A worldwide epidemic is afoot. Charlotte County seems particularly vulnerable based on phone calls and emails I receive. Here are the source points, symptoms, results and methods to protect ourselves.
Contact points appear to be an unsolicited phone call from “windows” or “Microsoft” or some other Internet technology company or our attempt to find a phone number for support.
With unsolicited phone calls the caller informs us our computer is infected and may crash, infect our friend’s computers or is sending viruses infecting computers around the world. The caller offers to remove the virus and save our binary buddies. They then request that we visit a website that allows the caller to remotely control our computer. Sites like Logmein, or Teamviewer. Once in control, they go to Start – Control Panel – Administrative Tools – Event Viewer. Now they filter the events to show only the ERROR reports. Scrolling through recorded events they point out the red ERROR messages and tell us thousands of problems exist on our computer. Next they download a program that flashes a graphical scan screen that reports thousands of registry errors, and the caller states our computer is about to crash. While all this is occurring the caller may do one or all of the following: Infect our PC then request money to clean it up, steal our files / folders / e-mail address / passwords etc. use our computer to attack other systems. The caller may ask us to write down a series of numbers referring to them as support numbers, license keys, ticket control numbers to keep us distracted. The caller offers to resolve all the problems for some monetary sum, usually in the $199 range however the last few I have been called on have been in the $300 dollar ballpark. One client tried to pay with a credit card that was blocked from overseas transactions and the caller demanded that the client surrender the account and routing numbers to their checking account. When the user refused they hung up and sent an invoice via e-mail.
A recent twist to this scam is that now instead of taking a credit card payment for payment, they are using the credit card to fund a Western Union money transfer. One client had the money picked up in Singapore minutes after giving out the credit card and the scammers not only took $500 but charged the credit card for the Western Union fee. Once cash has left a bank, the bank will not give it back.
The same scam occurred when users, frustrated that they cannot find a phone number for Google, HP, Norton or Microsoft, type into a search engine “support phone numbers for” the company they are trying to reach. One client called a number they thought was the support line for Norton Antivirus and the person who answered the phone took over their computer and ran the same scan outlined above. Seems pretty strange that Norton would tell one of their customers that the Norton software didn’t protect them but for $179 they would remove what their software couldn’t.
Companies do not use phones. Online Chat, e-mail, and forums are the service de jour. Receive one of these calls or recognize the scam, hang up. For fun, see how long we can keep them on the phone without payment before they hang up.
Is it imperative that $169 be sent to someone? Please send it to me or a LOCAL tech of choice.
Here’s an interesting idea sent in by a loyal reader. They keep a copy of Grumbles From the Keyboard on the coffee table. Each day as they settle in for a little TV, they pick up the book and read another chapter during commercials. It’s quiet time, and they can concentrate on the subject matter without interruption. Get your copy today.
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Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: BooksAnd don’t forget, after absorbing all that knowledge, you’ll be hungry. Find out what a computer geek likes to eat from my cookbook, Epicuria: An Adventure that Really Cooks!
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Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books
I felt obligated to post because I got a call like that, too, from 206-456-0661. The caller claimed he was from Microsoft and that their company has been receiving alerts from my computer, telling them there's a virus. LOL! I hung up and reported the call. Looks like several others got called, too. i pulled up several complaints at http://www.callercenter.com/206-456-0661.html , all associating the call to a phone scam.
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