Mocking the scammers

general
115

This one’s a really good way to shut them down when they call about infected computers. If they really were getting notifications from your computer about viruses or malware, they should be able to identify the specific computer name/host name/device name.

 
After reading this story, I realized there’s another flaw in the “Windows support” calls most people miss: If your computer really is sending out notifications it’s infected, where did your phone number come from? In other words, how did they know what phone number to call you at?

There’s millions of computers online every second of the day. There’s over seven billion people in the world. How did they get the phone number of one specific person from the infection notifications sent by one specific computer?

There’s two legitimate ways I can think of where this could happen:

  1. You bought your computer from a company like Dell and registered the purchase with them. But in this case, the caller would identify their relationship to that company (the company’s tech support division itself or the subcontractor they hired) and wouldn’t have any problems providing that information.

  2. There’s a keylogger installed on your computer.

The second one has some big problems with it:

  • Chances are, you’ve entered at least two phone numbers in all the forms you’ve filled out online, so did the caller from “Windows support” go down the list of all the phone numbers sent with the notification until they reached you? Or did they go right to the phone number that shows up most as being the best candidate to call you at?
  • Who is more likely to call you if a keylogger is sending out information about your computer: a company that somehow got ahold of the information and wants to help you, or a blackmailer/scammer?

 
If they keep trying to run the scam past the point where they should give up, ask them this: “How did you match my telephone number to my computer?” You can also try to pin them down and get them to identify the specific way they got the notification. They won’t because it’s a scam.

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116

Essentially I think they’re preying on the assumption that Computers Are Magic. People working in IT should be disabused of this thought, but nobody’s perfect. Older people are susceptible as well, but a lot of kids know nothing more than “magic box for YouTube” and similar.

I feel like there was a strong 80s-90s trope of computers being able to do anything that unfortunately bred this attitude.

117

This one almost got me, thinking there had been a fraudulent charge but then I looked at the email domain. I also have no payment information attached to my apple account, so nice try.

Spam
Spam1424×999 45.9 KB

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There are some really good looking "Apple " phishing emails out there. The was one that almost got me a few weeks back.

119

Apple’s a popular enough service that their gift cards can be used as a de facto currency. Sadly mostly for scams. (I’ve never heard of people trying to pay bills with iTunes gift cards…)

The local Home Depot has signs up at the registers notifying people that if you’re being asked to get Apple, HD, or other gift cards to “pay a bill” you’re being scammed.

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Sometimes I’ll ask them what color the computer is. If nothing else, that usually gives them pause… “Er, what?”

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121

So, you didn’t get a nibble when you called about renewing a car extended warranty and you guessed that maybe the number you called used to belong to the person with the car. (You guessed wrong.) At what point do you realize that “Huh, the phone calls aren’t going through any more” means no one is going to answer your call, EVER.

122

Here’s a good story about a person who helped prevent a “you owe the IRS money and you have to pay it now” scam from going any farther: Cab driver saves 92-year-old passenger from $25,000 scam.

I hope the woman has people to support her and keep her from falling for it again. The scammer may call back because they got her to fall for it before. Maybe even something as simple as a note next to the phone in large letters that says, “If someone calls saying you owe money and have to pay it now, it’s a scam.”

It gets harder to remember things as we get older, but I’m going to try to hang on to the fact that legal action doesn’t start with a phone call, especially not ones that require an immediate response.

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Hope said scammer get scammed as well.

Gah, I’m miffed at people preying on others, then leaving them in a worse financial position.

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It’s well know that the brain changes as we grow and age… teenagers don’t think like adults, really.

The brains in the senior population have been shown to accept stories more readily that earlier adults would know are fake. Like “Your grandchild is here in our jail” or “This is the IRS… pay us in Amazon cards.”

125

Someone tried to pull this on my grandma back in 2009. She didn’t buy it. I found out about it when my uncle called and asked where I was. I told him I was at work and he said “Someone just called Grandma pretending to be you and saying you were in jail in Canada and needed money.” Luckily Grandma was too smart for that.

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126

No mocking here, just another thing to be alert to. The Economic Impact Payments from the U.S. government are starting to show up in bank accounts if you used direct deposit for your tax refund last year or the year before. Paper checks will probably arrive later.

Watch out for calls supposedly from the IRS making sure you got your check and then demand your bank information. Maybe also followed by the “you won a prize but you have to pay a fee to get it” scam.

Since a few people that died from COVID-19 have received the EIP via direct deposit, there may be other scams that go along with this, such as calls like “they were mistakenly sent the money so you have to send it back now”.

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Some users received an email purporting to be from our email host, informing them that there are quarantined emails and that they need to log in with their email credentials in order to access, view and manage those emails.

Yeah right. It is a phishing email, end of the story.

Users got a notification email reminding them not to clickee on any linkee, and to clear it out with IT first before they clickee.

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Ooh, I got a threatening email!

From: Gilberte Thibault nizberneteff@outlook.com
Sent: Saturday, May 02, 2020 11:00 AM
To: mysp4m@comcast.net
Subject: %oldpassword%

I know, %oldpassword%, is 𝗒𝗈ur 𝗉ass wo𝗋d.

I need y𝗈ur 100% attent𝗂on 𝖿or the up com𝗂ng Twenty-fou𝗋 hour𝗌, or I may make su𝗋e you tha𝗍 𝗒ou live out o𝖿 shame for th𝖾 𝗋𝖾s𝗍 of your life span.

He𝗒, 𝗒𝗈u do𝗇’t 𝗄now me 𝗉erson𝖺𝗅ly. Ho𝗐ever I know nea𝗋l𝗒 any𝗍hing concerning y𝗈u. Y𝗈ur facebook co𝗇tact list, 𝗌m𝖺𝗋tphone contacts along wi𝗍h all the o𝗇𝗅in𝖾 a𝖼t𝗂vi𝗍y on you𝗋 comput𝖾r 𝖿𝗋om pr𝖾vious 15𝟨 days.

Wh𝗂𝖼h inclu𝖽𝖾𝗌, y𝗈ur self plea𝗌ure vide𝗈 c𝗅ips, which 𝖻𝗋ings me to the primary 𝗆otiv𝖾 why I am wri𝗍ing th𝗂𝗌 partic𝗎𝗅ar 𝖾 mail 𝗍o yo𝗎.

Well t𝗁𝖾 𝗉r𝖾𝗏io𝗎s time yo𝗎 visite𝖽 the adu𝗅t mate𝗋i𝖺l webs𝗂te𝗌, 𝗆y malwa𝗋e wa𝗌 𝗍𝗋i𝗀g𝖾r𝖾d inside y𝗈ur person𝖺l 𝖼o𝗆puter wh𝗂𝖼𝗁 end𝖾d up saving a bea𝗎tif𝗎𝗅 𝗏id𝖾o o𝖿 𝗒our 𝗆a𝗌tu𝗋𝖻atio𝗇 pl𝖺y si𝗆p𝗅y by a𝖼tiv𝖺ti𝗇𝗀 your cam.
(yo𝗎 got a tre𝗆e𝗇dou𝗌ly strange preference btw lm𝖺o)

I ow𝗇 th𝖾 c𝗈mp𝗅et𝖾 recordin𝗀. Just in 𝖼ase 𝗒𝗈u f𝖾el I am mes𝗌𝗂𝗇g aroun𝖽, sim𝗉l𝗒 reply proof 𝖺nd I will be 𝖿𝗈𝗋wa𝗋din𝗀 𝗍𝗁e p𝖺rt𝗂cular r𝖾cordi𝗇g ra𝗇𝖽omly to 9 people 𝗒ou’𝗋e frie𝗇ds w𝗂th.

𝖨t 𝗆ay e𝗇d up being your f𝗋𝗂end𝗌, co wo𝗋kers, boss, mother and fath𝖾r (I don’t know! My 𝗌𝗒stem w𝗂𝗅l randoml𝗒 choose the con𝗍a𝖼ts).

Wi𝗅𝗅 yo𝗎 be capab𝗅e t𝗈 look into a𝗇yon𝖾’s eye𝗌 aga𝗂n 𝖺fter it? 𝖨 question 𝗂𝗍…

𝖭o𝗇et𝗁eles𝗌, it doesn’t n𝖾ed to 𝖻𝖾 t𝗁at rou𝗍e.

I want to make you a 𝟣 time, 𝗇o𝗇 negoti𝖺ble offer.

Get USD 300𝟢 in BTC 𝖺n𝖽 s𝖾nd 𝗍he𝗆 on 𝗍𝗁e 𝗅isted b𝖾𝗅ow address:

15v9uJi7yqLBT4tSyUaiPRtDWtbJGMiq5Y
[cas𝖾 SENS𝖨TIVE so copy & 𝗉aste i𝗍, and 𝗋emo𝗏e ** from it]

(𝖨𝖿 you do𝗇’t un𝖽𝖾rst𝖺n𝖽 𝗁ow, goo𝗀le how 𝗍o acqu𝗂re 𝖡T𝖢. 𝖣o not 𝗐aste m𝗒 valu𝖺b𝗅e tim𝖾)

If y𝗈u s𝖾nd this ‘𝖽o𝗇ati𝗈𝗇’ (why 𝖽on’t 𝗐e cal𝗅 t𝗁𝗂𝗌 tha𝗍?). Im𝗆edi𝖺𝗍ely after t𝗁at, I will dis𝖺𝗉pear fo𝗋 goo𝖽 . an𝖽 un𝖽er no cir𝖼umstance𝗌 make contact wi𝗍𝗁 yo𝗎 aga𝗂n. I will era𝗌e ev𝖾rything 𝖨 have g𝗈𝗍 in 𝗋elatio𝗇 to y𝗈u. Yo𝗎 may carry 𝗈𝗇 livin𝗀 your 𝗇𝗈rma𝗅 day to 𝖽ay life with no f𝖾ar.

Yo𝗎 h𝖺ve 𝗀ot 2𝟦 𝗁𝗈𝗎rs to do so. Your ti𝗆e wil𝗅 beg𝗂n a𝗌 qui𝖼kly 𝗒ou 𝗋ead this 𝖾mail. I have got an o𝗇e of a 𝗄ind c𝗈de th𝖺𝗍 will alert me o𝗇ce y𝗈u g𝗈 t𝗁𝗋ough t𝗁is 𝖾 m𝖺𝗂𝗅 so do n𝗈t try to act smart.

The email contains an old password that I haven’t used in a while and it’s sent to my spam account, so I’m not particularly worried.

Edit: Not to mention that the rest of it is nothing that I ever have to worry about either.

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129

I got the same email on my secondary email account.

130

Yeah, complete rubbish - except for the fact that he has your old password. Regardless of the fact that it’s old and not used any more, how did he get hold of it?

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That email address and password were used on a site that was compromised some years ago. That’s why it’s not a current password.

haveibeenpwned.com is a great place to check now and then.

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The ransom has gone up since I got a similar message over a year ago. They only wanted $890 in bitcoin.

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Bwahahaha!

Never got any emails like that… so glad.

134

I got two of those on the same day, from two different email addresses. :slight_smile:

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