News - Microsoft exposes telephone PC security scam

[cameronlite]

You're kidding? Right? You think it'd be any different in any other country? There people who don't know much about computers in every country in the world.

If you hate this country so much why don't you piss off somewhere that suits you better. I have to say that I think you'd find that many people would fall for this sort of scam there too though.

I never said i didn't hate other countries

I just can't understand why there are so many people that fall for this sort of thing. Have they never heard about con artists - I mean, WHY would you give your details to anybody, ever?

[Dareos]

Because to the majority of the population over 40, computers are a mystery. People are crying out for help with their magic box that does strange things every time they look at it.

download this, click that, pop up on screen you didnt ask for, shutting down for no reason, help i have a virus, ooohhh facebook, omg been fraped, who put that on youtube, this game doesn't load, whats a driver, speakers wont work, screen is offset, colours are funny on the screen, ip address?, proxy serverm dial up connections, usb stick, wireless key, wpa, wep, unsecured, torrents, spyware, malware, corrupted file, USER ACCESS CONTROL, this website is not certified, do you wish to show unsecure content, FREE HERBAL VIAGRA, make 1500$ per day working from home, A nigerian princess wants to marry you and has 15 trillion dollars in the bank, click here to see 2 girls 1 cup you won't regret it, pop servers, smtp servers, imap servers, port numbers, port forwarding, fake virus alerts, key loggers, bloggers, twitters and tweets, lolcatz, false links, hidden adverts, freezing, hanging, lagging, spiking, crashing, crunching, fogging, tearing, dismembering....



ok, maybe getting a bit carried away at the end there, but how the hell is your average "i bought a pc so i could use email" type of person supposed to deal with this.


If i bought a car and had half the trouble most people have with computers, i would walk everywhere.

[watercooled]

Antivirus software is at best a condom, once it's in reinstall/treat.

Agreed, I wouldn't trust AV to remove malware from my own PC, I'd happily reformat but it's way beyond what most people will do.

@Dareos: Yup, you can't compare everyone to us enthusiasts. It's easy enough for us to say how easy everything is on computers but it's simply not for most people. I bet most people used to modern cars here wouldn't have the faintest idea where to start if their car wouldn't start. However, some people used to older cars without all the computers would tell you it's 'easy' to find the problem and fix it themselves...

That doesn't excuse the lack of common sense though - you wouldn't fill your petrol tank with water if someone told you it would fix the problem...

[Dareos]

Very true Watercooled, but if someone told you to mix some diesel with the petrol to ensure you car will start during a cold spell, its sounds more believable, yer still screwed tho

The thing is that these con artists can be extremely believable, especially if they get your isp right.

One I heard recently was a customer of mine being told to search for .INF, when all these files appeared with the INF suffix they were told that these were Infected files and their software could remove them.


clever, and likely to fool a great number of people

[watercooled]

Yeah that makes sense, INFected files. I know people who would fall for it anyway.

[Dareos]

Number 1 on the BBC website, can anyone spot the flaw?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13798122



Heres a scenario, already taken this to my bosses

Scammer calls victim, Hi this is (insert fake british sounding name here) from Virgin, have you seen the BBC news site or received one of our letters? We are worried you may be one of the infected victims and if i can just log into your computer I can verify this....

BBC really need to put a disclaimer on there that Virgin will never call you and ask to access your PC. You can call Virgin, but not the other way around.

[Paul Adams]

Our cablemodem died last Saturday so it knocked out our IP telephony - within 30 minutes of getting the replacement router installed and getting the phone live again my wife received one of those calls (we live in Sweden).

Shame the guy didn't know that even though he had asked for her by name, she has worked in Technical Support at Microsoft for 15 years so wasn't that easily convinced to allow the Indian-sounding chap calling from overseas access to her PC

Wish I'd taken the call, I would have seen how far I could string him along, or connect him to an isolated VM to see what he would do

[heymoa]

Right now the scam seems to be restricted to the UK, Ireland, US and Canada.

Not true, these calls are happening in New Zealand as well. Good thing we don't have electricity here yet

[watercooled]

Oh so we're no alone living without electricity? xD

Edit: Something just occurred to me, I apologise if you are referring to those who have lost utilities due to the earthquakes. No offence intended.
When I posted I assumed you had been talking to some ignorant individuals who think you live in the stone age and have tea with the queen (I've heard it all myself living in the UK, but mainly before the Internet became popular).

[badass]

Because to the majority of the population over 40, computers are a mystery. People are crying out for help with their magic box that does strange things every time they look at it.

The problem is they can't be bothered to learn how to use the magic box properly.
They probably spent many hours and a fortune learning to drive to enjoy the benefits of car usage.
But when it comes to using a computer, they just expect people to tell them how to use it.
I don't sympathise TBH. I often have to deal with extended family members that no matter how much I encourage them to actually put some effort into learning, they just don't bother.
Would you sympathise with someone that bought a brand new car, refused repeatedly to learn anything about it. Used it without even getting lessons. Filled the oil system with water because someone phoned them up and told them so, then drive the car, destroying the engine.
I wouldn't.

[watercooled]

I see your point, and understand the frustration where someone insists on you walking them through something over the phone.

[Betty_Swallocks]

The big problem is that PCs are sold like white goods. Fridges and washing machines aren't that complicated to use so when Mr & Mrs Average pop down to Comet to buy something to email the grandchildren they expect that to be the same.

Also it seems to be regarded by some as a warped kind of badge of honour not to know anything about computers.

When I worked in desktop support I lost count of the number of times some accounts or sales monkey took pride in telling me that they didn't know anything about them, almost implying that they were somehow better than me because they were not a geek.

I had a simple but fairly devastating way of dealing with it. I'd just sympathise, saying things like "That's a shame. You're not that old really and you're going to have to use them for the rest of your working life. It must be very frustrating not to know how to use one of the primary tools of your trade."

[crossy]

Because to the majority of the population over 40, computers are a mystery. People are crying out for help with their magic box that does strange things every time they look at it

Can't say as I'm overly impressed with that generalisation (says the heading-away-from-40-er). Remember that the 40-50 group where around when we had the "golden age of personal computing" in the 80's, so chances are they'd probably encountered a ZX81, Spectrum, C64, Atari etc user, if not been one themselves.
Heck, there's been plenty of 'evidence' that you've got a clueless teenage group too - the "why the f*** is this effing "security software" keep getin' in the way of me gettin' my's tunez? Why can't I turn it off?". E.g. was listening to the "Security Now" podcast last week and they were giving an example of exactly that situation.
Conversely, if folks actually took the time to EXPLAIN stuff, then the "grey surfers" would be better off. It's not as if trojans, firewalls, etc are rocket science concepts. Similarly where's the difference between spamming and those darned annoying sales calls that everyone seems to get? If I'm asked to sum it then I used the tried and trusted cliché - "trust no-one, even me"

Also it seems to be regarded by some as a warped kind of badge of honour not to know anything about computers. When I worked in desktop support I lost count of the number of times some accounts or sales monkey took pride in telling me that they didn't know anything about them, almost implying that they were somehow better than me because they were not a geek.

True, true. And I bet you those selfsame folks could probably tell you exactly how much the offending PC cost, or where it fitted in the product range?
You're right about the anti-computer bias, I'd go further and say we've got a worrying lack of respect for science and engineering - period. I've tried to bring my kids up to appreciate these things that make life a bit easier or more fun, but the eldest especially hates that she gets pigeonholed as a "know it all nerd" because she doesn't sit there blankly with her mouth open when asked a question. (Apologies for the generalisation).
PS I remember a comment made a while ago, that Dante (with his seven levels of hell) must also have been in Tech Support!

I bet most people used to modern cars here wouldn't have the faintest idea where to start if their car wouldn't start. However, some people used to older cars without all the computers would tell you it's 'easy' to find the problem and fix it themselves...

Oops - guilty as charged. Although I would support the older-cars-were-better suggestion - problem (as I see it) being that there's not only more computerisation, but that it's also getting more individually complex units in there, and that those units are becoming more inter-dependent. More worryingly (for the topic being discussed) is that there's already been POC attacks on car electronics. How long before we start getting the kind of calls in the article for your Ford, Vauxhall, VW, etc? Are we going to be hammering down the motorways being overtaken by pwned BMW's and Lexus's?