Simviation Forums

I came in at the end of this scam when it was pretty much all over.



Oh! I've got a virus! You want my bank account number? Sure.

Sound stupid? Yeah.

Sounds too simple? Yeah.

NOBODY would fall for that.

My wife did.


Yes. The computer screen said that she had a virus and did she want Microsoft to fix it for $550. PER YEAR!

Just call this local Microsoft number, AND GIVE THEM YOUR BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER.

NOBODY would fall for that. My wife did.


I tried to get her to go directly to the bank (literally four minutes away) and close the account. Put the money in another account.

She tries to put me on the phone with the guy to prove that he's a "real" person.

He had problems hearing me. Sure.


Oh, yeah. Did I say that he wanted her to stay with the computer BUT no use it while he worked in it via the internet.?


The local "Microsoft" phone number that he gave her is listed as belonging to a company from India.


It's her bank account so I don't even know it there's much, if any, money left in it. All this happened at the bank's closing time for the weekend.

Oh, yeah. It's her bank account, but it's the one that we pay the mortgage from. Needless to say, when my employer opens their office on Monday, I need to try and change my direct deposit.

It all depend on how conniving the crooks are. Is this a case of "We infected your computer and if you give us $550 we'll remove it. Sure. That's all that they'll do. Sure.


That's all for now.

I once got a robo call from India on my cell, claiming to be Microsoft. I gave the crook the chorus from this song.

Punjab! Punjab! Punjab that's for ME!

I've gotten calls from "Microsoft Security" a few times. The guy said that they had detected "unusual activity" on my computer. I asked "Which one?" Not surprisingly, they could never answer that question. In the old USENET vernacular, <Plonk!>

This is an old scam but people still fall for it. http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/watch-out-for-microsoft-scam-calls-to-fix-your-computer-jan15

Just remember:

How to protect yourself

Do not allow remote access to your computer.
Hang up the phone when you identify that the call is uninvited.
Never divulge passwords or pin numbers.
Microsoft or someone on their behalf will never call you.

If you believe you have already been a victim

Get your computer checked for any additional programmes or software that may have been installed.
Contact your bank to stop any further payments being taken

UPDATE

Well, the account was closed and the money, minus $550, was put in to a new account. New credit card, etc.

Aside from passing themselves off as Microsoft employees, I think that this is a scam where they try to collect large fees for minimal service. They, of course, would deny it and say "See! We did get rid of some viruses."


The free antivirus programs that "they" downloaded were through her laptop. So "they" aren't using the programs for commercial purposes.

No doubt a year from now, when they try to charge the account again, my wife will receive a "$550 payment overdue. Pay by phone now, and pay no late charges.".


I'm starting to see the dilemma that Alzheimers can create, when someone "tihnks" that they are fine, but in reality aren't.



Antivirus programs

In the past she's either turned off the antivirus programs, or they were turned off by one of the viruses.


Before I go further, let me say that I don't think that there is a perfect AV program. The very best of today may be defeated by tomorrow. But you do have to do your best.


To shorten the story, here's a pretty good review of AV programs by PC Magazine - The Best Antivirus Protection of 2016.

I've tried McAfee, Bitdefender, Norton (the old Norton AV), Kaspersky, Avast, and a very long time ago, Trend Micro. Some I liked, at least a little. And some I really disliked.


What I had my wife pay for, and what []I[/i] installed, was Webroot.

Two reasons. One, I liked the description of how it worked.

And two, is that (at least for now) if you click through the PC Magazine link (the SEE IT) under Webroot, you can get a very nice deal. If you go directly to their site it'll cost $37.49 instead of $29.99. Doesn't hurt to save a little.


AND, that $29.99 can cover three to five computers, tablets, etc. Afterwards, of course, it'll cost more each year. What's new.





But getting back to my tale. Webroot flags internet searches with a green, yellow, or red symbol. If you click on a red flagged link it'll warn you that you're about to enter a hazard site.

I'm hoping that she'll hesitate before overriding the antivirus.


One of the surprising things is that after warning you about a site that it "thinks" is, or might be, full of viruses, it has a text window where you can ask them to confirm the site really is bad, or state why you don't think that it is.

A long time ago when I did IT work for a small company, I usually had problems with antivirus programs thinking that my networking software tools were hackers tools designed to spread viruses.

It appears that AV programs are still afraid of uncommon programming sites.

What surprised me so much was that after receiving a site warning I sent them a short message explaining why I thought that it was OK.

The surprise? Within 20 minutes the site was green flagged! Impressed me, anyhow.



Passwords

They don't just do long passwords. You make up a long (apx. eight or more letters) "Personal Security Code". From that they'll pick any two letters at random, and ask you what they are.

My wife doesn't have a clue about any of this, so there's no way that she can turn the antivirus program off.

Like I said, I like the way that it works.

OAM. Please read the article from the link in my previous reply. This is a scam pure & simple. No service was involved. Any "software" they installed on your wife's computer is malicious spyware. If it's still on there it MUST be removed.

Quote: If you believe you have already been a victim

Get your computer checked for any additional programmes or software that may have been installed.
Contact your bank to stop any further payments being taken.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Te-jnS_Dq0[/youtube]

There used to be a fine line between perception and paranoia. But these days, that line is gone. So you need to be perceptive enough to see through scams and paranoid enough to ignore them.

Don't answer your phone, let your voice mail work for you. Or don't talk to anyone on the phone you don't know. If your "bank" calls you, hang up and YOU call your bank to find out if it was really them. Don't open up any weird looking emails. That guy on the phone is NOT from the IRS. And those calls or computer pop ups are NOT from Microsoft.
The guys at your front door are NOT from the power company. Did you call the power company? That guy in the parking lot does NOT have a winning lotto ticket he "can't cash" since he's whatever. The list goes on and on.

Tell yourself "You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool me any of the time", and stick to that.

Now if I may be excused, that beer in my fridge looks real enough for me, but let's try it on the cat first.

I'm completely secure. I have a Nigerian prince out there to help me out! How many can say that.

Thanks Hagar.

BEFORE she could even play a hand of solitaire, or anything else, I had the laptop at my desk tracking down & removing everything that they had installed.

By the time I was done I'd also removed four more viruses and installed an AV that she literally can't turn off or pause. I have the passwords, yes TWO, and she doesn't even know that they exist.

[Microsoft or someone on their behalf will never call you.]
Just remember this, especially if you have ever tried calling Microsoft, they will never call you back either.
Here's another tip. Use a password generator such as Dashlane. The free version is adequate for home use and will generate strong passwords for every account and automatically log you in. You just need one pasword to log into Dashlane. I have also been using AVG since year 1. I used the web for commercial reasons and paid for AVG and still do. I'm not sure about the "free" versions of any anti-virus, but I'm sure they all work as long as you update the data base frequently.

logjam wrote:[Microsoft or someone on their behalf will never call you.]
....
....

My wife may have remembered that. At some deep down level. Maybe.


But you see, it was She who called "Microsoft".

Their LOCAL Philadelphia phone number was on the screen that told her that her laptop had a virus.


I've used the free version of AVG for many years, and if used with a little intelligence, it's a great AV program.

But the last time that she had a basket full of viruses, AVG had been turned off. I'm not sure who, or what, did it.


The one that's on her laptop now requires knowledge of two password passwords. One in it's entirety, and the letters in two random positions of the second.

She knows nothing of the two passwords that I've used, and so can not turn the virus protection off.



When she does a search she'll get a three color "rating" of the link.



If she clicks on a link with the red "halt" sign anyway, she'll get this sign filling the entire screen.



But when it comes right down to it, you can't stop people from making stupid choices if they're really intent on doing so.