Entertaining a phone scam lad

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 12:03 am

There have been warnings in the media about a scam where a person will call you and claim to be from Microsoft, tell you your computer is sending out warning signals and then get control of your computer via a sharing website and force the victim to give a credit card number to get the use of their computer back. They then run the credit card for vast amounts.
So I got a call the other day from a male with a heavy east indian accent and he was following this script. I had nothing better to do on a rainy day so I decided to see how long I could tie up his time. I told him that I was not very good with a computer and he told me not to worry - he would guide me through everything step by step. He told me that he was highly trained and very patient. I said "We'll see".
We then embarked on a 2 hour and 7 minute ordeal of his trying to guide me through all the necessary steps so that he could get control of my computer. At one point about halfway through the worst day of his life he actually sounded like he was crying and the frustration in his voice was music to my ears. When he demanded to know exactly what I had typed in my address bar and I spelled out for him "double you" three times I thought he was going to jump right through the phone. When he eventually caught on that I was just stringing him along I congratulated him on his perseverance as he had broken my personal best record by a full 11 minutes. He then called me a SOB to which I responded "How can you say that to me after all the time we spent together". He was absolutely furious. A good time was had by all - at least at my end of the phone. Laughing

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 12:27 am

If you get this call, try it on a Linux or BSD box.
"Hit the Start button."
«What button?»
"The one at the lower left."
«The one that has K on a gear?» (or a foot)
"What happens when you push it?"
«Games, Graphics, Internet, Multimedia, Office...»
"That's right! Now pick Internet and find Internet Explorer."
«EtherApe, Firefox, Konqueror, Konversation, Pidgin, Wireshark... I don't see any Explorer here.»

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 2:12 am

Nice! Any time over 2 hours deserves a hearty congrats.

If you or anyone else want to harass another phone scammer, there's a VERY convincing operation (hours of operation, voice recordings, hold messages) you can reach at (5o3) 4o3 - 2.6.9.5. They're impersonating Wells Fargo. Number is in Oregon - very fluent in American English. They were spamming my cell phone so I called Wells Fargo myself and they twice confirmed it is a known scam.

You should call them and put your skills to use on these scumbags. Twisted Evil

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 2:33 am

That's awesome, CC!
Recently my 13 year old daughter had one of those guys going for 2 + hours. She had him call her back a couple of times for various reasons and even had him join her fake facebook account as a friend!
It's great to see you on the forum! I've seen some old posts of yours and as I'm also Canadian, a former Winnipegger, I'm always happy to see fellow Canuks here! Very Happy

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:59 am

The "double you" bit is hilarious. I've never had one of these guys call me but if they did I would just channel my father. I was trying to help him fix something on his computer and asked him what he saw on his desktop. He proceed to tell me there was a pen, phone and his monitor on his desk top but what does that have to do with anything...

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 5:18 am

I got one of those a couple of months ago. I was on my netbook at the time using Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Fun ensued.

I played to see where it was going. It winds up for them to try to help me. To see my computer they point you to a legit remote desktop management site. To install the software they walk you through the install. This is where the fun began.

Open IE.. Um, I don't see it.. Is Firefox OK?

Open Firefox and go to website WXY.. OK (I google it first) Slow computer..

I mention it is a RDM site. They point me to the install file.. Since that was a Windows program. I went along..

OK. I got a file named XYZ.. What do I do with it?

Run it.. OK.. How? Double click on it. OK.. (archive manager opens..) The exe file is a self executing zip..

OK. I have it open. Now what? Should I save or cancel?

Please save it.. OK.. Saved..

Now what.. Double click on it. OK

Archive manager opens again.. OK I have it open in archive manager and it contains a Windows Executable file. What should I do with it?

Double click it.. OK.. Um Nothing happened.. Should I save or cancel..

Run.. Not an option.. It is a Windows program..

Ummm. What are you using?

I tell him and ask why it reported to Microsoft? Sorry Click..

Not quite a Newb Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 50

25 minutes is my record with these guys.

Please be aware you could string them along and then say 'I've got a Mac' at which point they would hang up.
Unfortunately they now have a programme that will run on a Mac, and not just Windows.

These scum are so, so pushy and i could imagine they could pressurise older people to carry out their instructions easily.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 18 Apr 2010 Posts: 19

eddie shoestring wrote:

These scum are so, so pushy and i could imagine they could pressurise older people to carry out their instructions easily.

They do, they get really really pushy it's entertaining to see them do it to a guy who survived the Normandy Landings, a German POW camp and the Korean War god I love my neighbor.

But seriously I am tempted to string them on next time they call, I want to grab a copy of that file they offer for DL as I want to reverse engineer it.

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:40 pm

Because of the large number of people getting these calls, this is a big call center operation with hired employees. This does not appear to be some isolated Internet cafe operation. I hope the credit card guys shut down their operation and the whole operation gets persecuted out of existence.

The number of chargebacks they get should make a hit on their operation already.

No need to reverse engineer the software. It is a commercial remote management software package used for remote sharing of a PC desktop. They use social engineering to get users to allow them to "see" your PC. This commercial use software is thus not flagged as malware by most AV packages as it is a normal product. It is just this guys asking you to install it and connect to you are not your friend.

Google one. They use anyone that a client can download and use for free.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=ppwl&cp=18&gs_id=23&xhr=t&q=remote+desktop+manager&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=remote+desktop+man&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=d013020512624b3e&biw=922&bih=428

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 18 Apr 2010 Posts: 19

Agent1002, I have read in other places it's bundled with malware of some description that's why I want to get hold of a copy.

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 3:53 pm

The malware is often remotely downloaded after you install the first free package permitting remote control of the desktop. Use a VM if you do this. The other malware is relatively rare. There are some youtube videos online of a complete session with one of those guys to see the scam from one end to the other, including them "fixing the PC" after a fix is paid for.

A news reporter recorded the entire session to see what is found and what the fix was. It was simply turning off some error reporting. No fix to the computer though.

Found one..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn5sBDwmZ5s

Entertaining a phone scam lad	View next topic View previous topic