scam alert

[Guest farnsbarns]

Now, this may seem obvious to most of you but if it helps one person then it's good. Thos post is prompted by the fact that they got my father in law once and nearly just got him a second time but thankfully he rang me.

 

The scammer calls you to alert you to some problems with your computer, they may tell you they work for your computers manufacturer, they may tell you they work for Microsoft, what ever, they'll say anything. They talk you in to giving them control of your computer so they can fix it, my father in law simply followed instructions (click here, click there) and had given the guy access before he realised what was happening, at that point he called me on his mobile.

 

What they actually do is use your iTunes, Google account etc etc to buy items they get money for while all you can see is your desktop. In my father in laws case, the first time, it was a load of really cheaply made kids games, so bad they obviously only exist for the purpose of this scam, no one will buy them legitimately. Having spent your money on their product they'll tell you there's loads of viruses that need fixing and offer to do that for some more money £129 and £103 on the 2 occasions they called my father in law (he paid it the first time) and then they copied a load of files to his computer which contained viruses and deleted all the drivers from his windows/system and windows/system32 folders so he had no keyboard or mouse input. It took me ages to fix it using the on screen keyboard and an app that allows me to use my Android phone as a touch pad.

 

When he called me this time I told him to simply unplug his router, then the guy demanded payment as he had started, some choice words from my father in law saw this chap hang up.

 

If you ever get any call from anyone about your computer, my advice is to say "what computer, I don't own one" but what ever you do, do not gove them access to "fix" anything.

 

The target for these scams is simply those who don't know better, make sure your aunts, uncles, in laws, grand parents etc etc know that this scam is out there.

 

I blame Microsoft in part for including the remote support function in Windows. Such an obvious in for the sh*ts!

[CoreyT]

Wow, those stupid scammers will try anything.

And it is amazing how many infected computers there are out there that carry out zombie commands to bring down sites via DOS attacks programmed via the virus writer.

[Tman5293]

This is why people need to get educated about their computers. If your father in law knew anything about computers, he would know that there were no viruses on his machine to start with. This is a classic case of the intelligent taking advantage of the ignorant.

 

From the way you described it, it seems as though this was a very obvious scam. It baffles me that he would let this happen twice when he should know very well that it's a scam. If I got a call like that I would ask for a name and credentials and then hang up. If there's something wrong with my computer, I can most certainly fix it myself.

[derek R]

this happened to me but it only took me a few seconds to catch on to what they doing before i closed my internet browser.

they ask you to open a web page then redirect you to file folders that show errors on your pc and tell you your computer is infected,while they tell you about

the infections they are accessing your computer

as i said i managed to lock them out before any harm was done but for unsuspecting people it is a scam.