“I Chop U Giff Card” :eyeroll:

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05/29/15

I've picked up keyloggers in my computers from time to time in the past, but this one is/was … ummmmm, “special” …

As y'all know, keyloggers typically gain access to your email and commence to send spam containing phishing or malware links to every one of your contacts, making it appear as if you have sent the email to them. I have added myself to the Contact List (Yahoo), so if a keylogger sends spam out of my account I am immediately notified.

I received a spam email from myself on or around the day before yesterday. But oddly, the hacker DID NOT send spam to my Contact List – he sent it ONLY TO ME at that email addy. Very weird … So rather than jump right up and change passwords left and right , I decided to keep a close eye on my accounts and wait to see what the hacker's next move would be. I didn't have to wait very long. (I did quickly change my banking and Paypal passwords.)

About 04:30 this a.m. I received a surprise from Walmart.com: “Thanks for your order … yadda yadda” … problem was that I had NOT ordered anything from them since May! It was a copy of the invoice – complete with order number, item (Basic Blue Walmart eGift Card – $25.00) … and wouldja just lookit THAT – the hacker's name, address, phone number – and the last four digits of the VISA card (not mine) that he placed the order with !!!

Of course I logged right into my Walmart.com account – and sho'nuff, P*m Y**ng had hacked into my account to place an order. He had deleted all of my shipping info (i.e., name, address, phone) and replaced it with his own! He did, however, leave MY email addy in place. I'm sure the plan was to have the gift card sent to MY email, from whence he would retrieve it at his leisure – thinking, of course, that I had no idea of what was going on. I quickly deleted his details and put mine back into place, taking note of his phone number.

Soon thereafter the follow-up email arrived – actual delivery of the electronic gift card! I couldn't believe my good fortune! “To: P*m Y**ng” … Card Amount $25.00 – complete with the card number and the PIN number – YIPPEE !!! “OK,” thinks I, “We're gonna fix this a$$hole's li'l red wagon – but good … “ I knew that I probably had to act quickly. I moved the confirmation email as well as the email containing the gift card to a generic file within my contacts – that way, if P*m did happen to log into my email before I set all the details of my plot into action, he wouldn't be able to find what he was looking for.

Then I changed the passwords on both my email and my Walmart.com account. This was only a stall to give me a little more time. I logged back into my Walmart.com account and leisurely shopped for a few items that I wanted. Loaded up my shopping cart and applied P*m's gift card, giving myself “HIS” $25.00 credit. Then I paid for the balance with my debit card, and removed my card details from the site. Meh – try to steal from me? You deserve whatcha get Evil or Very Mad

Then I called Microsoft and had them run a deep scan remotely. I have an “Assure” account with them that says I can get all the free malmare removal I want for the entire year, so by golly, let 'em earn it. I shot off two emails to Webroot complaining, and demanding to know WHY those 312 malware threats found by the MS scan got past my AV and firewall !!!

If he's gonna pursue his hacking career, P*m needs to get much better at it, methinks. He should have been aware that a) I might be one of those nerds who knows the instant something ain't right in my system, and b) he should have been more familiar with Walmart's SOP – he should have known that they would send a confirmation email as well as the eCard, which I could – and did – intercept.

I called the cops – nothing they can do. I asked if I could be prosecuted for “stealing” his gift card out of MY email, and the cop replied, “Only if he comes here from Vegas to swear out a complaint in person.” I also called Walmart and gave them all the details. They are flagging that order number as well as P*m's details – he could feasibly steal plenty from them! They said there was no problem with my using “his” gift card – the Walmart guy chuckled when I told him that part.

For now I'm spending time on changing passwords again following the scan.

Now the only thing to worry about is that he COULD have my home address and phone … but it doesn't really seem plausible that he would have recorded any of that when he changed the info on my account, but who knows? I would SOOOOOOO dig snail mailing a card with nothing more than “I chop U giff card” hand-written on it to his address in Vegas !!!

Next crisis ...

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:41 am

Who paid for the gift card?

Scammers do not use their own money to buy things.

The CC used to buy the gift card is from a hacked account.

I agree the scammer will never press charges. The card holder may when they find out there are fraudulent charges on their account.

Not only do you need to change your PW you will also need to change your recovery information and address.

Change all your Pw and recovery to everything.

You will need to run your own AV and malware free.

05/29/15

/\/\/\ Oh, thanks for the reminder, TMF – I wasn't thinking about the recovery info!

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:50 am

Do not forget this problem. The money you spent is from a victim.

Quote:

I logged back into my Walmart.com account and leisurely shopped for a few items that I wanted. Loaded up my shopping cart and applied P*m's gift card, giving myself “HIS” $25.00 credit.

05/29/15

Already on my way to cancelling it Smile

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:51 am

I agree with TMF - you've just used a gift card that was paid for with a stolen credit card. When the cardholder realises and complains, the trail leads back to you Shocked

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:51 am

@KOD

05/29/15

Well, even though the Walmart rep said that it was OK, I'm canceling it anyway. I'm really glad I have you guys to bounce :poop: like this off of!

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 4:55 am

Not only was the Walmart Rep wrong. The law enforcement officer was also not correct.

05/29/15

Yes, that now occurs to me.

Doesn't anybody know how to do their jobs these days?

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 5:00 am

I believe drive through restaurants. I never check to see if I go what I ordered.

BS. Wink

05/29/15

/\/\/\ "BS" is right!!!

Drive-ups are the world's WORST -- I always sit right there and go through my order, which sure beats getting the wrong order home!

Walmart order canceled. Amount -- $29.58 (gift card was for $25.00)

One item could not be canceled, but I had already covered that with my debit card. Should I call Walmart back and ask them what to do with their gift card?
Or just hang onto it in case LE comes looking for me?

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 5:09 am

It may be hard to do.

I would try to call Walmart and ask for the fraud dept and report it.

Explain the situation to them.

Is there a way to return the gift card?

05/29/15

I haven't got a clue – I thought if there is a way to physically return the gift card to them, that I would do that. However, nobody I talked to this evening was
much help. I actually related the entire tale to two different reps at Walmart, and both told me the same thing. Just like the cop – he thought it was pretty
funny, saying that there wasn't anything the dept. here could do, as they don't have jurisdiction in Vegas!

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 5:43 am

That is what I meant by stating "It may be hard to do" in reference to Walmart.

With Walmart you will have to talk with the Fraud Dept.

With the officer most are clueless with internet fraud.

CC Fraud is a federal financial fraud. Feds do cross boarders. The warrant will be good any LE Officer with the powers can apply it in any state.

You do not have to travel to the state where the criminal is to file charges for Misd or Felonies.

05/29/15

Yes, I will do that … I will try to contact someone in Fraud; however, they may be unreachable until Monday.

Maybe I should just put a call into the FBI?

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 5:56 am

^^ Yes, If you can find a Walmart employee to listen.

If you wish to to report it. I suggest your local PD but speak with a supervisor. Tell him/her you wish to make a report. Tell them that you want to make a Miscellaneous Information Report allowed under the UCR. Get a case number or report number.

You can also report to IC3 http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

05/29/15

Yeah, a PD supervisor might listen … Lord knows the Officer On Duty wasn't any help … At least a case number indicates that I'm acting in good faith.

And I will definitely go the IC3 route – I'm so exhausted I didn't even think about them.

Thanks!

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 6:09 am

Good luck.

Push the "Miscellaneous Report" issue. Even if they do not believe a crime was committed they should take this report. Actually have to. Yet, there are some dept not trained as well as others.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 07 Mar 2014 Posts: 30

KissOfDeath wrote:

Then I called Microsoft and had them run a deep scan remotely. I have an “Assure” account with them that says I can get all the free malmare removal I want for the entire year, so by golly, let 'em earn it. I shot off two emails to Webroot complaining, and demanding to know WHY those 312 malware threats found by the MS scan got past my AV and firewall !!!

FYI: You have been scammed by this antivirus. Microsoft does NOT provide a service like this (their real technical support wouldn't do anything remotely), but telephone scammers claiming to be Microsoft like this are a dime a dozen. Also, note that Microsoft's real antivirus product (Windows Defender/Microsoft Security Essentials depending on what version of Windows you have) is FREE. If someone claiming to be Microsoft charged you for antivirus, you were scammed.

Also, I doubt even a very virus-ridden system would have 312 "malware threats" show up on a scan. (Maybe 10, maybe even 50...definitely not 312.) This is a common technique by FAKE antiviruses to scare you into paying them $$$ for a "subscription". These fake antiviruses are themselves malware - usually installed by a virus. If you have one on your computer, you probably have many other pieces of malware installed too, because the hackers behind the scenes commonly "resell" your computer to other hackers who pay to have their stuff installed on already-hacked victims. In all likelihood, this "antivirus" is either directly or indirectly responsible for getting the keylogger on your system.

This is why Webroot (which IS a real, legitimate antivirus) did not find the 312 "malware threats". They are fake. There IS real malware on your system, but it came from the fake antivirus pretending to be from Microsoft.

Given what you have described, your computer is almost certainly trashed. When you have something as deeply entrenched as a keylogger, it is all but impossible to really get rid of it. Even the best "experts" could not do it. What you need to do is a clean install of Windows on your computer. I would highly recommend hiring a REPUTABLE tech support company like the Best Buy Geek Squad to do this for you (this is something they do every day). They can help you back up your files, hopefully ensuring that the files themselves are clean of any viruses, before wiping the computer and putting your files back.

They can also help you make sure a real antivirus is set up properly on your computer. Webroot is a good product; you may want to go with it again. (I don't think it's what failed you here. Even the best antivirus can't catch everything - especially "scam" software that you probably accidentally downloaded yourself, or were instructed to by telephone scammers.) But there are plenty of other good choices. Including Microsoft's REAL (and FREE) antivirus, Windows Defender, which comes built-in with Windows 8 and newer.

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:11 am

Mr. Vrublevsky wrote:

FYI: You have been scammed by this antivirus. Microsoft does NOT provide a service like this (their real technical support wouldn't do anything remotely)

Microsoft say different Wink

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Assure-Software-Support-Plan/productID.287685500

05/29/15

/\/\/\ Yes, that's my product -- second year running.

Thanks, B8er Smile

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 18 Oct 2012 Posts: 611

Wow, sounds like you've had quite the exciting journey KoD! Keep us posted on your reporting success. It would be good if the feds could actually use the personal information the scammer left on your account. I would think they could.

LE can be frustrating sometimes. It's almost as if the moment they hear "internet" their eyes glaze over and their brain shifts into "Whelp, there's nothing I can do".

05/29/15

Exciting, yes, Gigz … but I could have easily lived my entire life without this saga!

You're right about LE – you know, I thought I could actually HEAR the glazing over of eyes with BOTH of the cops I talked to last night! I related the tale to
the dispatcher, who put me over to “Officer Banks” … before I re-told my story, I asked, “Are you familiar with cyber-crime?” to which he replied with
much hemming and hawing, “Ummmmmm, a little...” as his voice trailed off, I pretty much knew that talking to him would turn out to be a lost cause. And
it was – went absolutely nowhere. They were like, “Oh, well ...” and obviously didn't want anything to do with me!

As I mentioned above, I spoke to two different Walmart reps last night, also. I got pretty much the same reaction from both of them. Today I followed TMF's
advice and tried to contact Walmart's fraud department. They have what they call a “privacy division” and the rep that I got today was much different from
the ones I spoke to last night. After hearing what I had to tell, Fawn put me on hold for a few minutes. She came back and reported to me that she was
blacklisting the credit card that had been used so that it wouldn't be accepted by Walmart for any further purchases. Further, she said that this matter
would be put before their investigators, who would be reviewing everything that I gave her, and that they would be contacting me.

I asked Fawn if I should still contact the FBI or IC3, and she asked me to wait until Walmart completes their investigation.

So that's where we are now.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 18 Oct 2012 Posts: 611

Awesome! So at least you're making some progress. Hang in there KoD! We all need to try and maintain our stamina when dealing with these thieves.

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