Seriously, I really am asking for a friend(Solved!) But I'm inserting this UK-related article in case you don't want to read the whole story:
If by any chance you haven't heard these stories yet, let me briefly share how I lost two hours yesterday evening and this morning. A dear friend called me, saying he'd been contacted by his Internet provider, Comcast. The man asked about his Internet connectivity, was it a little slow. (This is a good time to do that in the USA, especially.) The man proceeded to go through a sophisticated bit of social engineering which culminated in the installation of a remote control app, TeamView, on my friend's computer. TeamView is a legit program but many scammers use it to kidnap PC. I don't know enough about Windows, but my friend knows so little he does not know how to install or run a program. He wasn't able to find and run Windows Defender. He downloaded MalwareBytes, but didn't know you have to install it and now can't find the Downloads folder. I'm also posting this for @SaxyNikki who is about to purchase a computer.
You may drive a car daily and you've driven for decades, yet you don't know the first thing about how a car works. I'm like that, but haven't owned one in years. However my friend is some kind of technophobe who never wanted to learn the basics of how to use the box, so I sometimes get the distress call. I was unable after two hours of texting and voice calls to fix the problem, which would involve uninstalling TeamView to be sure the scammers can't use his PC for further damage, then running a malware scanner.
If by any chance you are located in the USA and think you might be able to help my 75 year-old Luddite uninstall this app, please message me, I'm sure he'd be willing to pay for the help. I even had trouble getting him to unplug the Internet cable to his PC! Up for a challenge, message me please. This is an emergency, so I hope posting this call for help is reasonable here on the forum.
I got him to Control Panel and uninstall but there was a problem that it was running and I could not get him to kill the running program. Another tack would be to look at the services running and kill them, but that was a bridge too far.
Bottom line:
1. Who even answers "Unknown caller" phone calls anymore? If they leave a message I'll listen to it. In my case, it's mostly in Chinese!
2. BEWARE of any phone call that starts by claiming to be Microsoft or anything to do with your computer or service.
a. If you called them, it takes 20 minutes to reach someone. You think they're going to call you? And offer you a considerable direct payment? (They asked for a debit card number, too.)
3. Find someone that knows how to operate your computer, if you don't. Preferable someone who can come in person, a niece or nephew, grandchild, benevolent uncle or aunt if you're too young to have young relatives.
4. These people are very good at what they do. My friend asked to speak to a superior, and another guy came on the line! My friend said they needed to call back in 5 minutes. Meanwhile he called the number that showed on callerID, and says it was the Comcast message. I asked if anyone answered, but he didn't wait. He though it was them with a fake message, but I think it's really the number they looked up, since there's usually little chance of getting a human within minutes. I believe they spoofed the Comcast number.
The Microsoft scam has been around for a long time. In this case, the man said Comcast wanted to send him $249 and needed his bank account number. I don't know how quickly they can do anything with just the number but he's going to the bank to change the account today. Remember, banks are on reduced hours.
This person isn't an idiot, yet they managed to get that far AND install the control program. I can't stress enough how much care you need to take with phone calls (and of course links from 'friends', "You're on this video, it's insane!"
BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID. Trust No One™
Deadlink Removed
If by any chance you haven't heard these stories yet, let me briefly share how I lost two hours yesterday evening and this morning. A dear friend called me, saying he'd been contacted by his Internet provider, Comcast. The man asked about his Internet connectivity, was it a little slow. (This is a good time to do that in the USA, especially.) The man proceeded to go through a sophisticated bit of social engineering which culminated in the installation of a remote control app, TeamView, on my friend's computer. TeamView is a legit program but many scammers use it to kidnap PC. I don't know enough about Windows, but my friend knows so little he does not know how to install or run a program. He wasn't able to find and run Windows Defender. He downloaded MalwareBytes, but didn't know you have to install it and now can't find the Downloads folder. I'm also posting this for @SaxyNikki who is about to purchase a computer.
You may drive a car daily and you've driven for decades, yet you don't know the first thing about how a car works. I'm like that, but haven't owned one in years. However my friend is some kind of technophobe who never wanted to learn the basics of how to use the box, so I sometimes get the distress call. I was unable after two hours of texting and voice calls to fix the problem, which would involve uninstalling TeamView to be sure the scammers can't use his PC for further damage, then running a malware scanner.
I got him to Control Panel and uninstall but there was a problem that it was running and I could not get him to kill the running program. Another tack would be to look at the services running and kill them, but that was a bridge too far.
Bottom line:
1. Who even answers "Unknown caller" phone calls anymore? If they leave a message I'll listen to it. In my case, it's mostly in Chinese!
2. BEWARE of any phone call that starts by claiming to be Microsoft or anything to do with your computer or service.
a. If you called them, it takes 20 minutes to reach someone. You think they're going to call you? And offer you a considerable direct payment? (They asked for a debit card number, too.)
3. Find someone that knows how to operate your computer, if you don't. Preferable someone who can come in person, a niece or nephew, grandchild, benevolent uncle or aunt if you're too young to have young relatives.
4. These people are very good at what they do. My friend asked to speak to a superior, and another guy came on the line! My friend said they needed to call back in 5 minutes. Meanwhile he called the number that showed on callerID, and says it was the Comcast message. I asked if anyone answered, but he didn't wait. He though it was them with a fake message, but I think it's really the number they looked up, since there's usually little chance of getting a human within minutes. I believe they spoofed the Comcast number.
The Microsoft scam has been around for a long time. In this case, the man said Comcast wanted to send him $249 and needed his bank account number. I don't know how quickly they can do anything with just the number but he's going to the bank to change the account today. Remember, banks are on reduced hours.
This person isn't an idiot, yet they managed to get that far AND install the control program. I can't stress enough how much care you need to take with phone calls (and of course links from 'friends', "You're on this video, it's insane!"
BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID. Trust No One™
Deadlink Removed
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