305-474-0866 / 3054740866

DR - 05-17-2014

*want to waste their time, you are hilarious!*

Received a call from "Martin Thomas" who had an eastern Indian accent. He said he was technical support for Microsoft Software, and that he is calling as a courtesy because "there is a virus on your computer".

I have to say these types of calls make me very suspicious. I asked where he was located, and what the name of his company was. He said his company is called E-support. I asked him what his direct phone number was, he said 1-888-514-1650.

He told me he wanted to know the name of every person in my household. I told him I wouldn't give him that information. He asked why not? I said "because if all you are doing is removing viruses, then that information doesn't help you".

Then he wanted me to pull up the run command box by hitting control + R. Then he had my type in msconfig, and I did that, and of course all of the microsoft file folders came up. He asked me if I saw any files, I said yes. The he said"oh no, that isn't good, all of those files are viruses". I told him that was hogwash, and that these are the microsoft files that make my computer run.

Then he asked me to put in an executable file into the run box: www.ammyy.com/aa_v3.exe

(Folks, whatever you do, please do not type that command into the run command box of your computer).

At this point I asked him to hold the line, and I called the local Microsoft store, and got their Microsoft Technical Support Manager on the phone. I told him what was happening on the other line and he said "MICROSOFT WILL NEVER CALL A CUSTOMER ASKING THEM IF THEY HAVE VIRUSES ON THEIR COMPUTER!

He stated this is a scam so that these people can load viruses on my computer and then charge me to remove them. He said if they call again, to hang up immediately.

Be Forwarned!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caller type: Scammer
Caller: Martin Thomas So they say
Company: Pro HydraulicsEsupport So they say
Number: 305-474-0866

Reply

Want to Waste Their time - 04-22-2014

They ask you to do things to your computer and then ask what you see on the screen. Of course do NOT do any of this. I've included some screen descriptions you can use to bluff them into thinking you are following their directions.

1) The first thing they will ask is look at the lower left corner of your keyboard. They want you to identify the Microsoft Flag and press that and R. This will open up the Run Window in a small white pop-up window that says Run at the top left and Open at the left side.

2) They will ask you to type INF and check OK They will ask you what you see. If you did actually do this, you will see a "bunch of files"

3) They will explain that these are Infected Files, or something to that effect. (Don't over play it here, In a horified voice, I said Oh My Whatever can we do about this) and, sensing she'd been played, she said I could hang up. Then she hung up. Just be cool, a good strategy is "I don't know much about all this" and when asked what do you see, "I'm not sure what I'm looking at, can you explain this to me" usually works well.

4) Next they will ask you to enter in the run box IEXPLORE (underscore) and www.INFOSIS.NET [Do NOT do this]

?) At some point, they will ask you to download something, I think it is after the following

5) they will ask what you see, apparently it brings up a screen with 3 options, one of which is TEAM Viewer, then they will ask you to click on RUN

6) This will bring up a screen that has an ID code, they will ask you for it. Apparently it is all numbers 9 numbers in all. Whatever you tell them, write it down because they will be confused that the password you are about to give them doesn't work. I used the number 172264113

7) They will ask for a password, I don't know if it is alpha-numeric or what, but I used RUDJRK2 and they seemed satisfied, at least until it didn't work.
8) That's as far as I was able to go with them without actually doing what they asked and letting them have control of my computer. But you should have heard them, it was hilarious. Sir, I think you are giving me the wrong password. I repeated it. SIR, you are not giving me the correct password, I NEED the Correct Password!

Caller type: Scammer
Company: eSupport from Microsoft
Number: 305-474-0866