TeamViewer Trust Center

Back to Trust Center overview

Resolute misuse prevention

TeamViewer sets standards for modern user protection and misuse prevention.

Pioneering trust and safety in the industry

TeamViewer has a dedicated trust and safety team consisting of big data analysts, security engineers, and cyber strategists to develop effective counter-measures against any kind of misuse on our platform.

  • Technical measures

    In close cooperation with leading government and business institutions, the TeamViewer trust and safety team has introduced industry-leading technical solutions to impede misuse on our platform.

  • Strong cooperation

    TeamViewer actively participates in a range of formal and informal global discussions on how to best tackle misuse of remote access platforms to achieve positive outcomes and tangible results.

How to protect against remote access scams

It is difficult to spot a scam and that’s what makes them such malicious threats. Scammers use a variety of approaches — an unexpected refund offer, a cold call for PC support assistance, or an unexpected phone call from a stranger introduced as an old friend or acquaintance. All of these should be considered suspicious.

The person on the phone is usually pushy and will try to build a sense of trust to get the victim to do something they don’t want to do. If you have the feeling that something isn’t right, or it sounds too good to be true, hang up the phone and shut down your computer to close TeamViewer and any other running software.

Keep in mind the fact that reputable organizations are happy to share their information, and often prefer written correspondence with their customers.

When you receive a call claiming to be from an organization, take the upper hand by asking the caller for their name, company, and phone number. Next, inform them that you will call them back, and hang up the call. If the caller refuses to share their information, or becomes aggressive, hang up.

Once you have ended the call, search the company’s website to verify the information — especially the caller’s phone number. Alternatively, call the number that you see listed on the company’s website, or on your last invoice, and ask them to verify that the call you received was legitimate.

Think of yourself as the family IT person, or assign this role to another qualified person in the family. Take the time to explain to your family members what can be done to prevent them from being victims of a scam call. You may have to do this a few times just to be sure they’re protected.

You can demonstrate how to securely make online payments, update subscriptions, and more, using TeamViewer as an example. Using the TeamViewer allowlist feature, you can also help your family members configure their TeamViewer to restrict the people who can assist them and limit their vulnerability to attacks.

TeamViewer has a variety of features to increase your security even more. The TeamViewer allowlist feature enables you to specify exactly who can access a computer. Make sure each account has its own distinct password and activate TeamViewer two-factor authentication. As the family IT person, you can use the easy access feature for remote devices to access specific accounts without any password requests.

You can stop a scam call in two easy steps:

  1. Simply hang up the phone. 
  2. Turn your computer off, if you aren’t sure how to close any software programs that are running.

The first thing you should do is contact your bank or credit card institutions to verify if any transactions have been made or any financial information has been compromised (bank account numbers, PINs, etc.). If payment was done via PayPal, immediately get in contact with PayPal to rectify the issue and in most cases, receive a refund.

We also recommend contacting your local law enforcement agency to let them know of the attack, so they can look out for similar scams. To ensure your PC has not been compromised, you should have it checked by a local IT support company or a person you trust.

Learn more about what to do after a scammer attack

Do you suspect a scam attempt? Here’s what to do.

Disconnect your device

Immediately disconnect your device from the internet and consult an expert to ensure your computer has not been infected with malware.

Contact local police

Regardless of the software and modus operandi used, please contact the police if you suspect you have been targeted by a scammer.

Contact TeamViewer

We are on your side. TeamViewer will investigate every suspected scamming case reported to us via the form below.

Report a scam

If you have been contacted by someone claiming to be from a well-known company, who wanted to use TeamViewer to access your computer, and you felt it was a scam, we would appreciate your help in stopping these incidents. Please use the form below to report all information about your experience with them.

This information will assist us in our investigations. The information you provide will be treated according to German privacy law and the TeamViewer Privacy Notice. Your data will NOT be used to contact you for general marketing purposes.

Reporting a scam will help us and the authorities track this kind of fraud and prevent it. However, this does not necessarily mean that we or the police can solve your individual case. Also, we are not able to replace or cover any losses you may have incurred due to fraudulent activity.

You can find your log file by clicking Extras > Open log files in your TeamViewer client. Locate the file called "TeamViewerXX_Logfile.log" and "TeamViewer_LogfileXX_OLD.log", where "XX" is your TeamViewer version.

Do you want to report a security issue?

TeamViewer’s security team will investigate every submission in our Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP).