vallumlj

My mum called earlier to say someone from India called and was trying to sell her virus protection and said her computer was infected. As the lady called my mum was turning on her pc and she said that black lines or something appear. My mum thought this lady was controlling her company but she did'nt give her any details or remote codes.

I personally think the lady did not control the computer and it was just weird how she rung at the excat same time she was turning it on.
I got her to run a full scan in safe networking mode and it came back fine.

I was going to go round today and run malbytes is there anything else I should do?

One problem is her broadband does not have any secruity I will add a wep key today. Could they use that to control her computer?

Any advice would be great.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

We had this, just told them I was an IT expert and no my pc doesn't have a virus and if they give me my microsoft windows ID code I would be more than happy to check again, they hung up

Tony

LostUser

If your Mum really didn't give them any details then there's no problem. I assume in the cases where the victim does believe them, they are asked to visit a webpage to install remote control software or something.

My Dad had the same call, he told them I look after his PC and that he would ask me about it. They hung up too.

Yes you definitely need to enable encryption on the wireless connection. I'd go for a WPA key rather than WEP.

JackClark

Someone I know got a call minutes after plugging in a PC he'd bought in PC World. They told him they were from Microsoft and he went all the way, credit card, remote software, the lot. They were 'working' on his machine for 7 hours!

hodgy0_2

working on his machine - or is card for 7 hours

but yes deffo a scam, has been in the new news


although it is slighlty unclear from the news whether they de-fraud your card, or just bill you for useless and unecassary work on your PC

in a way fraud would be better as you would prob have a better chance of getting your money back.

Markus

Funny how this should come up now. My parents were out visiting and mum said she'd got a call from someone trying this on. She simply told them she has someone who takes care of all of this stuff for her, and how the hell did someone on the phone know that she even had a computer (I built the machine for them, so it's not an off-the-shelf system, plus it was built around 2002)

To the OP, I'd say it's pure coincidence that your mum's machine showed black lines, but it's worth running something over the machine. Perhaps install Microsoft Security Essentials if it's not already running, or something similar isn't on there, just to be safe. I know it's MS, but it's pretty good.

chris84

iTrader: (1)

it's very unlikely that someone would control the computer over the wifi but enabling WPA security is a good idea, just in case your neighbours piggy back off her internet and use it for illegal downloads. if she just has a computer and no laptop you're best off just disabling the wifi and leaving it connected with a cable.

routers usually have a firewall and windows xp onwards also has a firewall. if someone was controlling her computer it would most likely be via some kind of bot which sends a message out from the computer when it's turned on, this in turn opens a return port through both firewalls for someone to take control. this however sounds like a coincidence, just a scammer from overseas trying it on.

Tidgy

possible responce,

i didn't think my type writer had an internet connection, can they change the ribbon for me remotely?

Carlh

Go to bitdefender.co.uk and install the on-demand scanner which you can run through a little red globe icon within the browser at any time.

Also, www.free.avg.com for AVG free edition and a copy of spybot (this link as there are some duffers out there)
http://www.safer-networking.org/

when you go to download, READ the webpage, and follow the links it gives, dont just go clicking on the first "download now" or "registry scanner" link you see, make sure you are downloading a file called spybot_sd162 or similar link. Update it weekly (or set it to do it automatically). That will keep spyware and exploit software off your PC/mums PC.

There are plenty of free (professional) software that will look after your PC. The best is bitdefender for £30 a year and that covers you for up to 3 PCs using the same registration key code and it gets updated HOURLY.

Good Luck bud!

Tidgy

dont bother with avg, i replaced it microsoft security esentials

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

They tried calling me twice to tell me the same, first time I simply hung up on the guy. When he called back a few days later and tried to explain what a virus is I told him I work in IT, I never heard from them again

The best bit was that they called on my work number and told me a PC attached to that line If you're going to try and scam me at least use the right phone number

XRS

Had a call like this the other day. They knew my name, but I told them I knew they were a scam and hung up. The caller display showed 021 2356788, but there's not enough numbers to be a proper telephone number.

Carlh

Its not too good for developers tho like me as it locks down too much but yep, id go for that if you're into microsoft products but they create so much spyware themselves i.e. knowing everything you get up to, i tend to steer away just so there's always some competition for them by supporting other companies but good advice, nonetheless.

vallumlj

Update

She lied to me she feels a fall she gave them access to her computer by remote connection and when they wanted money she hung up.

We have spoken to all of her banks and made them adware of what happen.

I am going to run a full malwarebytes scan in safe mode then I will try combo fix and then run a full scan with Microsoft se.

I would ideally like to format and reinstall but I dont have the vista install disk.

Any ideas what they could of done to it?

g7prs

iTrader: (5)

Had this same call three times now!

First time i said thanks for letting me know, i will go and scan my computer straight away!

Second time i told them that it would be from all the **** i download and all i got was silence at the other end

Third time i told them i was also infected and didnt want them catching it down the phone and hung up

hodgy0_2

in the very worst case they can put a root kit so deep in the OS not even a soft format will get rid of it

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Does your mum back up everything on a regular basis ?

If she`s still a bit concerned and everything is backed up just wipe the hard drives and do a fresh install of windows, that can actually be quicker than running full virus scans which can take an eternity sometimes as well as malaware and trojan scans etc

I wipe my laptop once every 6 months anyway, it just keeps everything clean and less clogged up and fragmented.

Miniman

iTrader: (2)

Judging by the original posted comments it seems to me that both the OP and his mum, don't have that great skills with PC's. So I would not suggest wiping the hard drive and reinstalling. While that's eaiser to do with a modern Windows OS, it's still not for your average "user".

In regards to the call itself and the PC having problems - it was co-incidently and the call itself a scam, I'm sure.

If you are worried, there are now quite a few local experts who charge for a home visit and are very knowledgeable on PC issues. They advertise locally. Also there are shop based consultants who can do the same.

All my parents friends ("user" level PC skills) used to use me as the local "IT" consultant, but quite frankly I don't have the time to maintain all their PC's. I usually just pass them details of a maintainer out the back of the local paper, I've suggested him a few times and the feedback is good. Probably you'll have someone similar in your area.

They can usually sort any problems and advise on any security holes. Also add new hardware (web cam to see the grand children, etc, etc) and sort out any performance issues (instead of a full re-install). I tell them to treat it like the yearly boiler service they all currently pay for anyway.

vallumlj

I have run malbytes in safe mode and re moved 1 threat which was found in the registry. I have also run combo fix and Microsoft security essentials which both came back ok. I have used c cleaner to tidy things up.

I would like to do a re install which I can do easily I am pretty good at general pc repairs but I don't have a vista install disk.

Is there anything else I can do to make sure this computer is clean. How can i check they can't still connect to it using the remote connection.

Thanks

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

LCD wipes are good for the monitor, use a can of compressed air for the keyboard and a microfibre cloth for general wiping down. That should keep it clean.

Seriously though, what OS is your mum running ? First thing i would do is to disable remote assistance, in XP you press start and right click on My Computer, then click properties and remote should be on the top right, just untick allow remote assistance.

The other thing i would do is to disable system restore then run both your anti virus and anti spyware programmes in safe mode, you will lose all your previous restore points but a lot of viruses are designed to hide in system restore.

Ideally you need to re-install your OS in my opinion, that way uou will know its clean but you say you don`t have the backup discs which is a bit of a problem. How old is the computer, can you not contact the manufacturer to see if you can get some backup discs sent out ?