Inside tech support scams

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My Dad spotted this article in the latest AARP bulletin: Inside an International Tech-Support Scam (aarp.org) It’s an interesting read. As he says…
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Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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howardagoldberg, Alex5723, zeuswoz

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Barring them in and burning the place down would help. Each and every one of them.

Jim Browning’s channel is great. Even better when he stops scams in action as they’re happening. He even scammed the scammers in one of his latest episodes, getting a $100 gift card out of them, lol. (he then donated it, of course).

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wdburt1

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An excellent solution for a non technical person is to use a Chromebook.

Right off the bat, it offers immunity from phone calls claiming to be from Microsoft, Windows or Apple. And, there are (not yet at least) no scammer scripts that target Chrome OS users.

As it stands, there is no malware either. Eventually, if Chromebooks get popular, we will probably see web browser extensions with far too many permissions that let bad guys spy on all web pages. Eventually.

That Chromebooks require no ongoing care and feeding is also a huge plus for non techies.

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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scoobydoo

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I don’t know how these people sleep at night; they are total scum!

I nearly fell for the Amazon Prime renewal scam a few months back. I got a message on my phone saying they were about to debit my credit card £30 odd and if I thought this was wrong I should phone them. I have had Amazon Prime in the past but I thought I had cancelled it, so I gave them a ring. I got through to an Indian who tried to be very helpful, but I had twigged that the amount he was referring to, was nothing like the amount that Amazon charge, and also, Amazon charge monthly whereas this guy was quoting an annual figure. When he started to try and get me to press the Windows button on my pc, that convinced me it was a scam and I slammed the phone down. I hope I deafened the bastard!

A quick email to Amazon confirmed that I did not have Prime activated and that it was a scam.

 

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