OPINION: Bill Walton, Months-long tech support scam tied to faulty printer

What began as a software update and troubleshooting call in March turned into a high-pressure 'refund' scheme in late August, Bill says, highlighting how long scammers may wait before escalating a con You think you are fully aware of scams with all the news, social media reports, business tech warnings, and sad stories of people losing money to scammers. Not going to happen to me. Then, on August 30, they came for me. They were good. Actually, they started coming for me and my money on March 23, 2026. Here's the story. My Hewlett-Packard Envy printer stopped scanning documents when I was in the middle of putting a book together from printed documents. I tried downloading the latest version of the HP software for the printer (it is getting old), but HP said it no longer supported the document scanning program. HP (or I now wonder if it was them) suggested I contact a third party, like Tecmax, to fix the problem because it appeared the printer's IP address was corrupted. How that could happen was beyond me since I had Norton protecting me. Maybe I allowed HP to 'update' my software. But I called Tecmax and a fellow said he would look at it. But he needed access to my computer. I know better, I know better, but I needed that scanner working. And HP had suggested them. The tech showed me the IP addresses and said somehow these 'hackers' had accessed my computer. Why they had attacked my printer, he did not know, but he removed the IP addresses, reconnected my wireless, and voila, the scanner program was working. He said that Norton was no longer catching all the bugs because of the Cloud and AI, but Tecmax could set up their program and run it once a month, or as needed, to protect me and my computer. Their annual cost was about half of Norton's. Deal. I checked Tecmax on Google and saw their nice web page. But I did not dig deeper using AI: see below. Fast forward to the end of August, when a tech from Tecmax called to say I had not cleaned up my system for several months and he would run a check for me. He signed into my computer using the icon they had installed in March. A program appeared on my screen that looked like it was running through my addresses, flagging many as 'unauthorized'. They would clean this up. "Don't touch your computer; it may take an hour or two to run this since there are so many files to check." Okay. The 'tech' called to say they thought I may have been hacked for identity theft. He was in Edmonton, but they would work on my system that evening and call me in the morning. Edmonton time. I was going to be away that Tuesday, but could we do this on Wednesday? Wednesday, 'Marcus' called and said they had found eight cases of my identity being used in the USA. Their associate in California wanted to talk to me before they erased the files. Call this number and ask for agent Nickolas, who had the file # ICE.Docs.Proton.ME. Hmmm! 'Marcus' had been quite professional and seemed to know his way around the computer systems. (It only dawned on me last night that he probably used the name 'Marcus' because they knew that was my son's name). This guy Nickolas at the FBI fraud office sounded, well, like a poorly educated American. Hmmm! Nickolas went through the places I had not been in the States where my ID had been used. He said he had checked with the RCMP, and they confirmed I had not been out of the country. Hmm. Nickolas would give the okay for 'Marcus' to erase my files, and all was well, except he noticed that Tecmax had charged me in US dollars instead of Canadian dollars back in March. (My screen was locked and I could not check the Visa account.) They would refund me the total, and I could repay Tecmax in Canadian dollars once I got the money. Okay, but now I was wondering just how real this was – the mention of money was a red flag. All I had to do was fill in a request for reimbursement on the screen. Not a very professional-looking form, but they were giving me money back. Enter my name. Enter the last four digits of my bank account (which they gave me). Enter 690, the amount of the refund. Poof, the screen auto-filled the number to 69,000.00! 'Oh my God, William, what did you do?' Marcus asked. I assured him I had not done that – it was his program. He was in a panic (he played that well!) – that money had gone through! Okay, just reverse it, says I, the accountant. We can't – it is in US funds. Look at your bank account and see if the money is there. Holy moly, my account balance had increased by $69,000! Well, I realize now what appeared on my screen was not a Bank of Nova Scotia screen, but one fabricated by Tecmax and friends. It certainly looked real, but it disappeared before I could access it with my frozen mouse pointer. The 'FBI' guys came on the phone first threatening that I had committed International bank fraud, but when I said not so, they said maybe we could work around that if I paid the US income tax, which I said not a chance in hell, and then well, maybe we can split the returned money into two parts so it is under the $50,000 limit, a limit set because of the Iran war. If I could go to the other Bank of Nova Scotia branch – the one on Main Street. . . At this point I knew it was a scam and I said, 'Sorry, guys, your scam is over,' and hung up. Ten minutes later my computer was back to normal. Me, not so much. How does one avoid all of this when you think you are okay allowing updates to your software from what appears to be legitimate businesses whose apps you are using? Somehow, what appeared to be HP updating my files may not have been them. That Tecmax would build that file on me and then execute it months later speaks of a criminal organization that put some work into their scam. I now rechecked the web regarding Tecmax. Google still showed their web page, but. . . AI said: Deceptive Printer Setup Support: A common tactic involves intercepting users looking for official printer setup assistance (such as HP or Apple devices). Scammers posing as TecMax technicians request remote desktop access, intentionally alter settings to create "problems," and then charge hefty fees to "fix" them. AI said: Fake Security Alerts: Users report encountering abrupt browser pop-ups or lock-screens falsely claiming their computer is infected with "Trojan Spyware" or malware, instructing them to call a provided number. This number routes directly to entities operating under names like TecMax Inc. or Quantum IP. AI said: No, TecMax is widely reported to operate as a tech support scam rather than a legitimate IT company. While they maintain a professional-looking website and claim to be an established software support agency based in Alberta, multiple independent customer reports across consumer forums highlight highly deceptive and fraudulent business practices. Mea culpa. How does one keep that security blanket around all your devices, all the apps and programs running on your connected equipment? Even buying software protection programs and updating your system has vulnerable holes in it, as I trusted 'HP' to upload fixes to my printer, and kaboom. Maybe more information will help us save ourselves by using this so-called artificial intelligence. But then, do we really know if our intelligence has not been hacked? Oh, for the good old days of using an IBM Selectric!