REPEAT WARNING
I know I've touched on this subject on this blog or another, but increasingly people are getting phone calls from "Microsoft Security", "Microsoft Software Validation Team", "Your Anti-Virus Support Team", and who knows what other aliases they use.
Usually they sound like they are in India, and in many cases the connection is fair-to-poor which helps the person they are calling feel like it's more legit. They will try to convince you that either you have been infected by a terrible virus, or that your computer shows up in their database as having fake Microsoft software, or Operating System and request a remote login to either verify the validity of the software, or to remove the terrible virus. They are very convincing.
Some people just hang up on them, others string them along - then hang up, but others get caught in their web and give them remote access to their computer. The computer owner can see screens open and close, sometimes in CMD (command prompt mode) and figure these guys are really helping them out, until the call ends, the computer reboots, and their hard drive is blank.
Data like passwords, logins, where you bank, etc. have been uploaded, and by erasing the drives, they have covered their tracks. Besides the login/password issues, they have lost all of their photos, music, and other data files. If they didn't backup their system - it's all lost. If they use a backup system like Carbonite then they just have to concentrate on changing login names, passwords, and in extreme cases, bank account numbers.
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| YEP, THESE SCAMMERS ARE TRUE RATS |
So as a reminder, should you get one of these phone calls - Hang Up on them. Not only are the end users affected by this, but the Tech who has to handle the call (me), can feel their pain as well.
'Nuff Said,
Brian
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