My friend got scammed

[philo]

I should have made it clearer that he ended the conversation before
there was any money or credit transaction. They only got so far as to
remote-connect to his computer. He's checked with his bank and credit
cards and there has been no suspicious activity.

That happened to someone I know and the machine was set to boot to safe
mode only. He also hung up before they got his credit card.


I ran msconfig and took it out of safe mode and checked it over.
It seems no other harm was done. That was six months ago and he's had no
problems

 

[Dave]

Well, half-scammed that is. He got a call from one of those operations
that claim that they represent Microsoft and that they have detected
viruses on your computer and that they will fix the problem for a fee.
My naive friend went so far as to let them remote-connect to his
computer before he got suspicious and hung up the phone and turned off
the computer. I've agreed to visit him tomorrow and check out the
computer for any signs of possible tampering or malware that may have
been planted.

As far as I know this particular scam's primary goal is to separate your
money from your wallet, not to do actual damage to or infect the
computer. But they did have the opportunity to do so, so it needs to be
checked out. I'm going to do general scans for viruses, malware a few
tools I've got. I'll be on the lookout for keyloggers and rootkits.

Can anyone comment on their experience with this type of scammer and
know what, if anything, they tend to leave in their aftermath?

I've read through all the posts so far. Here is my experience, I am a
volunteer handy helper in our continuing care facility. The person
involved got a similar call, she never gave them a credit card number and
swore she didn't do anything on her machine. I don't believe her, the
attacker had installed software to gain control of her machine. I knew
this as soon as I moved the mouse and realized it wasn't under my complete
control. I shut down, but on a re-boot there was a password request that
no windows password recovery program could fix. I suspect this was a
special program put there by the attacker.
She had the original recovery cd's. I used a Puppy Linux to capture any
essential personal data then restored the system.
As I said, I believe you have to do something to let these people in, but
they are very clever and I wouldn't recommend people play 'cute' with
them. It's worth having one or more of the virus checking programs on
bootable media, but I'm not sure if this type of intrusion would be
caught. Unfortunately, too few people keep system image backups which is
the best safeguard against all sort of problems. For various reasons, I
like web based email programs like Outlook, which keeps contacts safely
off the machine.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Oh, how I wish he had stopped at that point, too. He only got
suspicious when they started asking him for money. They guy is way too
trusting of people.

The cure: let home read Usenet newsgroups for a while

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Well, half-scammed that is. He got a call from one of those operations
that claim that they represent Microsoft and that they have detected
viruses on your computer and that they will fix the problem for a fee.
My naive friend went so far as to let them remote-connect to his
computer before he got suspicious and hung up the phone and turned off
the computer. I've agreed to visit him tomorrow and check out the
computer for any signs of possible tampering or malware that may have
been planted.

As far as I know this particular scam's primary goal is to separate
your money from your wallet, not to do actual damage to or infect the
computer. But they did have the opportunity to do so, so it needs to be
checked out. I'm going to do general scans for viruses, malware a few
tools I've got. I'll be on the lookout for keyloggers and rootkits.

Can anyone comment on their experience with this type of scammer and
know what, if anything, they tend to leave in their aftermath?

I have a couple of general suggestions for anyone in this thread to
consider. I don't have any specific links, however.

1. There are bootable CDs, often Linux based, with antivirus programs
that can help clean up the computer safely (i.e., one doesn't boot to
the possibly infected OS). Obtain one and burn it on an uninfected
computer, of cause.

2. Some antivirus companies have online scans available at their
websites. This requires booting to the possibly infected OS & going
online, however. I think these all do that: Bitdefender, FSecure,
Kaspersky (not sure), Panda, & Trend Micro.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

of cause

"Of coarse". No, I meant "of Corse". Or is it "of course"?

Oh, never mine.

 

[Charles Lindbergh]

The cure: let home read Usenet newsgroups for a while

OR , you let "him" read Usenet newsgroups for a while........

So Gene, is it lack of caffeine, numb fingers, hinky voice recognition
software, in need of a new eyeglass script or you are simply an old
fart and don't give a crap about your own spelling?

Just teasing geezer.........

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

OR , you let "him" read Usenet newsgroups for a while........

So Gene, is it lack of caffeine, numb fingers, hinky voice recognition
software, in need of a new eyeglass script or you are simply an old
fart and don't give a crap about your own spelling?

Just teasing geezer.........

That's OK, I'm tough

Careless use of spellchecker, probably.

My eyeglass prescription is only a few months old; other excuses might
apply, however. I'll definitely have to look into my caffeine schedule:
maybe three cups a day isn't enough.

Actually, I do give a crap about my own spelling (and grammar & syntax),
so whatever the reason is, it must relate to competency, rather than to
intent.

Thank heavens I'm not graded on this.

Actually, the thought of being graded on Usenet posts is beyond bizarre,
methinks.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

And I don't blame them.

That is a very drastic solution, that should only be done as a last resort.

I agree, but prepare to be vigorously attacked for saying so. (Actually,
I've read further into the thread, and to my surprise you haven't been.
But give it time ...)

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

The cure: let home read Usenet newsgroups for a while

That can be a two-edged sword (-:! Think of all the advice even just
here you disagree with (including some of mine!).

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, Dave <[email protected]>
writes:
[]

the best safeguard against all sort of problems. For various reasons, I
like web based email programs like Outlook, which keeps contacts safely
off the machine.

Depends whether you think they're safer on the machine, or in some
online abstraction over which you have no control ...

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

That can be a two-edged sword (-:! Think of all the advice even just
here you disagree with (including some of mine!).

I meant the cure for being too trusting of people.

I'd say that line of thinking is inarguable...as I brace myself for
arguments

 

[Charles Lindbergh]

That's OK, I'm tough

Careless use of spellchecker, probably.

My eyeglass prescription is only a few months old; other excuses might
apply, however. I'll definitely have to look into my caffeine schedule:
maybe three cups a day isn't enough.

Actually, I do give a crap about my own spelling (and grammar & syntax),
so whatever the reason is, it must relate to competency, rather than to
intent.

Thank heavens I'm not graded on this.

Actually, the thought of being graded on Usenet posts is beyond bizarre,
methinks.

Aside from your inclination to impersonate a pun-o-matic machine from
a county fair or boardwalk amusement park, your grades are pretty
good.......

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Aside from your inclination to impersonate a pun-o-matic machine from
a county fair or boardwalk amusement park, your grades are pretty
good.......

I hope it's OK to laugh - your post triggered a certain amount of
laughter here ;-)

Pun-o-matic...wow!

 

[Buffalo]

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message

"Of coarse". No, I meant "of Corse". Or is it "of course"?

Oh, never mine.

OK, I hate digging. Have a fun 4th.

 

[Charles Lindbergh]

I hope it's OK to laugh - your post triggered a certain amount of
laughter here ;-)

Pun-o-matic...wow!

It was offered with humorous intent.... Laughter is always good, not
to mention the best medicine (thank you Reader's Digest).

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message

OK, I hate digging. Have a fun 4th.

LOL!

Thanks - that was fun.

 

[Steve Hayes]

I agree, but prepare to be vigorously attacked for saying so. (Actually,
I've read further into the thread, and to my surprise you haven't been.
But give it time ...)

A clean reinstallation of Windows achieves exactly what most virus writers
want to achieve -- disables your computer and causes maximum inconvenience
until you've reinstalled and configured everything, which also entails
searching for the original installation disks/discs, and waiting while updates
(if available) are downloaded from the Internet.

 

[Mike Barnes]

A clean reinstallation of Windows achieves exactly what most virus writers
want to achieve -- disables your computer and causes maximum inconvenience
until you've reinstalled and configured everything, which also entails
searching for the original installation disks/discs, and waiting while updates
(if available) are downloaded from the Internet.

I think your view of what most virus writers are trying to achieve is
well out of date. Nowadays, many of them seem to be in it for the money.

Additionally it's a lot easier than it's ever been for the potential
victim to minimise the inconvenience with a sound backup policy, which
also pays dividends in the event of hardware failure or loss.

 

[Steve Hayes]

I think your view of what most virus writers are trying to achieve is
well out of date. Nowadays, many of them seem to be in it for the money.

Additionally it's a lot easier than it's ever been for the potential
victim to minimise the inconvenience with a sound backup policy, which
also pays dividends in the event of hardware failure or loss.

Indeed.

I once tried a program recommended by my daughter, which totally screwed up my
laptop.

I restored it from Acronis, which took me a couple of hours, and carried on.

When it was stolen a couple of years later, I replaced it with one that runs
Windows 7 insteasd of XP, and it took about 6 months before I was able to use
it productively. That was equivalent to a "clean install", and was a major
inconvenience.

 

[OldGuy]

and so precisely what is the plan to check for problems?
run what? inquiring minds want to know!