Microsoft or similar Phishing Scam: Youve probably heard about the popular tech support scams making the rounds these days. Someone claiming to be from Microsoft calls you, asks you to accept a remote connection, then they take control of your computer. You may be smart enough to avoid this, but your friends and family might not be—so take this time to educate them. Some of us have probably already been there: No, Mom, Microsoft didnt call you right after your PC blue screened. It was just coincidence. Seriously. What? You let them remote control your computer and you gave them the credit card?! How Can I Get My Friends to Fix Their Own Computer? Dear Lifehacker,I find Im always fixing my friends or relatives computer. I dont mind helping, but Im getting called… Read… If you havent had the chat with your non-techie friends and family who always seem to call you, now is the time because the (surprisingly sophisticated) computer support scam is on the rise. Fortunately, Jérôme Segura at Malwarebytes has documented every aspect of these tech support scams. The game is usually the same: Someone calls claiming to be from Microsoft or your Internet Service Provider saying theyve detected a problem and they are there to help. Theyll convince the victim over the phone that something is wrong and they need to take control of the computer. Once inside the system theyll show you critical Windows errors, CPU spikes, and access denied messages thereby proving that somethings wrong or someone has hacked in. The scammers will then offer to fix it for a certain price and possibly continue to charge the credit card regularly for maintenance. Say no and they may lock you out of the computer. New variations of these scams include a bit of phishing and even seeding search results with fake information. Again, you may be too tech-savvy to fall for these tricks, but a lot of people you know probably arent. I highly recommend reading the piece from Malwarebytes below and taking this time to educate your friends and family about this scam, if you havent already. They even have some tips on how to recover if youve already let them in. Public Servant Tech Support Scams | Malwarebytes
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 17:07:34 +0000
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