Got hacked; some advice/red flags

[captain queeg]

I’m pretty careful but it can happen to anyone. Supposedly contacted by Apple support, both phone and email. The link in the email to me to a very well crafted phony site and I let them log into my computer. I really ought to know better but fell for it anyway because I was so worried about people accessing my computer. The big red flag was them wanting me to use google pay gift cards to pay for the service. I’ve talked to a couple people lately who got scammed this way and should have immediately shut them down. I went back for another gift card then they wanted me to go back a third time and the alarms went off. They had legitimate sounding reasons for everything and like I said their phony support website looked spot on. Really sucks but if it goes no further it’ll just be an expensive/painful lesson. I guess now I’ll have to take my computer in and see what can be done.

[mr_lebowski]

1. Change every important site login password immediately

And add SMS confirmation at login to your most important accounts like bank, paypal, and any retail sites like amazon that might have your card stored.

If you CAN do that from another physical computer I would do so.

On edit: there's a good chance your PC is fine, what this type of scam is looking for is logins, and they get them while logged on to your machine (from your stored passwords in chrome/ff/etc). Not saying they couldn't have done worse/dropped something onto the computer like a key logger or some kind of virus, so best to get it checked I suppose.

[ret5hd]

2. The important question is:

Are your strawberries safe???

[jberryhill]

3. You'd think Captain Queeg would be a little more paranoid

Sorry to hear what happened.

Change your passwords, get new credit cards and burn your computer.

[captain queeg]

8. If I had some ball bearings to fidget with maybe I'd had thought it tru a little better.

I kid you not. As I’m sure is obvious I adopted this handle after watching Trump in action. But Queeg, if I remember rightly, was a veteran who’d seen a lot of action and ended up being a sympathetic character. Not very Trumpesque.

[Skittles]

4. ALWAYS, ALWAYS CONTACT THEM YOURSELF

NEVER via phone call or email from "them"

[hurple]

5. The thing to remember...

Expect companies to NEVER contact you out of the blue. And, NEVER click through an email received unsolicited. To be really safe, if you receive an email from a company you know, and it seems legit, ALWAYS call customer service first to verify.

[cwydro]

6. The gift card scam is used in a lot of these crimes.

That’s a huge red flag.

Sorry you hadn’t heard about it. AARP magazine had a big story on it, plus I’ve seen it on numerous network stories, local news, and national newspapers.

Good on ya though for bringing it here to warn others who might not have heard about it.

[Ms. Toad]

7. This flag, alone, should always be a hard stop.

Supposedly contacted by Apple support, both phone and email.

Never, ever, respond directly to anyone (credit card, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) who contacts you. If you believe the contact is legitimate, search your records (or publiec records that can be verified) and find a way to contact them directly. (Don't use any number, link, email, etc. that is included in "their" communication to you).

I've only once had it be a legitimate out-of-the-blue contact - and I read the credit card folks the riot for that. They called out of the blue to confirm recent purchases and, I believe, asked for information that would have given them access to more than I would want a stranger to have access to. Because I did not respond, they cut off my credit for making "unusual" purchases that (1) were not unusual from my past 12 months of purchase history and (2) I had informed them in advance.

But none of the other 50-100 out-of-the-blue contacts have been legitimate.