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Hack or just a coincidence?

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Viowithcrailtap

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 12:13PM

This has happened to a friend of mine who can't access the internet now because of this problem:

My friend had a phone call from a guy claiming to be from Microsoft (to him it sounded like an Indian call centre - no offence meant by that he couldn't understand the guy very well).

The guy ("from microsoft") read out a long number that was unique to his laptop. Then he told my friend that he had quite a lot of problems on his laptop and then the guy on the phone managed to bring up a box on the laptop screen showing all these "problems".

The guy on the phone said that to fix all these "problems" it would cost my friend £85 to have all the problems solved or he lose everything on his laptop.

He is now locked out of his laptop and can't get on it with a configuration code.

When he loads up his laptop it loads up a black screen a box (that looks like it's from windows 95, but his laptop has windows 7 as the main OS) which asks for this code.

The strange thing is that he received the phone call on his house phone and they knew his full name.

Is this a strange situation or does this happen when you've done something you shouldn't have?

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Viowithcrailtap

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 2:11PM

My friend says that when he turns his laptop on the screen is just black with the box asking for a code (which I'm guessing is how the scam works, pay the cash get the "code")

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Woolwell

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 2:21PM

Suggest that he tries to start it in safe mode and if possible runs TdssKiller

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Viowithcrailtap

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 2:25PM

So just turn the laptop on and press F8?

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Woolwell

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 2:26PM

Yes and see if that works.

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lotvic

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 2:39PM

It is unlikely the friend 'didn't do anything' on his laptop. More details from him are needed, he does himself a disservice by not saying exactly what he did etc. and then expecting advice to fix it. He is not the first to be taken in by this fraud scam. Can you find out exactly what the wording on screen is that he sees? Also there may have been keylogger, malware/spyware installed that will send his info over the internet once he does get past this first screen.

Don’t fall for phony phone tech support answers.microsoft.com

actionfraud.uk/microsoft-reveals-extent-of-phone-scam-june11

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Viowithcrailtap

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 2:48PM

I thought there could be a key logger or something on his laptop that he might have opened in an e-mail? Could that work? He said it happened this morning and he didn't do anything when the guy was on the phone but the guy on the phone was already accessing his computer.

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lotvic

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 3:03PM

"the guy on the phone was already accessing his computer"

In what way? Remote Control of the mouse cursor? or just telling your friend certain 'details' (most of which are guesswork or details common to all pcs)

As I said - get more detail from your friend instead of you and us making wild guesses and hazarding a solution.

Overall IMHO, I could never trust it again so my advice is for him to restore to factory settings and start with a clean laptop and this time install antivirus etc programs.

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Viowithcrailtap

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 3:14PM

The cursor was controlled by this person on the phone and then opened a box that showed all the problems. There isn't much more he can tell me. It happened just this morning.

He did just mention that the guy said it was £85 to keep the laptop "clean" for 2 years or £110 for 4 years.

But when my friend said he couldn't afford it the guy on the phone asked if he could afford £30.

Sounds like a big scam.

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Woolwell

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 3:23PM

"Sounds like a big scam". Not only sounds like big scam - it is a big scam. Your friend has been taken in badly by these people. If the cursor was controlled by the other person then he must have given access.

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lotvic

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Posted March 13, 2013 at 3:31PM

Yeah, the old 'eventvwr.exe' scam. As you say he has W7, I suggest you google for:

event viewer windows 7 phone scam

and read about it

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