WARNING !! Microsoft Phone Scam

[csv8]

The wife got a phone call from an Indian, offering Microsoft Security. 3 year service and a lifetime warranty on Windows repairs..for $300. !!! Missus hung up.
I rang MS and they said "its a scam, hangup"........
I just wish people would stop xzrtyunb with pc's..

[poppa smurf]

I contacted microsoft about a similar thing a while ago and was told that Microsoft do not ever cold call

[atec77]

Originally Posted by csv8

The wife got a phone call from an Indian, offering Microsoft Security. 3 year service and a lifetime warranty on Windows repairs..for $300. !!! Missus hung up.
I rang MS and they said "its a scam, hangup"........
I just wish people would stop xzrtyunb with pc's..

Typically I ask them how they can help as I use linux... phone goes quite or they hangup

[csv8]

Originally Posted by atec77

Typically I ask them how they can help as I use linux... phone goes quite or they hangup

Ubunto is great !!!

[Marksman X]

Originally Posted by atec77

Typically I ask them how they can help as I use linux... phone goes quite or they hangup

The ones that call my place have changed tact now. They will just continue the spiel until you hangup - regardless other whether you say you use Apple, run Linux, or don't have a computer. They have also suggested that they are chasing an 'infection' now and not a virus - because an infection is worse.

[RED FGII]

yeh, i had the call too

[Jim Goose]

ummmmm kinda old hat... been doing the rounds for quite a few yrs now.

Reported in the media adnauseum for several years,

Bit like when someone claims they are from the ATO.. or VISA.... of their bank when they ring up and ask for your details over the phone.

[xisled]

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11326265

[EgoFG]

I always tell them I am busy, and can they give me a number to call on.
So far they always hang up.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Marksman X

The ones that call my place have changed tact now. They will just continue the spiel until you hangup - regardless other whether you say you use Apple, run Linux, or don't have a computer. They have also suggested that they are chasing an 'infection' now and not a virus - because an infection is worse.

I got that one the other day!! My computer had an "infection".

Of course the Indian woman sounded like a little hottie so I started a real sleaze act on her...where are you from, what are you wearing, my wife's out, how about a little phone fun...

And she still kept on rattling off her spiel until I hung up on her! What a trooper...

[TC200six]

My sister was fooled by a phone scam today. I know she had heard of it before but didn't think of it once she received it.

What was interesting about this call was that they knew the name of the land line owner. The Indian alarmingly said something on the lines of "Your computer is being hacked and you will permanently lose access to the internet". He said to go to fastsupport.com and when she saw the site she then realised it was a scam. So the Microsoft phone scam is still active.

[Raysie]

I work in IT Support and we've gotten a few clients that have been fooled into installing software which provides these scammers with remote access to their PCs.

I've found that in most cases victims will be told to go into their Event Viewer to see that there are errors listed. What the victim doesn't know is that errors appearing in the Event Viewer is extremely common.

Once remoted in, the scammers can do whatever they want.

The best advice I can say (And it's already been mentioned in this thread), is that Microsoft will NEVER call you unless you've actually logged a call with them beforehand. So hang up straight away as soon as anyone saying they're from Microsoft calls.

I remember they called our office once, and we had a good time stuffing them around. We played dumb with them until eventually we said we were using Linux. They don't like that. LOL

[Mickxr8]

Putting the phone down on the pretense of grabbing a pen to write stuff down then putting speakerphone on and wandering off to the dunny for a bit works well

( on the `do not call` registrer , kinda bored now , no one to play phone games with now :( )

[EgoFG]

Tell them you are busy but very concerned with the issue, and ask for a number you can call back on in 45 minutes.
Then contact 1300 795 995 or www.scamwatch.gov.au

[MercurySilver]

get a whistle
the scamming bastard prob wont be able to hear anything again....ever

[zilo]

I play along and then say

"My god...whats' this site you have made me go to?"
"There's a big naked man coming up behind a naked girl on the couch??"

Then I turn up the volume a bit.

[Pedro]

Those ******* have been phoning me for years. I usually tell them to f off.
But the last time, I told them they'd rung the Lakemba Mosque and that they were infidels and that I had their ISP and that 100 Holy Warriors were going to be at their doorstep within 24 hours to slit their throats.

[RSgerry]

i told them the police had taken my computer away and wouldnt give it back and that i knew nothing about the photos. they havent called me again.

[Ben73]

I got a call from "Energy Australia" today. I thought they changed their name to Ausgrid, why would the ring up and call themselves by their old name?
Possible scam?

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Researcher not long ago actually ran up a "Virtual Machine" on his PC and allowed the scammers to connect to it (so his actual PC was protected).

They did exactally what Raysie said, event viewer etc.

What was made me WET myself was the fact that when he said he couldn't pay they OPENED UP TASK MANAGER AND STARTED ENDING RANDOM TASKS. The excuse was that "They are part of the virus sir and you will need to pay to have them cleaned before they can be activated again"....

At this point he came clean that he was a security researcher and they were inside a virtual machine, everything was logged and recorded... they promptly hung up... epic lulz.

[2011G6E]

It's good that we keep reminding people every time this comes up. I've been rung dozens of times, yet some guys I work with have never recieved "the call" even though they are regular computer users and go on the net a lot, which could make them a potential "customer" of these scammers.

The more people know about it, the less people the scammers have as potential victims. Spread the word.

[grandpa_spec_F6]

I work in the information security field so this topic is of great interest to me.

In following on from what 2011G6E has said, I'll add another one which is currently costing a huge number of (mainly) small Australian businesses grief at the moment.

Basically it's "Ransomware", a slight change to the name "Malware" which is what most people call a 'Virus'. What Ransomware does is quite literally hold a victim to random by encrypting their data.

To give you all an idea how it works:
1. ATTACKER sends email with an attachement (the ransomware) that looks legit or interesting - "HEY a calender of PIES! I love pies! And they're free! I must have this" - User opens attachment

2. Two things then possibly happen:
- Ransomware executes and victim is infected
- Ransomware executes and is caught by anti-virus

If you are running an up-to-date anti-virus program you 'should' be safe, the anti-virus program will see a malicious program trying to run and stop it.
HAVING ANTI-VIRUS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE PROTECTED!
It means there is LESS chance of you becoming a victim. If the ransomware or other virus has not been seen before by your anti-virus company they will not know it is malicious and thus you will still get infected.

3. Provided attack was successful, the ransomware then scans the computer it is on looking for "My Documents", "My Pictures", and whatever else the attackers have decided the ransomware should search for such as "Tax Records", "Ledger Earnings" etc.
If your PC is on a network that isn't very secure (i.e. most small business networks) some of the ransomware programs also scan the network looking for other machines with sensitive information.

4. This is the scary part!
Once it has found the files it then ENCRYPTS THE FILES. What this means is that they have a key to your files, and without it you are NEVER, EVER going to get them back.

"BUT WAIT!" you say, "I KEEP BACKUPS!"

Yeah,... um.... on your network?

"YES!"

OK,... the same network that the infected PC is connected to? Yeah,... crooks are smarter than that, they just scanned, found and encrypted your backups too... sorry old mate...

"oh... snap."

Indeed... and this is why you MUST and I repeat MUST keep either "offline" (backup your backups to a removable hard drive) or "air gap" (move them to a computer on a different network not connected to your network) your backups.

5. Two options remain... if you:
A.) Don't keep regular offline / airgapped backups - Pay up and hope like hell they give you the key to decrypt your files
B.) Cry... - This is because most of the time they use AES256bit keys... the same key strength the Department of Defense use... pretty much impossible to crack unless it's a stupidly weak key (which it WON'T be)

C.) Tell them they're a bunch of douchbags (or not... it might anger them) and restore your machines to a pre-infection state.

Hope it's not too technical for everyone, if you have any questions feel free to PM me

[gumbi_18]

Originally Posted by grandpa_spec_F6

Researcher not long ago actually ran up a "Virtual Machine" on his PC and allowed the scammers to connect to it (so his actual PC was protected).

I've done the same thing a couple of times. I boot up a VM of XP without service packs or AV and let them go to town. I figure if I waste twenty minutes of their time its time they won't be able to use to scam people. Its gives me some amusement as well.

The very worrying thing is they knew who the landline owner was; on a number of occasions I've had my name and address quoted to me over the phone. I'm not sure where that information came from or how they got it.

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Youd be surprised whats out there. Not too long ago call centers in a few of the "usual countries" were selling client data off to 3rd parties.

[gumbi_18]

Originally Posted by grandpa_spec_F6

Youd be surprised whats out there. Not too long ago call centers in a few of the "usual countries" were selling client data off to 3rd parties.

I'd suspected as much. I had heard that a few outbound call centers for charities were fined for selling off their "potentials" list to unscrupulous operators.