Since the scammers accessed the computer, they probably did one or more of the following:
• Disabled the anti-virus software
• Added nasty malware to the computer
• Copied the Contact List (so they can spam/email your soon-to-be ex-friends)
• Copied any financial data or passwords they could find
• Compromised your ID
• "Zombied" the computer, so it would respond to THEIR commands sent via internet
• Deleted some important files
• Asked for money to repair the damage they caused
What can you do immediately after such an attack?
1. Pull the cables on the computer, so it cannot access the internet.
2. Change ALL passwords stored on the computer
3. Run FULL malware scans on the computer, in "SAFE" mode!
4. Change the passwords again, particularly if the malware scans showed anything
5. Inform your bank and credit card companies
6. Sign up for credit monitoring, and check the status frequently
7. You may have to bring the computer to a local repair shop, and tell them the story.
8. Tell friends what happened, so they can be aware of strange emails from you
9. Plug in the cables only AFTER all the above have been done
10. Change the passwords on all online accounts. Even better - access a "safe", uninfected computer, and chance your online account passwords RIGHT NOW.
You fell for one scam, and might be susceptible to others mentioned on this site:
http://phonehelp.2truth.com/facts_rev.html
Read that info to educate and help protect yourself!
Honest computer companies do NOT cold-call people, or cause popups from websites to tell them their computers need fixing!
Some scammers even have websites.
Read the info at these links.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cold-Call-Tech ... on-150170.shtml
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams
Lesson:
If your computer needs fixing, bring it to a local repair shop
Remember to return here, to 800notes.com, after you look at any of the information at the above sites, either to post more information, or to let us know you avoided the scam or fixed the computer correctly.
I've been warning people about scams for a long time and today I got caught up in one myself. Received a phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft. Actually bought his lingo for awhile, sounded good at the time and just by chance was having issues with one computer. Told me he could clean my computer up and help with any computer problems by remote. So, I gave him access by remote, he changed my computers password, told me it would be $149.00 and had me go into my bank account online as he tried to do a $500.00 transfer. I asked him to please cancel the order and let me have access to my computer and he said he would crash all the information unless I paid him $250.00. Finally hung up on him, password still wouldn't work, thank God it wasn't my main computer, the person, of course was from India, called me back several times yelling at me because I wouldn't go do a Western Union payment to his "company" immediately. Contacted Luke LM-Computers almost in tears and he had me bring the hard drive to his store and it has been fixed with no information lost, whew...So if you get a call from "Microsoft" people, make sure you don't even talk to these people. I did write down this person's telephone number and they do answer the phone, name and his "badge number". I will be calling whoever handles these types of calls and report it very soon.
Like the message above, the exact same thing happened to my mom today. The person called her on the phone and claimed to be an "HP Tech Support" rep. He insisted she had lots of viruses on her computer and he needed to clean her computer. When she would hang up on him or question his legitimacy, he would get angry and and yell at her. He told her to go to a Western Union Bank and deposit money to Frety Danmon for $2,000. He claimed his name was Adam Lewis, Acct. 4412 and his manager was Peter Rodgers. Bottom line is this is a SCAM and anyone who receives a call from a similar number needs to report to the police.
Jan 27 2015 Had a phone call from a Mark Wilson claiming to be from Microsoft who said he could fix my computer in 15 minutes .He gained remote access and showed me I had 9,000 junk files and that all the free space on my computer would be used up if I didn't get it fixed. Said it could be fixed in 15 minutes if I paid $139 by credit card. While filling out the security answers someone was changing them for a western union transfer. I then hung up and shut down the computer reported my credit card scammed and could not get back into my computer. The remote access name was Leighe E Beattie and I was able to change my password after calling Microsoft myself. Microsoft suggested I go to Bing and report this story to the Microsoft community.
Since the scammers accessed the computer, they probably did one or more of the following:
• Disabled the anti-virus software
• Added nasty malware to the computer
• Copied the Contact List (so they can spam/email your soon-to-be ex-friends)
• Copied any financial data or passwords they could find
• Compromised your ID
• "Zombied" the computer, so it would respond to THEIR commands sent via internet
• Deleted some important files
• Asked for money to repair the damage they caused
What can you do immediately after such an attack?
1. Pull the cables on the computer, so it cannot access the internet.
2. Change ALL passwords stored on the computer
3. Run FULL malware scans on the computer, in "SAFE" mode!
4. Change the passwords again, particularly if the malware scans showed anything
5. Inform your bank and credit card companies
6. Sign up for credit monitoring, and check the status frequently
7. You may have to bring the computer to a local repair shop, and tell them the story.
8. Tell friends what happened, so they can be aware of strange emails from you
9. Plug in the cables only AFTER all the above have been done
10. Change the passwords on all online accounts. Even better - access a "safe", uninfected computer, and chance your online account passwords RIGHT NOW.
You fell for one scam, and might be susceptible to others mentioned on this site:
http://phonehelp.2truth.com/facts_rev.html
Read that info to educate and help protect yourself!
Honest computer companies do NOT cold-call people, or cause popups from websites to tell them their computers need fixing!
Some scammers even have websites.
Read the info at these links.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cold-Call-Tech ... on-150170.shtml
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams
Lesson:
If your computer needs fixing, bring it to a local repair shop
Remember to return here, to 800notes.com, after you look at any of the information at the above sites, either to post more information, or to let us know you avoided the scam or fixed the computer correctly.