Tech-support scammers used data stolen by Trend Micro employee

Enlarge / Did your mom get a call from "Trend Micro Support"? You might want to check on that. (credit: Getty Images)

Technical-support telephone scams have been around for a long time, with scammers using random technical data to fool gullible consumers into handing over access to their computers and, often, their credit card data. But some customers of Trend Micro were called by scammers with a somewhat more convincing bit of data than some well-known Windows filename-the scammers had their names, email addresses, and technical-support request ticket numbers.

The scammers got that data from a Trend Micro employee who stole the data for 68,000 customers and sold it to the scammers, a company spokesperson revealed today in a statement on the company's blog. While the stolen data included names, email addresses, some phone numbers, and Trend Micro support-ticket numbers for users of Trend Micro's consumer security products, it did not include payment information.

"In early August 2019," the spokesperson wrote, "Trend Micro became aware that some of our consumer customers running our home security solution had been receiving scam calls by criminals impersonating Trend Micro support personnel." The information that was used in these calls led Trend Micro's security team "to suspect a coordinated attack."

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