Trying to set up my new HP printer I made the mistake of phoning the first number that popped up in Google when I searched for Hewlett Packard help. Turned out to be a pirate with a strong South Asian accent in a noisy call center who claimed to be able to tell that my computer had been invaded and offered to fix it for over $200. At that point I hung up and called Apple help which said they’ve had several similar calls in the last few days. Helped me get the printer connected and assured me nothing was wrong with my brand-new Mac Mini.
Ultimately solved my printer problem the classic way—by turning it off and turning it back on again.
It’s always a good idea to investigate the search results. My brother, who was not very computer savvy, was at least once not careful about search results when trying to get support for something, and wound up getting “service” from some third party that installed something on his Windows PC to try to solve the problem. I tried to talk him into wiping the computer and reinstalling the OS but it was more work than he wanted or felt able to attempt.
Unfortunately, the customer service phone number scam relies on common SEO tactics to force bogus phone numbers to the top of search results as well as abusing sponsored links. So these scams are a longstanding problem, especially for airline passengers during peak travel periods when delays are widespread and a lot of infrequent travelers are flying.
Users of MacRumors’ message boards are very familiar with how these scammers operate because forums there are attacked daily with huge numbers of spam posts containing company names, copious text containing customer service-related words, and toll free phone numbers. It’s an obvious bid to have these posts vacuumed up by search engine and generative AI bots and spiders.
A related scam is buying toll free numbers with different area codes than the legitimate numbers. For example, a criminal might take control of 1-888-MY-APPLE to take advantage of people who make a mistake when calling Apple’s actual number (1-800-MY-APPLE).
For many HP printers, the security certificate of the internal web server expired on 1.1.2025. As a result, many users cannot print anymore. A new self-signed certificate can be issued via the printer’s web interface, which then runs for another 10 years.
Yes - the discussion that I link to above mentions this issue. I reported that the “new certificate” solution did not seem to work for me. I will give it another try since it has worked for you.
I don’t remember the specific search terms I used but the phone number was right there at the top of hits—didn’t need to click on a link. I just picked up the phone and dialed the number.
I recommend always checking the URL of the site where you’re getting the phone number. I would only trust the manufacturer’s website. Ditto downloading drivers and other software.
If I search using google for “hp printer help” the first two results provided are NOT the HP site. I have no idea what “support” if any they might provide but I wouldn’t dream of clicking on them to find out. Nobody needed to do any hacking of the phone system or misdirection of Google – it’s just, as Halfsmoke said above, someone using SEO techniques to get themselves into the search results.
It’s worth noting that a DuckDuckGo search using the same term returns the HP site as the first result. In any case it’s essential to check before calling or clicking based on the results of any web search
Just to clarify, I don’t know if scammers have actually taken over variations of Apple’s phone number. But the toll-free area code scam is so common that, yes, it would be crazy for a company of Apple’s size and resources to not take defensive steps.
