Phone scam - pretending to be Microsoft Engineer

[nudone]

I've just had a call from a friend describing how their distraught daughter has had her computer "hacked" AND it was a phone call from a Microsoft Engineer that told her so...

...the "MS Engineer" then went on to tell her how to remove the virus from her machine and, no doubt, do several other things to it as the same time. Oh, they also told her that her "operating system license" had expired and so would need to renew it for the cost of £150.

Obviously, this is a total scam aimed at the non security savvy pc user. I've told her to change all usernames and passwords, etc. and will be wiping/restoring the hard drive for them later.

Seems it's a growing problem: http://www.computing...-targeted-phone-scam

(No doubt, there are better links and information elsewhere.)

[Stoic Joker]

Thanks for the heads up I hadn't heard about this angle yet. Be interesting to see if I get any client calls about it here in the US.

OTOH I certainly sounds like it could make for a fun afternoon if I get called ... Maybe turn them loose in a sandboxed VM to see what they do. I love playing dumb...

[tomos]

I visited my mum last week (Rep. of Ireland) and answered one of these calls. He was saying something along the lines of - you have a computer with microsoft windows number xxxyyxxyyxxyyy and that there was a problem with - I said straight away that there was NO computer in the house, and he hung up very quickly.

I was very sorry afterwards I didnt play along a bit to see what exactly he was up to but it sounds like it was the same crew.

[nudone]

Good points both of you. It would be fun to try and keep one of these scammers on the phone for as long as possible, see how far they'll go with someone acting really "confused" and "gullible"; make it sound tempting to the scammer...

..."oh no, I'm so glad you called, I know it will cost a lot of money for you to mend my computer and I'm more than happy to pay. Now, please tell me what I need to do..."

[Renegade]

It's times like that where you kind of wish you had a nice sized bot army. Oh, what was that link? <tappity tappity click /> Oh... The site seems to be down now...

[Stoic Joker]

It's times like that where you kind of wish you had a nice sized bot army. Oh, what was that link? <tappity tappity click /> Oh... The site seems to be down now...

-Renegade (May 24, 2011, 06:07 PM)

[Evil Laughter] He He He He [/Evil Laughter] 

[ravenlaughs]

Owoo, I would so love to play with one of those dorks. And of course record the whole thing.

[Renegade]

Owoo, I would so love to play with one of those dorks. And of course record the whole thing.

-ravenlaughs (May 24, 2011, 06:36 PM)

I had some Jehovah's witnesses or mormons over one time as they tried to convert me. I gave them a mini sermon on the infinite mercies of Khorne the Blood God. (That was my avatar here for years!) That was fun~!

[Stoic Joker]

Owoo, I would so love to play with one of those dorks. And of course record the whole thing.

-ravenlaughs (May 24, 2011, 06:36 PM)

I had some Jehovah's witnesses or mormons over one time as they tried to convert me.

-Renegade (May 24, 2011, 07:49 PM)

Cripes those people make me nutz ... I answered the door once holding a beer, wearing nothing but a big grin, and invited them in.  (Damn'dist thing) They just ran down the driveway. *Shrug* People with standards are boaring...

I gave them a mini sermon on the infinite mercies of Khorne the Blood God. (That was my avatar here for years!) That was fun~!

-Renegade (May 24, 2011, 07:49 PM)

I'd been wondering what that was. Cool.

[Carol Haynes]

I have had a number of clients hit by this scam and a few have handed over money and access to their computer. They basically diddle about looking like they are doing something and install some free tools (like Malwarebytes).

One client contacted trading standards and got her money back and an investigation started. Trouble is it is difficult to tell where the scammers are based as I have come across a variety of accents!!!

[tomos]

^ great to hear someone got their money back. I would have thought that if they are able to debit your credit card that they would have to at least have a business address. But I guess that probably wouldn't mean much anyways...

Trouble is it is difficult to tell where the scammers are based as I have come across a variety of accents!!!

-Carol Haynes (May 24, 2011, 08:48 PM)

accents wouldnt necessarily indicate location anyways.

[cpt.deckard]

I've just had a call from a friend describing how their distraught daughter has had her computer "hacked" AND it was a phone call from a Microsoft Engineer that told her so...

...the "MS Engineer" then went on to tell her how to remove the virus from her machine and, no doubt, do several other things to it as the same time. Oh, they also told her that her "operating system license" had expired and so would need to renew it for the cost of £150.

Obviously, this is a total scam aimed at the non security savvy pc user. I've told her to change all usernames and passwords, etc. and will be wiping/restoring the hard drive for them later.

Seems it's a growing problem: http://www.computing...-targeted-phone-scam

(No doubt, there are better links and information elsewhere.)

-nudone (May 24, 2011, 06:15 AM)

growing problem indeed, these bastards are going global, check out some of the comments and videos on this page:
http://callercenter.com/800-698-9034.html

[ewemoa]

The July 2012 SANS OUCH! issue (PDF) - "The Tech-Support Phone Call Scam" seems to be related -- via http://www.securingthehuman.org/resources/newsletters/ouch

[nite_monkey]

It would be funny to make a linux box look as close a possible to a windows distro, and give them access to that, and see what happens from there...

[SeraphimLabs]

It would be funny to make a linux box look as close a possible to a windows distro, and give them access to that, and see what happens from there...

-nite_monkey (July 09, 2012, 04:27 AM)

Mintbox. Or one of the mint-named Linux distros is designed to be easily adapted to be Windows-like.

I like the idea of turning them loose in a VM though. Because while they are busy, I run netstat on the router to pick up the IP they came in from in order to file an abuse report with their ISP.

[Carol Haynes]

They don't seem to care - if you ask them they give you a real phone number (at least the one I spoke to did) - trouble is the police don't care either!

[SeraphimLabs]

trouble is the police don't care either!

-Carol Haynes (July 09, 2012, 08:08 PM)

Isn't it great? We wouldn't need half the laws we have or government officials we have if the laws that exist actually were enforced by people who actually care about following them and upholding the standards.