather than ask you to take our word for it, here are the specific commitments we operate under — each one written so you can check it against what actually happens.
Explicit consent before any remote session
We connect to your computer only when you have started the session yourself and can see everything happening on screen. You can end it at any moment by closing the window. We never leave software behind that lets us reconnect later without you.
We never ask for your passwords
Not for your bank, not for your email, not for anything. If a task genuinely requires a credential, you type it yourself while we look away, or we work around it.
No payment by gift card, wire, or cryptocurrency
We invoice normally and take normal payment methods. Any request to pay for computer support with gift cards or a bank wire is a scam, from us or from anyone.
We do not manufacture problems
We will not tell you that you are infected when you are not, and we do not sell software subscriptions on commission. A free diagnosis that concludes 'nothing is wrong' is a perfectly normal outcome here.
Nothing is deleted without asking
No files, no programs, no accounts. If something needs to go, we ask first and explain why.
If someone called you, it was not us
FixMyPC never makes unsolicited calls. We will never phone you to say your computer is infected, never display a warning telling you to call us, and never ask for a password, a gift card, or a bank transfer. If someone contacts you claiming to be FixMyPC, it is not us — hang up and report it.
Two formats account for almost every tech-support scam: an unsolicited phone call claiming your computer is sending error reports, and a full-screen browser warning with a number to ring. Both are fake. A real fault does not announce itself with a phone number. Report either to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
What a tech-support scam looks like
Almost all of them use one of two openings. The first is an unsolicited phone call: someone claims to be from Microsoft, Apple, your antivirus company, or your internet provider, and says your computer is sending out error reports or has been flagged for infection. No company monitors consumer machines this way and none of them will ever call you about it.
The second is a browser page that fills the screen, often with an alarm sound, a fake scan, and a toll-free number to call immediately. It is a web page and nothing more. Closing the tab — or force-quitting the browser if it has blocked the close button — ends it. Nothing has been installed and nothing is scanning anything.
Once contact is made, the pattern is consistent: the caller asks for remote access, shows you something ordinary on your own computer and presents it as evidence of infection (the Windows Event Viewer is the perennial favourite — it is full of harmless warnings on every healthy machine), and then asks for payment. The payment request is the tell. Gift cards, wire transfers and cryptocurrency are demanded because they cannot be reversed.
If it has already happened
- Disconnect the machine from the internet and uninstall any remote-access software that was added.
- Change passwords for email and banking from a different device, and turn on two-factor authentication.
- Contact your bank or card issuer immediately — card payments are often recoverable, and gift-card issuers occasionally freeze unspent balances if you call fast.
- Report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
- Have the machine checked properly afterwards. We will do that diagnosis free like any other, and we will tell you honestly if nothing was left behind.
Checking us specifically
Our published number is 1 (800) 994-7656, and it is the only one we use. If you are ever unsure whether a call or message is genuinely from us, hang up and call that number directly. We will never object to being verified — and an operation that does object is telling you something.
Our registered business details are published in full on the about page.