I got a call from someone claiming to be with Microsoft saying their was an issue with a hacker using my computer. I hung up but he called back several times repeating the same thing. Finally I listened and he basically got me to allow access to my computer. Damn I was dumb.
They then tried to charge me but thankfully, my credit card company wouldnt allow it since the place was in the UAE. I called their fraud department and they immediately closed that account. I also ran all my virus checks so I cant see them doing any damage. I also did some checking on the number they gave and it really was a fraud.
I cant believe how easily duped I was. I consider myself fairly computer literate and good at seeing BS. Maybe its just being old.
Happened to my aunt. She didn’t know it had happened until she was telling me the story about how she was having some issues with her computer and she was on the phone with Time Warner trying to get them sorted out and now she’s locked out of her computer.
Wait, like they turned off your internet?
No, I can’t use my computer, period, unless I give them $110.
You just mean like to check your email right.
No, I mean when I turn my computer on, I can’t do anything, at all, they want $110, it just doesn’t work [her husband interjected to say he pulled the phone out of her hand, told them to go to hell and hung up…that was clearly the right move]
That was when I started asking questions like “Did you call them or did they call you?” They called her.
“Where you having problems with your computer?” She wasn’t, but she said they ‘found’ a bunch of stuff.
‘Did they have you download something to your computer so they could control it?’ Yup.
That’s when I explained to her that Time Warner had nothing to do with this at all and she needed to stop calling [actual] Time Warner since they couldn’t help her and she needed to not answer the phone if they other people called her back. At this point her best bet was to either take her computer in to someone, explain what happened and have it fixed (which is an easy enough job, I just wasn’t going to do it) or toss it, it’s old, and buy a brand new one for probably a few hundred dollars more than cleaning the old one.
I don’t know what they ended up doing, but she was so convinced that it was actually TWC, it took her a few weeks to stop being mad at TWC and fully understand that it was essentially a prank call.
I think part of what was confusing her is that when she’d call [actual] Time Warner about the problem, they’d offer to come out, for a fee, and fix her computer. She had no reason to think that this was any different than the the fake TWC that put the ransomware on her computer.
They rang my mother yesterday, too. She told them she didn’t need any help with her computer and hung up. Then she rang me. She hadn’t realised it was an actual scam - she couldn’t figure out how they were planning to get any money out of her - she just knew it smelled funny. I think she thought they were trying to sell her some service she didn’t need, like the cable company ringing up to plug their super-duper all-singing-all-dancing sports-‘n’-cooking package.
As Snopessays: ‘Microsoft does not contact people out of the blue to tell them there’s something wrong with their computers.’
Its sad. There are actual full call-centers (boiler rooms?) set up to do this 24-7; they just switch areas at different times of day. I think I read here the worst thing that you can do is to challenge them, as they already have your name / phone number and are well outside of any jurisdiction of any agency that you could contact (aka- above the law).
Supposedly the best thing you can do is to say that you don’t have a computer. No computer, no scam, no money… and they then move on.
That’s the best thing you can do if you know to do it. But the random 75 year old that get’s a call from what she thinks is her ISP, isn’t going to hang up when they say “there’s a problem with your computer, can you go to this website and click on the link…great, now we just need $100 to clean it up and you’ll be set”.
I think the only answer is more and more education and as (as terrible as this sounds) the older generation dies off, the younger people will just understand it better and be more resistant to these kinds of attacks. Back in my dad’s day the only thing he had to worry about was the Toner Scam (which is still going on BTW), but just a few months ago he got a virus on his computer because he clicked a link in and email from “USPS” saying they had a package for him. I’m still kicking myself over that one since I saw it on his computer, I was going to just delete and I thought ‘nah, he’s not that dumb’ and 2 minutes later he’s telling me that he has a problem on his computer :smack:.
I came very close to getting caught in this a few years ago. I was having a problem with windows one day. My system had crashed for some long forgotten reason and when it came back up I got a pop-up from Microsoft to say it was searching for a solution to the problem. Then I got another pop-up asking if I would like to send a report to Microsoft and I confirmed. About 48 hours later I get a phone call saying they were from Microsoft and that I had a problem with my system. I immediately assumed it was related to the previous crash. Fortunately, as I spoke to him I soon realised he had no idea what he was talking bout and was likely reading from a script. It became obvious it was a scam and I put the phone down. All it takes is the right circumstances and they have you.
My mom got scammed a month or so ago. She felt damn stupid after it happened (“I should have known something was fishy, calling after 10pm”). I was cringing when she told me and I didn’t want details since the ship had sailed, so I don’t know if they got any money out of her, but her computer ended up fried. She has a computer pro friend who recovered it enough to use for email and she ended up buying a new computer.
I try to stay out of giving her instructions for anything electronic. It always devolves into me being too frustrated and exasperated to be calm enough to give instructions without making her feel stupid, which is horrible for both of us. So we just don’t, and I let her limp along happily unawares she’s limping. I hope her friend set up the new one with what she needs and told her in a way she’ll listen not to download any damn thing.
Well I’ve heard of something better. Some people make it a point in life to drag these guys along and get them to waste valuable time when they could be scamming someone else.
Their was this one story where an American got a “Nigerian Prince” to spend hours sending emails, pictures, and all sorts and to even make long distance phone calls.
The only time I nearly got caught out was (similarly) through bad timing. I have a colleague who likes to send around links to stupid, funny pics, videos etc. I’d just been talking to him and then a few minutes later I got an email “from” him with an executable attached saying “Hey Princhester, check this one out!”.
Normally I would laugh at the very idea of doing something so stupid as clicking on an executable attachment but the timing was so fortuitous, and it was so inherently plausible that this colleague would in fact have sent me a link to something at exactly that moment, that I just clicked without thought.
I was lucky our workplace anti malware saved my ass and recognised the .exe and stopped it doing anything.
If by “fairly likely” you mean, “not a chance in hell.” I’ve been a good little Microsoft user for decades. I always click to report my issues and have never gotten a call from them about it.That’s not how it works. (That’s not how any of this works.) My report isn’t so they can help me as an individual, it’s so they can aggregate the issues many users have and work out a new update to fix them en masse.
I have received many calls like this over the past few months. I admit I was intrigued when the caller showed such concern regarding my PC running Windows.:dubious: However I have a MAC:smack: I keep a loud whistle by the phone especially for scammers. I asked if he could hear me OK as soon as he said yes I let him have an earful! I F$%ing Hate scammers!:mad:
I got a recorded call last week telling me that they were from Microsoft and had detected “multiple issues” with my computer, and to call them back at such and such number. Guess they didn’t want to waste their valuable time fishing around when they could just get someone to call them back!
Too bad these people don’t work for the BMV. They could learn a lesson or two about efficiency.
I did a short stint handling calls re: money transfers from “one of those places you might find at a grocery store”. Some days, it seemed half my shift was spent trying to explain that:
No. The US military is not in Nigeria, and even if they were, they wouldn’t require soldiers to pay airfare.
No branch oof the military requires money to be sent to a “commanding officer”.
There is an (202) # to the DOD in DC so you can verify where your “fiance” is stationed.
Windows is not company, its a product, and they don’t call you.
Even if Microsoft has call centers in India, they damn-well wouldn’t have you sending money there.
The real James Mahoney from Scranton can not only pronounce “James”, “Mahoney”, and “Scranton”… but on good days he can also tell you that Scranton is in Pennsylvania.
(He might even recommend a few good restaurant on Drinker St. Personally, I like Cooper’s. Try the Seafood Bisque…!)
6a) You can demand my supervisor all you want, “James”. The Real Mr Mahoney was just on my other line & told me you “fixed” his PC. The money isn’t going through, he’s cancelled his credit card,
and we’ve temporarily suspended his ability to send money through our service on our end. Guess I’m not your “fwend” after all, but You Have A Nice Day!!!
I kept the guy on for 25 minutes while I attempted to give him access to my laptop (which remained powered off).
He patiently walked me through the process of giving him access to my computer but I reported to him that I kept getting different results.
He finally in exasperation asked me what my computer screen said. I replied," It has a message which says, ‘Some 3rd world dickhead thinks he’s about to get access to this computer while he’s actually just wasting his time.’"
He tried cursing at me but his accent was so bad I just erupted in laughter. He hung up after that.
I got the Microsoft call a while ago. They didn’t get me. This past weekend though, somebody else almost did. I got a robocall on my Verizon cell saying that I was being given a $39 bill credit for being a good customer. All I had to do was go to this website and log in to claim it. I got on the computer and went to the main Verizon site. I typed in the address I had been given over the phone. The first thing that came up was a forum thread about it being another scam. Aww, bitches. :mad: I really would have liked to have that $39.
I F$%ing Hate scammers!:mad: