Telephone scam and gullible family members

[Incognito D]

So I got home from work today to hear from my family that they'd received a call from an IT guy wanting to help us fix our computer as it was "full of viruses".
Obviously, any idiot could realise this is clearly a scam, (and this is where the story gets interesting) but apparently my family members couldn't.

The guy on the phone (who claimed to be from Microsoft) said that there had been a problem with viruses in our street recently, and that we must follow his instructions to fix the situation. (I know, right?)

One of my family members followed his instructions and downloaded an "anti-virus program" from cnet.com and proceeded to run it. But oh wait, it gets worse.
Somehow, the scammer managed to take remote access of our PC and opened up a notepad document. In it he typed up a summary of all the great things this anti virus program could help us with, before asking for details such as email address and phone number of my father.

It was around this point that my brother (who was at the helm) started to smell a rat.
The guy on the phone asked us for £80 for use of the software which had helped "fix" our PC and asked for my father's credit card details. Mercifully, my brother declined to provide this info - even if he wanted to tell, he doesn't actually know it anyway.
My brother claims that shortly after he uninstalled the program he had downloaded and turned off the PC.

The guy phoned back at around 5:30, when I was just in the door from work - again asking for credit card details to which he could charge £80.
This actually re-assures me, because why would he call back if he already managed to hack our details anyway?

So basically, the story gradually came out and me and my Dad (who were at work during the whole thing) flipped the fuck out. I actually couldn't believe what I was hearing and was aghast at the stupidity of my own family.
We have done a full scan of the PC with AVG and changed all of our passwords across every site we shop from.

Basically:
1) How fucked are we?
2) is there anything else I should do?
3) I hope you enjoyed this entertaining tale, and never underestimate the stupidity of otherwise (mostly) intelligent people.


RANT OVER. (I AM STILL MAD BTW)

[J T]

The scam is so hackneyed, that I doubt you have too much to worry about. I think you are right that the phone call was a reassuring sign. I'm mostly worried that your family members are the big leak in your security set up.

[Incognito D]

Yeah here's hoping, J T

Here's the whole scam described word for word:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ju ... ll-centres

This is 100% the same as what happened to my brother.

The most concerning line has to be: "The only catch: there was never anything wrong with the computer, the caller is not working for Microsoft or the internet service provider, and the owner has given a complete stranger access to every piece of data on their machine."

I do not like the sound of that.

[CRTGAMER]

Here is one of the worse ones. It has pretty pics and a voice stating you have a virus. These bums even coded in a blinking the monitor screen off then back on with sound static if trying to update legitimate Spyware protection Spybot! Luckily my relative told me before "Downloading" the protection. Even the name is so wrong.

AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011



In case you ever get this one the MANUAL fix.

AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011 Manual Removal

Kill processes:
AntiVirus AntiSpyware.exe securitymanager.exe mscjm.exe recf.exe securityhelper.exe

Delete registry values:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallAntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerBrowserEmulation "TLDUpdates" = '1'
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun "AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011"
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun "AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011 Security"

Delete files:
AntiVirus AntiSpyware.exe, securitymanager.exe, AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011.lnk, mscjm.exe, recf.exe, securityhelper.exe [random].exe

Delete directories:
%APPDATA%AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011

Oh, how I love my old iMac CRT.

[AznKhmerBoi]

dont forget those fortune 500 pyramid scam too , i had a bunch of friends who got rip from it.

My asnwer to them was " i told you so"

[Michi]

The scam is so hackneyed, that I doubt you have too much to worry about. I think you are right that the phone call was a reassuring sign. I'm mostly worried that your family members are the big leak in your security set up.

Agreed. It sounds like your family is the only glitch in your computer's security. Still, I'd make sure AVG is updated (maybe even download a program called Malwarebytes. There is a free version, don't worry) and restart the computer in safe mode and do another scan or two just to be sure and give you added piece of mind.

Here is one of the worse ones......AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011

I've gotten something very similar to that and it's a pain in the butt to get rid of. It locks up all of your other anitvirus programs and keeps bombarding you with endless pop-ups regarding an unknown "virus" and tells you to buy their software to get rid of it. Really irritating. But safe-mode and scans blissfully get rid of it.

[YoshiEgg25]

Here is one of the worse ones......AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011

I've gotten something very similar to that and it's a pain in the butt to get rid of. It locks up all of your other anitvirus programs and keeps bombarding you with endless pop-ups regarding an unknown "virus" and tells you to buy their software to get rid of it. Really irritating. But safe-mode and scans blissfully get rid of it.

I've seen something similar to that in IT. I think it was called Security Tool. Constant popups, wouldn't let you access the internet, a virus scanner, or malware/spyware programs. Absolute pain in the ass to remove.

[CRTGAMER]

Here is one of the worse ones......AntiVirus AntiSpyware 2011

I've gotten something very similar to that and it's a pain in the butt to get rid of. It locks up all of your other anitvirus programs and keeps bombarding you with endless pop-ups regarding an unknown "virus" and tells you to buy their software to get rid of it. Really irritating. But safe-mode and scans blissfully get rid of it.

I've seen something similar to that in IT. I think it was called Security Tool. Constant popups, wouldn't let you access the internet, a virus scanner, or malware/spyware programs. Absolute pain in the ass to remove.

That company should be tied to a red ant hill soaked in honey.

EDIT
I posted the fix above.

[brunoafh]

I honestly don't know how anyone could fall for something so incredibly stupid.

Maybe if people were to wise up, scammers like this wouldn't be able to prosper. Who the hell provides credit card information to a complete stranger through a random telephone call?

[Betamax001]

Every so often when I am on Skype on my Mac, I get a message saying I need to perform a virus scan because there is a virus detected that affects various Mac OS X OSs. I cant determine it is real or not. -___-