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Got a Phishing call!

longview

longview

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I got a Phishing call the other day, the guy sounded very official, and told me their scanning service had
detected a virus on my computer.
It would not be out of the possibility for me to get a real call of this nature, so I listened for a bit.
He kept saying "your Computer", so finally I asked him which one? "well yours" was the response.
I asked him, if he were monitoring my computers, and one was showing a virus, what was the IP address
of the offending computer? "CLICK".
I was mildly entertaining.
 
I usually enjoy those calls as well. The sad thing is how many fall for it.
 
longview said:
I got a Phishing call the other day, the guy sounded very official, and told me their scanning service had
detected a virus on my computer.
It would not be out of the possibility for me to get a real call of this nature, so I listened for a bit.
He kept saying "your Computer", so finally I asked him which one? "well yours" was the response.
I asked him, if he were monitoring my computers, and one was showing a virus, what was the IP address
of the offending computer? "CLICK".
I was mildly entertaining.
Click to expand...

WTF! Before I asked which computer, I be asking by what authority he was monitoring any of my devices.
 
That's the downside to the information age: the potential for scams.

You've won the lottery! Just send us a few bucks and..

The worst is the email born Trojan horse that actually starts shutting down your programs and apps. Never open an email if you don't know who sent it!

Oh, and there's the "your email has been shut down. Click here to bring it back"
 
Dittohead not! said:
That's the downside to the information age: the potential for scams.

You've won the lottery! Just send us a few bucks and..

The worst is the email born Trojan horse that actually starts shutting down your programs and apps. Never open an email if you don't know who sent it!

Oh, and there's the "your email has been shut down. Click here to bring it back"
Click to expand...

Actually receiving an email won't do that. It's the links in the emails that will. I don't know about you, but all of my email programs show me the emails whether they are "opened" or not. My programs do not however automatically take me to links within the email. Since I can read the email, I'm assuming it's "opened." Hence saying that you should never open an email is factually goofy. Don't click on links in emails you didn't expect even from people you know because their email may have been hacked.

And if your email was shut down, you'd not have received the email telling you it was shut down. I guess some folks will fall for that though.
 
Summerwind said:
Actually receiving an email won't do that. It's the links in the emails that will. I don't know about you, but all of my email programs show me the emails whether they are "opened" or not. My programs do not however automatically take me to links within the email. Since I can read the email, I'm assuming it's "opened." Hence saying that you should never open an email is factually goofy. Don't click on links in emails you didn't expect even from people you know because their email may have been hacked.

And if your email was shut down, you'd not have received the email telling you it was shut down. I guess some folks will fall for that though.
Click to expand...

Some folks will fall for anything.
Actually I have two email addresses, so I'll get an email on one telling me that the other one has been shut down.

Thanks for the heads up about links. I hadn't thought of that.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Some folks will fall for anything.
Actually I have two email addresses, so I'll get an email on one telling me that the other one has been shut down.

Thanks for the heads up about links. I hadn't thought of that.
Click to expand...

You cross reference your emails????!!!! Wow, that seems really like a bad bad idea. I have four, netzero from ages ago, hotmail, gmail, and my business website email. None are cross referenced.
 
I've gotten a few robocall phishes saying I have to call a number in the 202 area code (DC) immediately.

A little online research on the number revealed it connects to scammers claiming to be with the IRS and threatening to sue you if you don't turn over bank account information.
 
Summerwind said:
You cross reference your emails????!!!! Wow, that seems really like a bad bad idea. I have four, netzero from ages ago, hotmail, gmail, and my business website email. None are cross referenced.
Click to expand...

Actually, no I don't.

Come to think of it, what I get is not my actual other email. What I get is "your gmail account has been locked," without giving the actual address. I'll go to my gmail account, and find that it is not, in fact, locked, then I know the email is a scam.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Actually, no I don't.

Come to think of it, what I get is not my actual other email. What I get is "your gmail account has been locked," without giving the actual address. I'll go to my gmail account, and find that it is not, in fact, locked, then I know the email is a scam.
Click to expand...

Oh I see. I guess I've never gotten one of those. The one's I get regularly tell me that my package was attempted delivery and please click the link below to .... the link appears to be to FedX or UPS but when scanned over with the mouse, the real addy comes up as something altogether different. So between that and not expecting any packages, I just don't click and delete the email asap.
 
Summerwind said:
Oh I see. I guess I've never gotten one of those. The one's I get regularly tell me that my package was attempted delivery and please click the link below to .... the link appears to be to FedX or UPS but when scanned over with the mouse, the real addy comes up as something altogether different. So between that and not expecting any packages, I just don't click and delete the email asap.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've received those as well. I fell for it the first time, and wound up with a virus. Fool me once.....
 
Dittohead not! said:
Yes, I've received those as well. I fell for it the first time, and wound up with a virus. Fool me once.....
Click to expand...

Nah nah nah nah nah, I didn't even fall for it once. I've never had a virus or trojan or worm, and I use no anti-virus. I'm just diligent and have things really well locked down and don't get fooled. Sorry you did. The nahnahnah is just being snarky, not meaning to be truly asshole-ish.
 
Summerwind said:
Nah nah nah nah nah, I didn't even fall for it once. I've never had a virus or trojan or worm, and I use no anti-virus. I'm just diligent and have things really well locked down and don't get fooled. Sorry you did. The nahnahnah is just being snarky, not meaning to be truly asshole-ish.
Click to expand...

Good luck with going without an anti virus.

Those things are nasty and very difficult to get rid of.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Good luck with going without an anti virus.

Those things are nasty and very difficult to get rid of.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Allot of the damage viruses, Trojans or other malware cause to Windows' internal data structures, such as the registry, can't be repaired without a hard disk wipe and rebuild (ask me how I know).

The very worst are the .EXE file attachments in email that people have mistakenly opened. Less so the drive by downloads from web sites.

There are a number of good and free anti-virus programs out there that only have a yearly free re-registration. Just take a look at PC Magainze's anti-virus editor's choice review. Everyone one of them comes with email, web, and file based scanning and quarantine (gotta cover each of the main vectors into the machine).
 
Dittohead not! said:
Good luck with going without an anti virus.

Those things are nasty and very difficult to get rid of.
Click to expand...

I've been like this since internet. Never had an issue. Furthermore they aren't hard to get rid of, just restore to factory original and reload. I back up to an external harddrive the few important docs, program installs (with license info), FF bookmarks, and such every week or so. The most I'd loose is a few days. But I've been on puters since before PCs were even a gleam in anyone's eyes and still use the backup regime that we used when on main frames and then minis (about the size of a file cabinet). Okay, not quite as diligent as we used to do daily, weekly, and monthly backups, I only do weekly unless I'm into a project wherein I'll back up daily.
 
Summerwind said:
I've been like this since internet. Never had an issue. Furthermore they aren't hard to get rid of, just restore to factory original and reload. I back up to an external harddrive the few important docs, program installs (with license info), FF bookmarks, and such every week or so. The most I'd loose is a few days. But I've been on puters since before PCs were even a gleam in anyone's eyes and still use the backup regime that we used when on main frames and then minis (about the size of a file cabinet). Okay, not quite as diligent as we used to do daily, weekly, and monthly backups, I only do weekly unless I'm into a project wherein I'll back up daily.
Click to expand...

OK, if I ever get another one, I'll PM you for instructions.
 
Dittohead not! said:
OK, if I ever get another one, I'll PM you for instructions.
Click to expand...

For a reload to factory to be assured to work, you need to invest in the operating software discs even if it's an OEM system, usually only about $20 if purchased within a month or so of buying the computer.
 
Summerwind said:
I've been like this since internet. Never had an issue. Furthermore they aren't hard to get rid of, just restore to factory original and reload. I back up to an external harddrive the few important docs, program installs (with license info), FF bookmarks, and such every week or so. The most I'd loose is a few days. But I've been on puters since before PCs were even a gleam in anyone's eyes and still use the backup regime that we used when on main frames and then minis (about the size of a file cabinet). Okay, not quite as diligent as we used to do daily, weekly, and monthly backups, I only do weekly unless I'm into a project wherein I'll back up daily.
Click to expand...

Summerwind said:
For a reload to factory to be assured to work, you need to invest in the operating software discs even if it's an OEM system, usually only about $20 if purchased within a month or so of buying the computer.
Click to expand...

So just for conversation's sake, how many hours of your time does it take to reload all your programs, and reconfigure all your settings, email accounts + passwords and such?

If you have high speed recovery, such as a factor reload, that's good, but you can't discount all the time that it'll take to reapply all the software patches that have come out since the factor default has been created. That's also time. Last time I rebuilt my own workstation, I think it was 4 days of evenings re-installing and reconfiguring everything.

Most of the systems I'm dealing with are COTS built from parts, so there's no factory recovery partician (which might also get infected) to recovery from.

In the end though, it's the "P" in PC, so everyone's different, and everyone has their own way that works for them, and that's just fine.
 
longview said:
I got a Phishing call the other day, the guy sounded very official, and told me their scanning service had
detected a virus on my computer.
It would not be out of the possibility for me to get a real call of this nature, so I listened for a bit.
He kept saying "your Computer", so finally I asked him which one? "well yours" was the response.
I asked him, if he were monitoring my computers, and one was showing a virus, what was the IP address
of the offending computer? "CLICK".
I was mildly entertaining.
Click to expand...

The most clever phishing call I ever got was this . . .

Hello, this is Mandy from T-Mobil. I'm sorry to bother you this evening, but this is a courtesy call to let you know that your account is past due. Unless we receive payment on your account today, we will be forced to suspend service. If you have a charge card, I will be happy to take that information so your Cl service is not interrupted."
Click to expand...

Of course, it only works if you have T-Mobil service, but it's a clever gimmick. I AM a T-Mobil customer, so I listened carefully. However, I pay my bill automatically on my credit card.

I'm sure others get stung. I reported it immediately to T-Mobil's fraud department.
 
Dittohead not! said:
That's the downside to the information age: the potential for scams.

You've won the lottery! Just send us a few bucks and..

The worst is the email born Trojan horse that actually starts shutting down your programs and apps. Never open an email if you don't know who sent it!

Oh, and there's the "your email has been shut down. Click here to bring it back"
Click to expand...

I keep clicking on it but I don't think your link's working.
 
longview said:
I got a Phishing call the other day, the guy sounded very official, and told me their scanning service had
detected a virus on my computer.
It would not be out of the possibility for me to get a real call of this nature, so I listened for a bit.
He kept saying "your Computer", so finally I asked him which one? "well yours" was the response.
I asked him, if he were monitoring my computers, and one was showing a virus, what was the IP address
of the offending computer? "CLICK".
I was mildly entertaining.
Click to expand...

I work at home, I get them all the time. I like to do a little performance art with them.

It usually ends in them screaming 4 letter words at me. LOL
 
eohrnberger said:
So just for conversation's sake, how many hours of your time does it take to reload all your programs, and reconfigure all your settings, email accounts + passwords and such?

If you have high speed recovery, such as a factor reload, that's good, but you can't discount all the time that it'll take to reapply all the software patches that have come out since the factor default has been created. That's also time. Last time I rebuilt my own workstation, I think it was 4 days of evenings re-installing and reconfiguring everything.

Most of the systems I'm dealing with are COTS built from parts, so there's no factory recovery partician (which might also get infected) to recovery from.

In the end though, it's the "P" in PC, so everyone's different, and everyone has their own way that works for them, and that's just fine.
Click to expand...

Actually relying on the factory partition is a bad idea as I found out. Not from a virus, but the hard drive crashed. Then I had to buy the discs from HP which were about $20. Now I make sure to have those handy from the start.

As for reloading and reconfiguring, about 4 hours. I have Win7 with i7cpu 1Tb hard drive and 8Gb Ram. But again, backed up properly most of that reconfigurations take very little time. Most of the time is reinstalling programs. I regularly re-install the entire system, about once a year, just to assure a clean and well running machine. Regardless of viruses, etc., every year there are programs that I downloaded and didn't like and uninstalled, but they all leave traces behind, so again once a year a clean install and go from there.
 
Summerwind said:
Actually relying on the factory partition is a bad idea as I found out. Not from a virus, but the hard drive crashed. Then I had to buy the discs from HP which were about $20. Now I make sure to have those handy from the start.

As for reloading and reconfiguring, about 4 hours. I have Win7 with i7cpu 1Tb hard drive and 8Gb Ram. But again, backed up properly most of that reconfigurations take very little time. Most of the time is reinstalling programs. I regularly re-install the entire system, about once a year, just to assure a clean and well running machine. Regardless of viruses, etc., every year there are programs that I downloaded and didn't like and uninstalled, but they all leave traces behind, so again once a year a clean install and go from there.
Click to expand...

Rebuild at least once a year. Hmm. OK. Works for you. I've been running the same instance of my Windows OS since 2007. Yeah, it's gone through a couple of motherboards, a couple of hard disk upgrades (image transfers), but essentially it's the same once as I installed way back then.

One of the reasons for my rebuild being so long is that there's a tone of software, tools, utilities, and yes games, that I install just to call the system 'my own'. Seems you are more on the minimalist end of that, and more power to you for that. Me? Not so much.

From my perspective, I think I've saved time and effort this way. But like I've said earlier, the "P" in PC is personal, so to each their own, and I'm OK with that.
 
Dittohead not! said:
LOL! Good thing for you. It's a dummy, just there to represent a link to an infected site.
Click to expand...

maybe if I keep clicking it will work. i'll keep trying and let you know if I make any progress.
 
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