A friend who couldnt log into his email as his password no longer worked said he googled something (cant remember exact search query - but was something like 'microsoft email password problems') and he said the 1st link at the top was what he thought to be a "Microsoft" link and had a "toll free 0800" number in the link, he didnt click on the link but rang the toll free number...
heres the info he could recall:
A) this rep was african/american sounding
B) this rep supposedly had remote control of his PC but my friend doesnt recall initiating it (although I think he may have but not realised or remembered)
C) this rep showed him the event viewer 'errors' and said they were viruses and that al qaeda might be using his computer
D) this rep installed IOLO System Mechanic and used all the problems found in that saying this was part of it all and that his Anti-Virus (AVAST Free) has let them all in
E) this rep wanted to charge £169.99 for 1 years AVG Anti-Virus saying that all government agencies use this and if he bought it from PC World he would only get 7 days guarantee
my friend only wanted help accessing his email? needless too say he didnt pay the money but he said the guy had his address already and asked for his name and date of birth (which he gave)
I just wanted help in backing up my advice to him that this person was not genuine from microsoft as he felt that he might have been.
using TeamViewer I checked his computer and there seems to be nothing other than 2 PUP's (survey's websites installing software or browser extension to monitor browsing habits) which I removed, Avast was working fine, I scanned startup locations in Msconfig, Services and Task Scheduler (I am aware there may be other startup locations but it was 1am and had been on the phone 3 hours almost) and nothing is set to run at boot, nothing running in task manager, I scanned with the following all of which came up clean:
Avast (real-time shield)
MalwareBytes
Super Anti-Spyware
Panda Cloud Scanner
Trend Micro House Call
Kaspersky TDDS Killer Anti-Rootkit
The computer was working fine, web pages were fine (no redirects, and wasnt before removal of PUP's), I turned up heuristics on avast and enabled PUP detection too
I managed to go through all the loops to get his email access again.. personally I think he may have been locked out for trying too many times with incorrect password OR has changed it but forgot or mis-spelled it - it is possible his account has been hacked/accessed by someone else I suppose but his inbox has all the usual mail and its all unread? seems a bit pointless to access someones mailbox, change the password and not read any of the mail?
anyway if someone can confirm my findings that this rep was fake and possibly offer up any other advice that would be great...
thanks
snadge
heres the info he could recall:
A) this rep was african/american sounding
B) this rep supposedly had remote control of his PC but my friend doesnt recall initiating it (although I think he may have but not realised or remembered)
C) this rep showed him the event viewer 'errors' and said they were viruses and that al qaeda might be using his computer
D) this rep installed IOLO System Mechanic and used all the problems found in that saying this was part of it all and that his Anti-Virus (AVAST Free) has let them all in
E) this rep wanted to charge £169.99 for 1 years AVG Anti-Virus saying that all government agencies use this and if he bought it from PC World he would only get 7 days guarantee
my friend only wanted help accessing his email? needless too say he didnt pay the money but he said the guy had his address already and asked for his name and date of birth (which he gave)
I just wanted help in backing up my advice to him that this person was not genuine from microsoft as he felt that he might have been.
using TeamViewer I checked his computer and there seems to be nothing other than 2 PUP's (survey's websites installing software or browser extension to monitor browsing habits) which I removed, Avast was working fine, I scanned startup locations in Msconfig, Services and Task Scheduler (I am aware there may be other startup locations but it was 1am and had been on the phone 3 hours almost) and nothing is set to run at boot, nothing running in task manager, I scanned with the following all of which came up clean:
Avast (real-time shield)
MalwareBytes
Super Anti-Spyware
Panda Cloud Scanner
Trend Micro House Call
Kaspersky TDDS Killer Anti-Rootkit
The computer was working fine, web pages were fine (no redirects, and wasnt before removal of PUP's), I turned up heuristics on avast and enabled PUP detection too
I managed to go through all the loops to get his email access again.. personally I think he may have been locked out for trying too many times with incorrect password OR has changed it but forgot or mis-spelled it - it is possible his account has been hacked/accessed by someone else I suppose but his inbox has all the usual mail and its all unread? seems a bit pointless to access someones mailbox, change the password and not read any of the mail?
anyway if someone can confirm my findings that this rep was fake and possibly offer up any other advice that would be great...
thanks
snadge