Newsletter Archives

• Can you identify the scam?

  Posted on January 29, 2024 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  This is scam season at my office.

  Every day, there is an unwanted email that comes though our email-filtering system and into our inboxes. And every day, the scams get a little bit better. But often, being aware of scams isn’t just about watching out for email lures but also text messages, posts on social media, or even phone calls.

  How can you avoid getting trapped by these scams?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.05.0, 2024-01-29).

  On Security Browser Scams, Database Breaches, Hybrid Analysis, Microsoft 365 authentication, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Tech Support Scams, Two-factor authentication, VirusTotal

• Watch out for fake ‘Windows Defender’ scare

  Posted on June 5, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  My readers are reporting a new wave of fraudulent “security warnings” that freeze the screen, threaten to auto-delete users’ files, exhort victims to call what is supposedly a Microsoft phone number, and demand a fee for useless “virus removal.”

  Bogus messages from “Microsoft,” “Google,” and every other famous name in the tech industry are as old as the Internet, of course. But the frauds seem to be getting more intense and, unfortunately, more convincing all the time.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.23.0, 2023-06-05).

  Public Defender Antivirus, Newsletters, Scams, Tech Support Scams, Web Browsers, Windows Defender

• The other ransonware scam

  Posted on January 31, 2022 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  You can’t decrypt your way back to normal.

  In addition to all the other irons I have in the fire, I help moderate a group that assists information technology professionals in dealing with ransomware as well as other security issues.

  When people ask to join, we try to vet them as best as we can. The vast majority of people joining the group are consultants and firms in the “Managed Service Provider” category who assist small businesses with their technology needs. But there is a second group of people attempting to join, which I’m going to call “the other ransomware scammers.”

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.05.0 (2022-01-31).

  On Security Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Ransomware, Scams, Tech Support Scams

• Tech support scams want you

  Posted on December 29, 2020 at 22:43 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  One of the items that came out of the first ever Askwoody survey is that most of the readers are older.  You’ve been around technology for a long time.  And that’s a good thing as you have experience with a lot of technology.  But that also puts you in the “sweet spot” of scams.  Meaning that the attackers see you as a good target to attempt to scam.  And one of those classic scams is the Microsoft support scam not to be outdone by the increasingly used Apple iphone support scam.

  This headline caught my eye:

  Dept. of Justice credits Microsoft with identifying tech-support fraud scheme that targeted seniors

  No kidding.  Of course if you are a savvy senior (which most readers are) you may do the trick where you pretend to be a stupid user just to draw that person on the phone line on so as to waste their time so they don’t try to go after another person.  I’ve often played the dumb blonde routine until the very end where I tell the person on the other end of the call that they should be ashamed of themselves.

  What do you do?  Do you hang up?  Do you keep them on the phone?

  Security Patch Lady Posts, Tech Support Scams

• Tech support scams

  Posted on September 3, 2018 at 23:07 CDT by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  It’s great to see that Google have finally acknowledged their part in dodgy tech support ad scams – on The Register today (by John Leyden):
  Google cracks down on dodgy tech support ads
  Verification programme aims to weed out the miscreants

  So what do you do if you do get caught by one of these scams?

  Microsoft have a Tech Support Scam info page, which details what these scams are, and how to best protect yourself from them. I was surprised to find in this page that they want to hear about such scams, whether the caller pretends to be representing Microsoft OR some other company:

  Help Microsoft stop scammers, whether they claim to be from Microsoft or from another tech company, by reporting tech support scams: www.microsoft.com/reportascam.

  Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit uses customer reports to investigate, take action against criminals, and make referrals to law enforcement when appropriate.

  In addition, the page has a list of known tech support scam phone numbers – this is not just a list of U.S. numbers, either.

  Another Microsoft Secure blog, Teaming up in the war on tech support scams, dated April 2018, gives background on the problem, including social engineering aspects.

  Your government may also have a portal for reporting such scams, such as:
  U.S.: https://www.ftc.gov/complaint
  Canada: http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm
  U.K.: http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/
  Australia: http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/
  N.Z.: https://www.netsafe.org.nz/report/
  For Europe, see: https://www.europol.europa.eu/report-a-crime/report-cybercrime-online

  In addition, other companies also have scam reporting options, such as:
  Google: https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/2952493?hl=en
  TinyURL: https://tiny.cc/contact
  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/security
  Dell: https://blog.dell.com/en-us/five-tips-help-you-avoid-tech-support-phone-scams/ (does contain links to report)

  @swiftonsecurity’s DecentSecurity.com has a great summary of phishing, evaluation, reporting information, that’s well worth checking out. While it’s primarily focused on US reporting, there is a lot of useful information for everyone.

  While we need to keep on our toes as citizens of the www, reporting scams may just help to rein in this wild west aspect of it.

  Other Scams, Tech Support Scams