Adrian Smith 1 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Last night I was subject to an attempted scammer incident on my iMac where a web search produced a site that was linked to a PC freeze window on my computer with a phone number which purported to be apple support for me to unfreeze it. Maybe it was late in the evening, but I phoned it and my PC was taken control with a "logmeinrescue" download. However, at the point where money was asked for I cut the phone line and turned off the PC. I then used my Windows laptop to Google the phone number given. You guessed it. Anyway after an hour I went back to the PC removed all the suspicious downloads and rescue icon off the tool bar. This morning I phoned the local Apple/Mac expert to see what else I needed to do. He suggested I downloaded and ran the free Adware or as it's now called Malabytes to seek any Malaware still present. This I did and all seems to be well now. Suffice to say I have changed every password I have (took 2 hours) as a precautionary measure, using my Window laptop. You live and learn, just when you think you are not gullible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Smith 1 Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 sorry screwed up the headline! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hopkin Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Sounds like a variant of the Ukash scam where your pc locked up at "police" webpage sking for money to be transferred to avoid prosecution............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 They are always a scam. The most crucial safety point is to never, never, never email them back, phone or message anyone back who contacts you. Never click on or accept any pop up window. As a safety reminder, emails wise: If someone messages you and it does not give you your full name in the body of the message then it will, 99% of the time, be a con. If a message from a site you use looks real and asks you to click on a link - never click on it. Always perform a login on another page using your own links to that website, if you absolutely must check your account, which is probably what the message is asking you to do. The pages the scammers send are getting more and more sophisticated and the simplest method, and easiest method, is to always close that message down and log in seperately if you really need to check. Similarly if a virus alert pops up with a message to "click here to fix" or similar - close it. Do not click on it. Open your anti virus and check it yourself so you know the message is real. If you haven't got an anti virus program - get one. If you use a Mac and still think you don't need an anti virus program (many still think they are safe) - get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I have always said that if I had a genie offer me three wishes I would use one wish to get every single internet scammer, email scammer, telesales spammer, PPI pest callers and computer hackers to stop what they were doing and become instant Des O'Connor fans. Obviously if there were no admins on here I'd state what I really would do to them but making them Des O'Connor fans is a close second! Edited By John F on 23/07/2015 15:47:44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Got a call today from 'an Asian' we have seen problems with your pc and access to windows, I did say 'yes you probably would, I'm using an Apple Mac .......again the phone went instantly quiet, ....hmmm,! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I have had several of those "we have been monitoring your computer and...." I love them. I let them go on telling me what to do and eventually they say "We can fix that. Just type in...." Having wasted quite a bit of their time and phone bill I say "I know that one you thieving something or other" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I tell them that it must be my other line 'cause the computer's on that not this one. Then I give them the number of a local cop shop that still has a listed BT number & ask them to call back on that line. They usually say they'll call straight back on the other number. I haven't had the nerve to ask the plods if they ever receive any calls so dunno what the outcomes have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sticky fingers Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I had one of those calls saying he was a microsoft tech, and he was going to clear my computer of its infections,I Ied him to believe he was convincing me and then hung up.He rang back almost immediately and I enquired as to where he got my number he gave some sort of nondescript reply mentioning registrations etc .I saw red big style, as I am thoroughly sick of getting unsolicited calls, I let rip with a few choice expletives calling him a scammermentioning his perceived colour and his doubtful parentage.Never had some cold caller get so upset, pity that.Had no more calls since, so it must have been effective,works for me. Edited By sticky fingers on 23/07/2015 21:04:31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Beware PayPal links that tell you that to "click here" to unlock your account due to hackers. Beware Outlook or Hotmail emails asking for the same thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Whybrow Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Posted by Peter Miller on 23/07/2015 18:23:13: Having wasted quite a bit of their time and phone bill I say "I know that one you thieving something or other" I did that a few months back and hung up, the scammer then range me back and she gave me a right earful about how I don't know what it's like to be poor, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hopkin Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 When they ring up, just say "Oh! I am glad you called I was thinking about that just the other day, can you hang on while I get a pen and paper" Put the phone down without hanging up Carry on with life as you were before you were interrupted Wait 30 mins and replace the reciever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Green Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 If you have time - string them along. Best I've done is 23 minutes. Act stupid but never give anything away. Beats work Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broken Prop Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I usually say that I knew they were about to call as The Voices had told me............ I love the ones who start off with 'And how are you today?' I tell them all about my old war wounds aching because its raining.......and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Andy, 23 minutes - I'm impressed! Previously I've; Got the guy to repeat everything 2 or 3 times, as I've had "difficulty understanding his accent" Strung one along for ages by pretending my keyboard didn't have a Windows key (I genuinely do have a really old keyboard somewhere that doesn't) Strung another one along for ages by having difficulty finding whatever he wanted me to click. When I innocently eventually enquired whether it might be because my computer was running Linux (it wasn't, but that's not the point!) he swore at me and hung up! I've never got over about 15 minutes though before they give up. Have a look on youtube, there's a few good hoaxer windups on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Posted by John Privett on 24/07/2015 19:35:20: Have a look on youtube, there's a few good hoaxer windups on there. Here's one; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredthepen Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Re Paypal "account frozen". I have recently had emails purporting to report account problems or some such. While they look most convincing I do tend to be sceptical when they do not send it to the email address I have registered with Paypal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 And of course Fred, they'll usually address you as "Dear Customer" or something similar. I've had loads of notifications over the years about accounts that I don't have, with banks I've never heard of, being frozen! And apparently, my Apple account (that I don't have) has now been blocked. As somebody who dislikes just about everything that comes out of Cupertino, I'd say that's excellent news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Posted by John Privett on 24/07/2015 19:35:20: I've never got over about 15 minutes though before they give up. Have a look on youtube, there's a few good hoaxer windups on there. I've just wasted 22.5 minutes of one scammer's time. These guys are getting bolder though. The last one to call me strenuously denied being a scammer when I got bored with him and told him I knew exactly what he was up to. He even tried to convince me he knew the "identity" of the PC I was on - he got me to run assoc and he told me a CLSID value from there to try to convince me he knew my "unique" number (about 20-digits long. Impressive, unless you realise it's the same number on almost every PC in the world!) Today's scammer rang "from" a number that looks like a mobile number but with 2 digits too many. I made him wait a while while I pretended to get my laptop from the boot of the car. Then again whilst I went back to get the power supply... And then the postman knocked on the door (not really) and two visitors did the same. Obviously my PC took a long time to power up whilst he waited! I spun up an almost brand-new copy of XP in a virtualbox and he got me to run eventviewer - laboriously telling me, 'e' for echo, 'wee' for victor, 'e' for echo, 'n' for norman.... etc. I pretended to be confused by "wee" for victor to waste a bit more time! I could sense his disappointment when eventviewer had only a few information messages, a very small number of warnings, and none of the Error messages that he'd hoped to show me. Undeterred he ploughed on through his script and got me to download teamviewer remote support and read him the 9-digit number so that he could connect to my PC. Not something I'd let him do, even on a virtual machine. This was my downfall, I made up a false 9=digit number as I read it to him, but he then asked me to repeat it to confirm he had it right! Game over, I told him I knew exactly what he was doing and that I wasn't the computer-illiterate idiot I'd pretended to be, but an IT professional with 30+ years experience. Again this one strenuously denied scamming. Eventually he hung up - he didn't even swear at me - slightly disappointing... But at least he wasn't scamming anybody else for those 22.5 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.