Anyone run into this "Tech Support" scam?

[mdchiefsfan]

I am surfing the web and out of nowhere I get a notice saying that my PC is compromised. It says that some of my information is in jeopardy and to call this 877 number.

I call very suspiciously to see what the person on the other end would say and they answer with a very generic, "Tech Support, how may I assist you? "I ask what company they are with and they say Microsoft. They stated that they needed remote access to my computer to fix the issue, so I hung up.

I did some research on the number to see what would come up and the number didn't show up. I researched for a scam like this, and the only thing I can find is a scammer generally calls a consumer talks them through "fixing the virus." This process allows them remote access to the PC where they can install all kinds of crap and get your personal info, but I haven't found anything about a web page popping up and asking you to call.

I guess what I am getting at is keep an eye out for crap like this.

[Mr. Laz]

They actually just call the home phone line and say 'this is microsoft and your computer isn't answering it's security call"


then do the same thing


they call about once every other month

[ChiliConCarnage]

I've never heard about a webpage version but the phone call version was huge for a while.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/08/25/scamming-fake-microsoft-support-scammers/

For the last few months, I’ve heard numerous stories from friends, family, and clients about calls they’ve supposedly received from Microsoft. Unfortunately, the calls are all scams that can have dire consequences. If you haven’t heard similar stories, they usually go something like this: a person calls and says that he is a tech with Microsoft MSFT +2.02% that’s contacting you because your Windows-based computer is infected with a virus and he wants to help fix it. Over the course of the conversation, he’ll ask to remote into your PC, and ultimately tell you that the level of support required to fix it requires payment and that you’ll have to provide a credit card number. More nefarious scammers will then go the extra mile and install spyware on your machine to snag your passwords and other personal information, which could then be used to access your bank accounts or even steal your identity.

[mdchiefsfan]

They actually just call the home phone line and say 'this is microsoft and your computer isn't answering it's security call"


then do the same thing


they call about once every other month

Yea, mine wasn't a call though. It just popped up and had an audio loop telling me to contact Tech Support.

[mdchiefsfan]

I tried to screen shot it, but don't have that option on my tablet's keyboard

[Bugeater]

This means your tablet has Ebola, dumbass! Call them back immediately!

[MIAdragon]

The geek squad? Yea fuck those scamers.

[displacedinMN]

I received that call a few weeks ago, do I decided to play along.
let them ask a few questions,

Then I said "How ****ing dumb to you think I am to fall for this scam?"
They hung up mid sentence.

[suzzer99]

You most likely have a virus already.

[Ming the Merciless]

i got a "scare-ware" virus like that too

it was the same type of pop up and I think i wouldve gotten a call but i realized it was a scare ware type of deal and got it with ad-aware or something or maybe mal-ware-bytes

good luck broham

[Simply Red]

I've seen them - just tsk mgr out of that shit. PM me if you need any help.

[cabletech94]

had a phone call a few weeks back. gentleman on the other end said that they've detected a problem with my internet.
so I play along for a little while and thank him for letting me know of the problem. I continue to ask dumb questions and so forth. I finally him how he knows that I have an internet problem when I don't have the internet in my house. not even a dial up computer.
he hung up (and has not called back).

:)

[mdchiefsfan]

had a phone call a few weeks back. gentleman on the other end said that they've detected a problem with my internet.
so I play along for a little while and thank him for letting me know of the problem. I continue to ask dumb questions and so forth. I finally him how he knows that I have an internet problem when I don't have the internet in my house. not even a dial up computer.
he hung up (and has not called back).

:)

LMAO

[mdchiefsfan]

I've seen them - just tsk mgr out of that shit. PM me if you need any help.

Exactly what I did. Thanks for the offer, sir!

[digger]

Stop surfing porn sites. :p

[Valiant]

Stop surfing porn sites. :p

Porn sites are the safest sites on the internet. Religious sites were named the worst for getting viruses and key loggers.

[digger]

My bad: http://www.thenewstribe.com/2012/05/25/most-dangerous-websites-list-surprisingly-porn-sites-not-most-unsafe/

The list of sites in order of danger is:
Blogs and Web communications (19.8%)
Hosting and personal hosted sites (15.6%)
Business and economy (10%)
Shopping (7.7%)
Education and reference (6.9%)
Technology/ Computer and Internet (6.9%)
Entertainment and music (3.8%)
Automotive (3.8%)
Health and medicine (2.7%)
Pornography (2.4%)

[Simply Red]

yeah guys - that goes for any of you - CNTL-ALT-DELETE and select 'task manager' go to problem child in new window and 'end task' -- Always do that rather than clicking ANYthing. That's kept me out of some trouble, historically - I don't see spyware much anymore at all though.

I know several of you know this, obviously - but just a little advice for any future issues for anyone not in the know.

[Simply Red]

Porn sites are the safest sites on the internet. Religious sites were named the worst for getting viruses and key loggers.

I hardly watch porn at all anymore - it's lost it's burst - All I care about truly is money - get love from the hoes, but it's, money over bitches nothing above it

[cosmo20002]

About a year ago I had a pop-up that said FBI WARNING or something and it turned on my laptop camera so that it was showing live video of me in the corner of the screen.

It said I violated some law and gave instructions on how to make an online payment to pay the fine. Took me awhile to figure out how get rid of that shit.

[Hydrae]

My wife has gotten a few of these calls. She tells them that they need to talk her husband who is in tech support (which I am). Funny thing, they never call back. :)

[MMXcalibur]

I got a cold call from an Indian-sounding gentleman who said he wanted to check for any viruses on my computer. Seeing as how I'm not computer-stupid, I could immediately tell what was going on. Nevertheless, it was early in the morning on a Sunday and my wife was up and we were lying in bed with not much going on....so I decided to have a bit of fun.

I told him that my wife had the password to my computer and she wasn't around. The guy was constantly asking me if I knew the password to my computer, and I continuously said "No". Eventually, my wife came "home" and I started yelling at her about the password. I said all manner of mean things and slapped my hands to imitate a smack. On queue, my wife started "crying". I got back on the phone and the guy didn't much care except anything but the password.

Eventually, when I got "in", I exclaimed "Oh my stars and garters, I have nearly 500 viruses!" and that probably was the point where the light bulb finally turned on for my Hindu friend. He told me "I was a bad actor. Fuck you." and hung up.

Haven't gotten a call back since.

[Gonzo]

Something similar happened to my mom right before Xmas. They actually called my mom and tried to gain access. Fortunately, she knew better.
I had their ass. Called the e-investigations/infosec dept with the FBI. The unopened a case file like a mofo and stated they've been working on that scam for months.

[mdchiefsfan]

I hardly watch porn at all anymore - it's lost it's burst - All I care about truly is money - get love from the hoes, but it's, money over bitches nothing above it

C.R.E.A.M., bitches!

[Mojo Jojo]

I have received that call a few times as have many of my friends...we've turned it into a game to see how long we can keep the person on the line by asking stupid questions until they hang up. One woman was getting mad and finally said your wasting my time before she hung up...it's the simple things that can be so amusing.

Oh, and they hate after a few minutes I remember I don't run any Windows programs.

[Psyko Tek]

I am surfing the web and out of nowhere I get a notice saying that my PC is compromised. It says that some of my information is in jeopardy and to call this 877 number.

I call very suspiciously to see what the person on the other end would say and they answer with a very generic, "Tech Support, how may I assist you? "I ask what company they are with and they say Microsoft. They stated that they needed remote access to my computer to fix the issue, so I hung up.

I did some research on the number to see what would come up and the number didn't show up. I researched for a scam like this, and the only thing I can find is a scammer generally calls a consumer talks them through "fixing the virus." This process allows them remote access to the PC where they can install all kinds of crap and get your personal info, but I haven't found anything about a web page popping up and asking you to call.

I guess what I am getting at is keep an eye out for crap like this.

why the fuck you you have your real phone number on the web?
do you have a scan of both sides of your credit cards also?


the web is a nasty place and you should learn that fast

[Lonewolf Ed]

I had them call here THREE times today. The first two times, it was the same guy, with a Pakistani accent or somewhere near there. I kept telling him to get bent but the fugger wouldn't shut up so I finally raised my voice and told him that scam wasn't going to work and to piss off. 20 minutes later, a woman called, and I shut her down quickly as well. Bastards.

[penguinz]

WTF kind of weird shit do you guys do to get these scams pulled on you?

[NWTF]

I have received that call a few times as have many of my friends...we've turned it into a game to see how long we can keep the person on the line by asking stupid questions until they hang up. One woman was getting mad and finally said your wasting my time before she hung up...it's the simple things that can be so amusing.

Oh, and they hate after a few minutes I remember I don't run any Windows programs.

I actually got the microsoft windows security call today while I was at work. My computer was supposedly hacked and non responsive, blabady blabady, bla. The guy was hard to understand and indian accents annoy me anyway. If hed caught me at a better time I may have played along for a bit, but I was in the middle of a conversation with a coworker and was more pissed by the interruption than anything else. I told him Id check it out when I got home and hung up.

[Rausch]

For some reason I get this a lot when using Safari but never Firefox.

It's always a message sent by Apple to call them....

[hometeam]

this kind of thing has been around since 1995. You should know not to call the number, now they have yours~

[mdchiefsfan]

why the **** you you have your real phone number on the web?
do you have a scan of both sides of your credit cards also?


the web is a nasty place and you should learn that fast

I don't. What are you talking about?

[ndws]

the fact you got that message is your problem itself.

Most cases freebie fixes are available to you. malwarebytes and ccleaner will get rid of a lot of trash. May not fix the total issues, but for a freebie route, it does fairly well.

You probably have a hijacked browser as well.

Nothing too severe, just takes a little time to clean it all out.

[Pennywise]

Give them remote access and have a bunch of gay porn open.

[jerryforeverrice80]

i just give them the FBI number and tell to ask for the IT dept.

[MikeMaslowski]

Riding on a bus in CR, lady notices I am a white guy and have a Tica wife. Excited to let us know she was marrying an American Soldier(edit-who she met on FB) which gave her and my bride something in common. Lady asked questions all about immigration, papers, getting out of the military, etc. She told me the guy was going to be out in December(last August) but was busy fighting ISIS in Syria for now. I tried to let her know that that outprocessing takes a long time especially if he is overseas at the time. She said she didn't know but all he said is that he will be there in December and we could meet.

That story stuck weird in my head but I didn't give it much of a thought. She had my wife's number and kept in touch. In November I hear some lady crying at my gate. She had tracked us down and was really sad because she couldn't send money over to her future husband and that he gave some medals(yes medals that he earned in the very same war he was fighting and his previous awards..anybody who was in knows how stupid that sounds) to a friend in Baghdad but she would need to pay 500 dollars to get it shipped to her and it was very valuable and would be helpful for the transition. She needed to send the money to his friend and that he(bf) would be out of touch for a bit.

I started looking at the FB account and it was obviously fake. She didn't speak English and he didn't speak Spanish. They had NEVER talked on Skype or the phone. I put my head in my hands and wanted to feel bad for the lady but she almost got took for being absolutely unrealistic. She had told her whole family she was going to have a baby and marry a Gringo soldier, very religious but seems like she would do anything for this Wizard of Oz.

I explained to her what a scam was, as did my wife, and showed her this http://www.nbcnews.com/id/41810534/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/soldier-impersonators-target-women-facebook/#.VMus0WjF8nw

She left and didn't really believe it. Haven't heard from her since. My bet is that she is still talking to some scammer in Ft. Lauderdale.

[Baby Lee]

Not exactly the same sort of 'scam,' but it's videos like this that make me love the open internet.

Long story short, 'unauthorized' [by Apple] repairman makes a 5 minute, one component repair that Apple would charge $750 for and take a week to perform.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ocF_hrr83Oc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Deberg_1990]

Gave them access, fixed my problems and made my PC run 5 times faster

Took about 10 minutes. Great service!

[seamonster]

What they'll do is log into the machine, install ransom ware, encrypt your shit, and then ask for $700 worth of bit-coin to decrypt your system. Depending on who the person is and what they had (pictures, music etc,) people usually pay. It's a lot of old people and morons, but the minute you give this dude access to your computer you might as well re-steamroll your system with a fresh OS or buy a new computer.

[Iowanian]

I was getting calls from these assholes a few months ago. One day I was bored on a break at a conference when the call came. I decided to play along and see where it would go.

The guy wanted me to hit the Windows button and install a program. I played dumb about which buttons on the keyboard I saw.....he wanted the button next to the cntrl and shift. I was unable to locate it and eventually said " I only see the shift and gofuckyourmother" button....then he got belligerent and we exchanged insults of family and heritage nature for a couple of minutes before he hung up.

[go bo]

this happened to me and as it happened i was drunk/hiigh/tired/stupid and let the indian-accented one into my pc...

fortunately i figured out what he was trying to do and i pulled the plug (shut down my pc) before he got my hd encrypted...

he was very pissed and ended the call with a hearty fuck you which i found to be utterly hilarious...

with the help of fish and some other planeteers i got rid of all the crap he had left behind, including encryption certificates...

but just to be safe, i ended up reformatting and reinstalling windows 7...

i have continued to get cold calls from microsoft support people with a wide variety of non-american accents, but i just blow them off now...

maybe i should buy one of those air horn dealios at walmart and give them a good blast when they call...

[Gonzo]

Gave them access, fixed my problems and made my PC run 5 times faster

Took about 10 minutes. Great service!

LMAO

[Mennonite]

Gave them access, fixed my problems and made my PC run 5 times faster

Took about 10 minutes. Great service!



Maybe now that these guys have seized control of your computer, we'll see some better threads posted from your account.

[Baby Lee]

Maybe now that these guys have seized control of your computer, we'll see some better threads posted from your account.

ROFL - I'd rather cede control of my PC to a Nigerian prince than read a Deberg thread!!

[mdchiefsfan]

Gave them access, fixed my problems and made my PC run 5 times faster

Took about 10 minutes. Great service!

Maybe now that these guys have seized control of your computer, we'll see some better threads posted from your account.

ROFL - I'd rather cede control of my PC to a Nigerian prince than read a Deberg thread!!

LMAO

[BlackHelicopters]

Don't use a PC. Problem solved.

[lewdog]

I was unable to locate it and eventually said " I only see the shift and gofuckyourmother" button....then he got belligerent and we exchanged insults of family and heritage nature for a couple of minutes before he hung up.

ROFL

[Rausch]

Don't use a PC. Problem solved.

Ah, that use to be the case.

Now my old (7 year old) iMac is telling me nothing is supported anymore.

This is quite a problem. If I upgrade all the......found......software I acquired will no longer work. My photoshop and maya are almost 10 years old but work just fine for my needs.

Hell, I still haven't really scratched the surface on maya. The fucking manual I ordered is over 900 pages thick! 900 pages!

Plus the macOS isn't what it used to be...

[cwhocares]

They used to call my house about once a month. I Googled it and the first item that came up was a Microsoft web page stating that it was a scam. They listed a phone number to call. I called and they verified that the original call was a scam and that they could protect me from people hacking my computer and would transfer my call. The person to whom I was transferred to gave me the same speech, almost verbatim, to the original call saying they would need access to my computer to protect me. The Google search that came up was a scam also. Be careful.