Just got off the phone to my sister who has just been done over by the microsoft scam. £99 for the privilege of letting someone have access to her PC. I don't really know what to tell her other than disconnect from internet and call her bank. Personally I would just do a fresh install of windows on a new HD and transfer over the photos and music etc. Unfortunately, she lives about 200miles away so guess she should go to a local PC shop and do this through them. Any advice I can give to her, considering she knows even less than me about computers? Will the access to her computer be ongoing or does it timeout? and will they have installed software to monitor keystrokes or are they just after that first payment? Can't believe they've done this on Christmas Eve. How the hell do they sleep at night....
Please elaborate on Microsoft scam? their is loads of scams, what exactly has happened? my first guess would be someone phoned saying they was from microsoft and told her, her pc was infected then got her to give over credit card details or buy software to fix the issue
I believe he is referring to the scam where 'Microsoft' calls you to tell you that they have detected some ting wrong with your PC. They will then convince you to let them remote control your PC. Immediately use this access to install all kinds of stuff so they can keep scamming you. Then gives you reasons to let them fix your PC for some money, of course not removing what ever they installed. So in essence they get your payment details and access to your PC. An all around terrible situation. I recommend getting a new payment card issued (if used) and possibly change account number. The less valid information these people have the better.
Take some advice from a ex uk copper - Usually its not access to her PC they really want but her credit card numbers, the first point of call will be a phone call to her bank to cancel that card before they spend it up large in India/Thailand (insert another country here). The access to the PC and pretending to fix things is usually to "re-assure" the victim that they have done some legitimate work on your PC while they go and clone/spend on the credit card... If she used her visa debit bank card make sure she goes down to the ATM and gets enough cash out to last her over the holiday period as she wont see a replacement card soon given the time of the year.
sounds like this contact the bank tell them whats happend they might be able to reverse the payment and block the card. if they made her install stuff to the pc the only sure way to be 100% sure that the software is gone would be to format and reinstall
Why would Microsoft call for such a thing ? Moreover, how could they know about one particular PC infection :-/
I agree with the above post call the CC company and cancel the payment and have them issue a new card. Then I would go out and buy an external HDD and move all her pictures, personal documents, music, favorites, and if she is like my wife her downloads (where people download stuff and don't save it). Then depending on the computer she can either create recovery media, use the disc she got with the computer or use the recovery partition that came on it. Some programs need to be de-authorized before they can be used again so ensure she has none of those. The second most important thing she can do is make a list of programs that she has on her computer so she can re-install them. She can either make a word document or do it the old fashioned way and use pen and paper. If she can't manage that you can use a free program like team viewer or Logmein to remote in to her computer and help her save her stuff and create the media she needs. If you don't feel comfortable using those programs you can PM me and I will be willing to help if it's not too late (that's if you want to trust me or some one else on the forums) but she can watch and ensure nothing funky is going on. If you need additional help please let us know. It can be a Christmas present from one of the people willing to help on here. But either way she is going to need several DVDs atleast 3 to 4 to make recovery media (that's if she is using windows 7) and you will have to talk her through the part you can not see, and she will need an external HDD as DVDs only last a few years depending on the burner. DVDs are a decent temporary way to back up but not a good long term back up, that is better suited for long term as she can turn it off and on to save on the life span. Just post back if you need more help. I hope this helps. EDIT: This is a common scam that has been going on for years. Mechh69
She got a call telling her, her computer was running slow and there was a high security alert and they could sort it out for a fee. She was then emailed and given a link so they could sort out remote access. Looks like they ran ccleaner as that was in the add/remove programs, nothing else there though (used install date to filter out new additions). Would a remote access program be here also or would it be elsewhere. Have told her to install and find out how to use AVG, never used it myself but got to be better than nothing right? Her bank has suspended her internet banking and her cards and shes gonna go change her email password on her other computer. Hopefully she's covered now.
Cheers for all the replies. She didn't get her money back as was a debit card payment. Reckon the best way to sort this out for sure is a new hd and windows install. Then we can get the data transferred back over that she wants to keep. Mechh69 - Since she really knows nothing she should go to a local pc shop for this. Hell, it took 15min to find out she had wifi and a cd burner. Many thanks for the offer of help tho.
No problem we are all here to help. I hope you get this sorted, and she really should have a back up plan of some sort. I'm sorry she didn't get her money back, can she not go to the bank and file a complaint and have them work on getting it back for her? That is a lot of money to loose.
If it was for me I would go for that but I would feel a bit odd sending a random guy over (however sound they may be ). Nice idea tho, and it maker me feel good to know there are so many people out there willing to help out. Thanks again to all who replied.
She probably should lodge a formal complaint if only so the bank can stop it carrying on, £99 is a lot of money to lose, especially on Xmas eve but as its a direct debit transaction I don't think anything can be reversed. These scams have been going on for ages yet still nothing has been done, so I guess it isn't an easy thing to stop. People just need to be warned (constantly). I'm just annoyed cause if I'd phoned her 10min before it would never have happened as she had already had a couple of calls earlier, and it was still running when I called her
She should be able yo claim the money back from the card company something on the lines of this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/7593369.stm
Halifax got me a small amount back when my card got compromised and that was a debit card. If the bank don't sort it out I'd be changing bank, Sent from my Orange Monte Carlo using Tapatalk 2
Just request a chargeback on the card for the £99 transaction. Or ask what the transaction is as she "never approved that payment"
Get her to run Malwarebytes and a full virus scan on it to make sure there is nothing dodgy on it. If paid by credit card might be able to get the money back. They dont care about your PC as mentioned they just want your credit card details. Few of my customers have fell for it then rang me up really upset
