CrowdStrike imposters are luring victims into scams after global tech outage

CrowdStrike warned about a significant increase in scammers impersonating the company through fake websites, phone calls, and phishing emails.

• Fake tech support scams have emerged after the CrowdStrike outage disrupted systems worldwide.
• The outage was caused by a defective software update from CrowdStrike, not a cyberattack.
• CrowdStrike warned about phishing and fake websites and shared a list of impersonators.

Tech support scams are popping up after Friday's CrowdStrike debacle, which disrupted computer systems worldwide and across industries.

The meltdown was triggered by a faulty software update CrowdStrike released in the morning, leaving businesses and others scrambling for solutions.

Scammers appear to have jumped at the opportunity, impersonating the company using fake websites, phishing emails, and phone calls to steal sensitive information. CrowdStrike said in a blog post on Saturday that it has noticed a significant uptick in scam activity.

"CrowdStrike Intelligence recommends that organizations ensure they are communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels and they adhere to technical guidance the CrowdStrike support teams have provided," the company said.

Tech support scams usually start with calls or emails warning about a computer issue. The scammers then ask for remote access to your computer to steal important personal information, such as passwords and bank information.

Fake pop-up warnings claiming your computer is infected with a virus and phony websites offering tech support services are also popular with scammers.

CrowdStrike shared a list of at least 30 different domain names that it says are impersonators and not associated with the company. The list included names like "crowdstrikebluescreen.com," "crowdstrike-helpdesk.com," and "crowdstrikefix.com."

"Some domains in this list are not currently serving malicious content or could be intended to amplify negative sentiment," CrowdStrike says. "However, these sites may support future social-engineering operations."