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question everything

(47,263 posts)
Sat Sep 1, 2018, 05:52 PM Sep 2018

Tech-Support Scams Prompt Google to Act (Important, really)

(snip)

The scams usually work this way: A person searching for tech help calls the number listed on an online ad. Once connected, the scammers ask for access to their victims’ computers, where they run fake virus scanning software and fabricate security threats in an effort to convince users their computers are broken or compromised. Then, the scammers offer to sell what they claim are “support services,” often at a cost of hundreds of dollars, the Journal found.

When a Journal reporter identified himself and called the number displayed on a recent ad for the search term “Apple tech support,” a man claiming to be an Apple engineer answered. The man, who said his name was Sam Daniels, asked the reporter to log in to his email account. When the reporter did so, the man claimed to have been able to remotely monitor the computer via its IP address—a unique number used to identify computers on the internet.

“We have detected your IP address using your email ID and I can see your laptop is currently affected,” he said, adding: “Hackers have put Trojan virus in your Apple device. Now, they will hack your email ID, Facebook ID and then your personal banking information.” The call was then transferred to another man who said his name was Mark Wallace and claimed to be an “antivirus hacking specialist.” He too repeatedly claimed to work for Apple and said that hackers “can take all of your money with help of the IP address. They can also track your physical location.”

To fix the purported problem, the second man asked the reporter to go to a nearby department store and buy a $100 iTunes gift card. He asked the reporter to then share the alphanumeric code on the back of the card, which he described as an “antihacking card.”

More..

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-support-scams-on-google-trigger-crackdown-1535755023

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Except of request for payment - which I would have hung up - I had an identical experience earlier this week, with "Microsoft." I did not click on an ad; I clicked on a link to install a new Office package. I thought that the link was legit - had both Microsoft and Office in it. I talked to Apple - I just purchased a computer and the Office package - who immediately observed that this was a scam. We checked my computer and it is clean - so far.

From now on, if I am looking for a specific URL, it goes into the URL window.

I think that Google and Yahoo and other search engines should make sure that the legitimate links should be at the top of the page, regardless of their "algorithm." Earlier I was searching for the page for Brother printer. Yes, there is one, it tried to get me a program to "clean my Mac." The correct address is Brother-USA.

Oh, and the phone numbers that the "Anti Hacking Microsoft" scammers gave me: do appear legit. Advertise tech repair, one even is from H-P.

1-855-769-6222

1-888-267-6495

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Tech-Support Scams Prompt Google to Act (Important, really) (Original Post) question everything Sep 2018 OP
Thanks so much for the 'Heads up' alert... SWBTATTReg Sep 2018 #1

SWBTATTReg

(21,856 posts)
1. Thanks so much for the 'Heads up' alert...
Sat Sep 1, 2018, 06:25 PM
Sep 2018

Hopefully this will help the DU community avoid any problems w/ your post!

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