{"id":22871,"date":"2011-07-19T09:43:10","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T14:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=22871"},"modified":"2011-07-19T09:43:10","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T14:43:10","slug":"ask-leo-next-steps-for-victims-of-microsoft-support-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-next-steps-for-victims-of-microsoft-support-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Leo: Next Steps for Victims of Microsoft Support Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"askleo\"<\/p>\n

By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n

A family member got scammed by a telephone call from someone saying that they were from Microsoft, calling because of PC error reports. Unfortunately, remote access was given. What should be done to prevent further compromise of the PC data? Help! Note: MS scanner and a Norton scan were done and showed no problems. Remote access software files were removed manually from PC. Could the scammer again access the PC data? Data is backed up to the external drive (not plugged in at the time of the scam). Can the same files\/data be safely loaded on to a new HD\/computer?<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

As you point out, it’s a scam. Microsoft doesn’t call people because of
\nerrors on their computer. Neither do ISPs, security companies, or pretty much
\nanyone else who might claim some role of internet authority or otherwise.<\/p>\n

To quote Admiral
\nAkbar<\/a>: “It’s a trap!”<\/p>\n

I’ve been getting lots of reports of this scam and its variants of late.
\nFortunately, many people are rightfully suspicious and cut it off before it
\ngoes too far.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, having fallen for the scam puts you in a difficult and
\ndangerous position.<\/p>\n

To start with, let’s not hook up that external hard drive just yet.<\/p>\n

The Scam<\/h3>\n

The scam is very simple: someone calls you claiming to be from Microsoft or
\nyour ISP or your anti-malware provider or some other authoritative company. Of
\ncourse, they are not.<\/p>\n

They claim that they’ve detected that your computer is causing many errors
\non the internet or that there are “problems with your account”. To prove
\nthat there’s something wrong, they ask if your computer has been crashing
\nrecently. Or they have you open up the event
\nviewer<\/a> and point out the many, many errors listed there. Crashes are,
\nunfortunately, too common and the event viewer is a mess – full of
\nmessages, warnings, and errors, even on a machine that’s working just fine. They
\nsimply use this confusion and misinformation to claim that your computer has a
\nproblem.<\/p>\n

And, of course, they can fix it.<\/p>\n

The scammer asks you to connect to a remote access site, such as logmein.com or
\nammyy.com, so you can give them access to your computer and they
\ncan correct the problem for you. Important<\/strong>: Sites like
\nlogmein.com, ammyy.com, and perhaps other remote-access services used for this are not involved in the scam. They’re just web services that the scammer happens to
\nuse and nothing more.<\/p>\n

That then leads to the scam’s hook. While accessing your machine, the scammer does typically one of two things:<\/p>\n

  • \n

    They install malware.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    They determine that you’ll need to purchase something – perhaps software, extended services, or whatever. At this point, they ask for your payment information.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    You’re either left with a malware-laden machine (that won’t be “fixed”, by
    \nthe way), bogus charges on your credit card, or both.<\/p>\n

    It’s a classic scam.<\/p>\n

    Avoiding the scam<\/h3>\n

    It’s classic scam-avoidance 101: never completely trust someone who you don’t
    \nknow who calls you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Listen to them, if you like. Ask questions, if you feel so motivated, but
    \nnever ever<\/em> give them access to your PC and never ever<\/em> give
    \nthem your payment information.<\/p>\n

    Let them know that you’ll have your local tech look into it (even if you
    \ndon’t have one).<\/p>\n

    Once it’s clear that you’re not going to fall for the trap, it’s very likely
    \nthat you’ll get hung up on or that the caller may even become abusive; at
    \nthat point, you can hang up on them.<\/p>\n

    If you’re concerned that there is a real problem, do the research yourself,
    \nor contact the technical resources that you trust and ask them about it.<\/p>\n

    Chances are there’s nothing to see here.<\/p>\n

    How to Recover from the Scam<\/a><\/h3>\n

    This post is excerpted with Leo’s permission from his blog.<\/p>\n

    FaceBook URL: Leo’s Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

    Twitter URL: http:\/\/twitter.com\/askleo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \"askleo\"<\/p>\n

    By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n

    A very common scam has people supposedly from Microsoft or your ISP or other authorities calling to help you with computer problems. Don’t fall for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[46,4875,125,611],"class_list":["post-22871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leo-notenboom","tag-ask-leo","tag-leo-notenboom","tag-microsoft","tag-tech-support-scam"],"yoast_head":"\nAsk Leo: Next Steps for Victims of Microsoft Support Scam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Leo Notenboom A very common scam has people supposedly from Microsoft or your ISP or other authorities calling to help you with computer problems. 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