Telephone and Internet Scam

[AlanHo]

I just received a phone call from someone who I guess was in India who told me that they were Microsoft Security Support Agency and had detected a serious fault on my computer.

I realised at once that it was a start of some sort of scam - but decided out of curiosity that I would go along and see where he wanted to lead me.

He asked me to switch my computer on and would instruct me when it was booted.

I must admit the devil in me rose to the surface and for the rest of the phone call I played dumb and got him to repeat every instruction several times - I made numerous "mistakes", I had difficulty finding tabs, buttons etc, I had a job understanding his English, got him to spell instructions leter-by-letter and detected he was getting increasingly exasperated by my slowness. I reasoned that he had invested so much time - there was no going back.

He got me to navigate to event viewer, then filtered it to Errors and Warnings and assured me that the display of errors and warnings was what they had detected and were caused by a strong virus that my virus programme could not put right.

I thanked him for his kind assistance and told him that I would download and run several internet based malware scanners and cure the problem myself.

You could hear the panic in his voice and he appealed to me to let their programme do it. I told him that I suspected that he wasn't real and it was some sort of scam and only relented when he promised that there was no money involved and if I opened their website I would be able to see they were genuine.

He asked me to use Google and enter 'Teamviewer' in the search box - and then open the web page of TeamViewer to see that they were a respectable company. I could see that they sell software that enables remote control of your computer. He asked me to click on the button for "Join a session" and download their programme to enable him to fix my problem.

More than 45 minutes had now elapsed and I thanked him for his trouble - told him I had bookmarked "their" site and would do it later when I had more time. I do believe he swore at me in some foreign tongue.

I feel sorry for these guys who are trying to earn a living in the developing countries - but I draw the line at them doing it at my expense.

I assume that TeamViewer is actually a genuine programme being hijacked by scumbags to gain access to your computer.

You can see how the less computer savvy can get suckered by these scallywags.

[Irene]

I just received a phone call from someone who I guess was in India who told me that they were Microsoft Security Support Agency and had detected a serious fault on my computer.

From which source did he obtain your telephone number, I wonder?

[andsome]

I just received a phone call from someone who I guess was in India who told me that they were Microsoft Security Support Agency and had detected a serious fault on my computer.

From which source did he obtain your telephone number, I wonder?

Telephone directory.

[-pops-]

From which source did he obtain your telephone number, I wonder?

They have machines that dial random numbers - millions (billions) an hour - and when they get a hit, it is stored. Some systems are "live" in that when they get a hit it then connects to a human(?) or recorded message which is then answered live after a delay if they're busy (lots of hits all together). That's why there is often a delay on these sales or scam calls where the machinery has been a bit too efficient.

[Irene]

From which source did he obtain your telephone number, I wonder?

They have machines that dial random numbers - millions (billions) an hour - and when they get a hit, it is stored. Some systems are "live" in that when they get a hit it then connects to a human(?) or recorded message which is then answered live after a delay if they're busy (lots of hits all together). That's why there is often a delay on these sales or scam calls where the machinery has been a bit too efficient.

What absolute monsters there are out there!

[-pops-]

Never underestimate how nasty people can be in the cause of greed.

[cheesoatcake]

I've just fallen for this scam.

Someone phoned several times and spoke to my wife saying we had serious problems with our computer and that he was from microsoft. He caught my off guard and got me to run the teamviewer program. I thought it did,nt seem right when i lost control of my mouse and he was opening files up and i had no control. After a few minutes showing me so called infected files and deleting some temp files he then asked me for £79.00 which would be re-embursed with 12 months free phone support. The penny finally dropped and I refused to pay saying I'd need time to think. He even said i could pay in instalments!

He then got a bit aggresive saying this virus would reck the motherboard and i'd loose all my data.

My worry now is can he access my computer again or has he left me a virus. Worst of all can he access any banking history.

Regards Phil

[Belatucadrus]

There are a couple of things you need to do.

1: Update then run any antivirus and antimalware programs you have installed. Assuming you have some, if not let us know we can point you in the direction of some good downloads.

2: Make sure you have a firewall activated.

3: Download and run Iobit uninstaller and look for teamviewerunder the recent installations tab. If it's there let Iobit run an Advanced uninstall on it.

4: Download and run HijackThisthen post the logfile on one of the specialist forums They will then tell you what to do next. Unfortunately analysing the log file is a bit of an arcane art and I don't think we have any members versed in the art currently active.

[Dencandy]

I've just fallen for this scam.

Someone phoned several times and spoke to my wife saying we had serious problems with our computer and that he was from microsoft. He caught my off guard and got me to run the teamviewer program. I thought it did,nt seem right when i lost control of my mouse and he was opening files up and i had no control. After a few minutes showing me so called infected files and deleting some temp files he then asked me for £79.00 which would be re-embursed with 12 months free phone support. The penny finally dropped and I refused to pay saying I'd need time to think. He even said i could pay in instalments!

He then got a bit aggresive saying this virus would reck the motherboard and i'd loose all my data.

My worry now is can he access my computer again or has he left me a virus. Worst of all can he access any banking history.

Regards Phil

First of all I suggest you should let your bank know what has happened & change any passwords etc for accessing your banking and email accounts. You should use another computer that you know is not infected to do this. Then you should deep scan your computer with a reliable ant-virus and anti-malware program, than scan it with a specialist anti-hi-jacking utility like MalwareBytes or Super AntiSpyware.

[cheesoatcake]

Thanks for the replies.

I am running Mcafee total protection . I use my pc for banking but dont have any passwords saved by windows (does that make any difference)?

Can they access my computer when the hard drive is off?

Regards Phil

[andsome]

Thanks for the replies.

I am running Mcafee total protection . I use my pc for banking but dont have any passwords saved by windows (does that make any difference)?

Can they access my computer when the hard drive is off?

Regards Phil

I can't see how that would be possible. If you have the installation disc, why not do a complete format and reinstall Windows. Then do as suggested and create all new passwords etc. Personally, I would not feel safe again, even with all the previous suggestions, until I had carried out this complete reinstallation.:)

[Belatucadrus]

Can they access my computer when the hard drive is off?

Read this bit on Wake on LAN it's very unlikely but not perhaps totally impossible. If you're concerned check that if the MOBO supports WOL it's turned off. The other option is switch off at the mains, no power no wake up.

[cheesoatcake]

Thanks again for the replies.

I found a back up disc that came with my laptop and reinstalled windows.

regards Phil