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A new computer phone scam going around?

  • justincredible
    My grandma got a call the other day from a lady from, I'm guessing, India. She could hardly understand the lady but the lady was claiming there were "a lot of irregularities" coming from her computer. My grandma immediately knew it was bullshit but was trying to push the lady to tell her who she was calling for. The lady wouldn't answer, she just kept repeating the irregularity line and told her to turn on her computer so she could take her through the steps of "fixing" it.

    Grandma finally got annoyed and told her that she'd call me and I'd take care of it. The lady got upset, "well, your grandson isn't IT so he won't know what to do." Grandma replied that I have a computer science degree and the lady immediately hung up.

    Anyone else get this call or hear of this scam?
  • gorocks99
    I think it's a fairly common scam. Best response I've read:
    This happened about two hours ago. (Man it took a long time to write this up.) Sorry for the wall of text.After working hard setting up the Cub Scout summer camp I work at seasonally, I come back home and unpack my stuff. About ten minutes later, the house phone rings. It's never a good sign when the house phone rings -- I only hand out my landline to services and such who need it, like my ISP (who handles my landline) and bank and so on. So, I pick up my phone with an ounce of dread.

    "Hello, this is aveilleux, can I help you?" (Old retail/support habits are hard to kick)

    (Thick Indian accent) "Yes, hello, is this Mister <my first="" name="">?"
    </my>
    "Yes, this is he. To whom am I speaking?"

    "This is... Jason... from Microsoft Support. We were doing a routine scan of networks in your area and noticed that your computer may be vulnerable to viruses and other malware."

    At this point, my sense of foreboding instantly turns into a shining beacon of glee. I'd read about these kinds of scams before, and had prepared an unpatched Windows 2000 (yes, that Windows 2000) virtual machine for such an occasion.

    "Oh, that sounds serious. Is there something I can do to help?"

    "Yes, thank you Mister aveilleux. Are you in front of your computer now?"

    "No, but I can be in a moment. Hang on a second, please."

    I set the phone down on my desk and stand up, stepping loudly on the uncarpeted section of my floor. After a few minutes and some Facebooking on my cell phone later, I take a seat again.

    "Okay, Jason, I'm at my PC. What now?"

    "Is your computer on?"

    "I'm sorry?"

    (Louder, with more enunciation) "Is... your... computer... on?"

    "Oh, is it on? I don't think so. Lemme just find the power switch real quick..."

    I set the phone down again and start rustling things around on my desk, knocking my cup of pens over and yelling "Oh, shit!" and so on. I muck about for another minute or so, before launching Virtualbox and starting up my 2k VM.

    "Okay, it says 'M... My-krow-sssssoft. Winnnndowssssss. Two thousand. Pr... Pro-pr. Proffesssshhhionalll.' Oh, shit, it's gone away. Oh, wait, here's my computer now." (Referring to my desktop.) "Okay, it's all booted up. What now?"

    There's a pause where I think "Jason" didn't realize he was still muted, probably talking smack about me to a coworker.

    "Jason? You there?"

    "Yes, sorry aveilleux. Now, in the corner of your keyboard, in the bottom-left, is there a key with a little flag on it?"

    "...Keyboard?"

    "Yes, your keyboard."

    "What's a keyboard?"

    I can hear the facepalm. "The device attached to your computer that you use to type, aveilleux. That is your keyboard."

    I start banging things around on my desk again. "Sorry, I think I've lost it under all the shit on my desk, give me a second..." I crinkle a wrapper in the trash bin and rustle around a bit. "Alright, I've uncovered the thing I type with... the keyboard?"

    "Yes, aveilleux, the keyboard."

    "Okay. And I'm looking in the bottom-right for a key that looks like a cloverleaf?"

    "...No, Mister aveilleux, look in the bottom-left for a key with a little flag on it."

    "A flag?"

    "...Let's try this, In the bottom-left of your screen, do you see a button with the word "Start" on it?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Click on that, then click 'Run'."

    "Okay, I clicked on it, I'm looking for 'Run'? I see" (picture the remainder of this sentence stumbling through pronunciation, I don't feel like typing it all out again) "Set Program Access and Defaults, Windows Update, Programs, Docu--"

    "It should be at the bottom, aveilleux."

    "The bottom?"

    "Yes, 'Run' will be at the bottom of your Start menu."

    "...Ohhhh! I see it now! Sorry I wasted your time. Okay. I clicked on that. What now?"
    http://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/w79zp/i_got_one_of_those_scam_calls_today/
  • gorocks99
    Continued...
    "A little box should pop up in the corner. In that box I need you to type in," (he spelled this out) "'eventvwr'. Okay?"

    "Okay, I typed in 'event viewer'. Is that good?"

    "No, aveilleux. I need you to type it in exactly as I spell it." He repeats the proper spelling.

    "I hit Enter and it said 'Cannot find the file 'event' or any of its components..."

    "I need you to go back to the Run box."

    "I'm sorry?"

    Go to Start, Run again."

    "But I already did that."

    He sighs. "Please, Mister aveilleux, I need you to follow my instructions exactly or else your computer could be at risk for viruses from the Internet or other malware."

    "Oh, right, yeah, I'm sorry. Okay, so I have the Run box up again." (At this point my ignorant facade starts to slip.)

    "You've typed in 'eventvwr' into the box?"

    "Yes I have. e-v-e-n-t-v-w-r."

    "Good, now click OK."

    "..Okay, this box that says 'Event Viewer' came up. Is that good?"

    "Yes, aveilleux. Look on the left, do you see three menu items that say 'Application', 'Security', and 'System'?"

    "On the left? No... wait, I was looking on the right. Yeah, those are there."

    "Okay, now in the center box, do you see a few messages with big red 'X's next to them?"

    "Oh, yeah, Jason. Those look pretty bad. What are they?"

    "Those are warning messages about potential viruses from the Internet."

    "Oh, oh dear. There certainly are a lot of them."

    "Okay, Mister aveilleux, you can close out of that."

    At this point I'm cracking up. I've wasted almost ten minutes of this poor sap's time just trying to load Event Viewer, which he apparently doesn't even need. I guess he was just trying to scare people who don't know what the Event Viewer is (which is, let's be honest, most computer users) into believing him.

    "..Close out?"

    "Click on the 'X' in the upper-right of the window."

    "I don't see an 'X'."

    "...Okay. Well. That's okay. Can you get the Run box up again?"

    "How was that again?"

    "Start, Run."

    "Where's St-- oh, right, bottom-left. Okay, I've got the Run box up again."

    "Now I need you to delete everything in the box we typed in before, okay?"

    "Just, like, close the box?"

    "No, Mister aveilleux. Select everything in the box, it should still say eventvwr in it, and press the Backspace key."

    "The box closed."

    "You wh..." I can hear the click as he mutes himself. There's a pause.

    I'm losing him! I don't want him to hang up!

    "Jason?"

    "Yes, sorry aveilleux. Could you please get the Run box up again?"

    "Sure thing, Jason. It's up and there's nothing in it. What now?"

    "Okay. Now type in (Web address omitted). Can you repeat back to me what it says in the box?"

    "Okay, it says '(Web address)'. Is that right?"

    "Yes, now you can click 'OK'."

    Jackpot. Executing a Web address in the Run box opens up an IE window (or whatever browser you have as default). I run a quick WHOIS on the site and, obviously, the information is forged to look real.

    "Okay, it's loading up. The little spinner thing is going off in the corner."

    "That's good, that means it's loading. Just let me know when it's ready."

    The Web interface for LogMeIn 123 loads up. Hooray! Time to screw with a remote user.

    "Hang on a second, my cat's doing something." I put the phone back down and wander away, muttering, "Kitty..." I quietly return to my desk and start downloading as many pictures as I can from r/spacedicks, tossing them into a zip file on my desktop called "passwords.zip". I then go find a Flash drive I have lying around... it's covered in red electrical tape with the word "VIRUS" Sharpied on the side. It's a massive 7z archive of computer viruses, all ready to be unloaded onto a target system. I unpack it into the VM then re-zip it, fiddling around with the autoexec flags of some of the files. This is "bank_data.zip", naturally. It's ready.

    "Okay, Jason. It's loaded up. I'm at a LogMeIn prompt. It's asking for some kind of password?"

    "Very good, Mister aveilleux. Now, just enter in the code 215807. Can you repeat that back to me?"

    "2-1-5-8-0-7. Is that right?"

    "Yes. Now click 'Connect to technician' and we'll be connected to you, so we can make sure you are protected."

    I click OK. It prompts me to allow access to LogMeIn's support software. I allow it, then the screen flashes as my system's taken over by the remote technician (probably "Jason"). I see the cursor wiggle a little.

    "Uh, Jason, my mouse is moving."

    "Yes, that's normal. That means our support technician has connected to your PC and is now examining your system to ensure that it's safe."

    "Oh... okay."

    "Now, we're going to take a while, up to an hour. Is that okay?"

    "Well, I mean, I guess if it'll keep my computer safe."

    "You can walk away from the computer now, and we'll call you back when we're finished. Thank you for your time, aveilleux."

    "Thank you, Jason, for doing this for me." He hangs up.

    Naturally, the guy at the other end of the line grabs passwords.zip and bank_data.zip and uploads them to a fileshare server. (Why he didn't just use the LogMeIn VPN is beyond me.) I make a note of the deletion links. This takes maybe 45 minutes (I have a fast connection). After that's done, he snags some files from \WINNT\ (to grab registration info and such; of course, the system's data is all incorrect). I get a call from Jason.

    "Okay, Mister aveilleux. We have all the information we need and we'll be back in touch with you if we need anything."

    "Thanks much, Jason. I hope you enjoy my data as much as I did."

    "I'm sorry?"

    "Never mind. Goodbye!"
    http://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/w79zp/i_got_one_of_those_scam_calls_today/
  • gorocks99
    tl;dr: fuck you, read it.
  • Raw Dawgin' it
    I got a couple calls from someone saying the government owes me $7k. I asked for their name so i could run it by my friend at the state department, they hung up ha
  • gut
    Nice thing about ditching the land line is I rarely get such calls, or telemarketers.

    But either my GV or cell number (and actually both, I think) keeps getting this scam call for a cruise line. The number is Seattle, Washington area (call starts with an annoying horn and then "hello, this is you captain speaking"). I block the number but then a month or two later they have a new number they are calling with
  • hasbeen
    I've gotten a similar call a couple times.

    First time: "hi this is blah blah and I bet you're running Windows on your computer."
    Me: "yes.."
    them: "well we have noticed you have a virus blah blah"
    me: hang up.

    Second time: "hi this is blah blah and I bet you're running Windows on your computer."
    Me: "no, I have apple"
    them: silence
    Me: "what about my computer"
    them: "umm"
    then i went on a bitch session which included me telling them i lied and actually am windows just testing what you'd say and he responded "well now how am i suppose to trust you?" then i started throwing the 'fucks' around.
  • gut
    It would be fun to play along, but then say "I don't have internet, it stopped working...but please help me fix virus"
  • Raw Dawgin' it
    gorocks99;1397704 wrote:tl;dr: fuck you, read it.
    reported, btw
  • dlazz
    this isn't a new scam.
  • hasbeen
    dlazz;1398141 wrote:this isn't a new scam.

    First time it has called my house, ever.
  • dlazz
    hasbeen;1398151 wrote:First time it has called my house, ever.
    Oh okay. Since they just called you for the first time it must be new.
  • hasbeen
    dlazz;1398153 wrote:Oh okay. Since they just called you for the first time it must be new.

    Since everything is relative, yes.
  • O-Trap
    Excellent. I did something similar, but with a RAT.
  • justincredible
    dlazz;1398141 wrote:this isn't a new scam.
    New to me.
  • Heretic
    justincredible;1398171 wrote:New to me.
  • GoChiefs
    My wife's grand parents fell for a scam a few months ago. Their son is a truck driver and someone called them and said their son's truck broke down and needed towed but he didn't have the cash on him. They said they could swing by and pick it up. An hour later, 2 guys showed up, the grandparents handed them the $400 to tow the truck.

    Later that night, they called their son to make sure he got home alright, and he had no clue what they were talking about. They did catch the guys, but they had no clue who the 2 guys were. Got the info they needed right off the net.
  • gut
    GoChiefs;1398271 wrote: Later that night, they called their son to make sure he got home alright, and he had no clue what they were talking about. They did catch the guys, but they had no clue who the 2 guys were. Got the info they needed right off the net.
    I was going to say the guys had to have some inside info. Too bad they didn't get suspicious and have the cops waiting when they showed up. But glad they caught them - wonder how the police tracked them down.
  • dlazz
    My grandma almost got burned a few years ago. Someone called her impersonating me and said I was on spring break in Canada and needed $500 to get out of jail.

    They never once said my name, but it was enough to get my grandma to go to Western Union and prepare the payment.

    She wised up and called my mom to check and see if it was legit, who in turn called me. I was sitting in my apartment, doing nothing.

    Someone tried to pull the same scam a few months later but they panicked and hung up when she asked for my first name.
  • Scarlet_Buckeye
    I got a call today on my cell phone from a company saying they were calling in response to the "survey" I filled out online regarding job opportunities (which I didn't). They started asking me generic questions and then they wanted more presonal stuff like my DOB to which I just hung up. I don't give out any personal information to anybody I'm not familiar with.
  • GoChiefs
    gut;1398603 wrote:I was going to say the guys had to have some inside info. Too bad they didn't get suspicious and have the cops waiting when they showed up. But glad they caught them - wonder how the police tracked them down.

    They told all their friends about it and by chance, they tried to scam a friend of a friend. That's when the cops were there waiting.
  • justincredible
    Scarlet_Buckeye;1398645 wrote:I got a call today on my cell phone from a company saying they were calling in response to the "survey" I filled out online regarding job opportunities (which I didn't). They started asking me generic questions and then they wanted more presonal stuff like my DOB to which I just hung up. I don't give out any personal information to anybody I'm not familiar with.

    I got that the other week. I think it was a recording that responded to certain responses.
  • O-Trap
    gut;1397859 wrote:Nice thing about ditching the land line is I rarely get such calls, or telemarketers.

    But either my GV or cell number (and actually both, I think) keeps getting this scam call for a cruise line. The number is Seattle, Washington area (call starts with an annoying horn and then "hello, this is you captain speaking"). I block the number but then a month or two later they have a new number they are calling with
    I used to get those too. Haven't in awhile, though.
    Scarlet_Buckeye;1398645 wrote:I got a call today on my cell phone from a company saying they were calling in response to the "survey" I filled out online regarding job opportunities (which I didn't). They started asking me generic questions and then they wanted more presonal stuff like my DOB to which I just hung up. I don't give out any personal information to anybody I'm not familiar with.
    Got this one just a minute ago. I hung up, but I want them to call back. I'm working on getting a bunch of fake info that checks out to give them.