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[Cat Eye]

This guy called me and said he was from Microsoft and that my computer was sending out viruses.

He told me to go to my computer and go to some website to download a program and he would correct the problem for me.

I then asked him which Mac computer I should use and he said it did matter because he could fix them all.

Then I asked why Microsoft cares about an Apple Computer viruses problem and shouldn't I contact Apple.

What for it.......He then told me it would be to late....that my computer was about to crash the internet servers and Homeland Security would be looking for me.

With that I could not control my laughter and told him I had to go because my refrigerator was running and I did not want it leave the yard.

Seriously though....it is said that this type of scamming goes on.....so be careful out there!

[dayne66]

Do you have a phone # for the guy. My Mac might be at risk too!

[phato1]

The sad part is that many many people fall for this crap and get their computers hacked and turned into spam bots or worse....once you visit his help "site" all bets are off.....

When they call here my wife just tells them we don't have a computer....that totally messes up their script 

[grc]

It's a shame our supposedly best in the world government internet experts can't seem to figure out how to shut these scam artists down.  I'm on both state and federal "do not call" lists, and get calls from the credit card lady, the computer scammers, and various others all the time.  NSA can listen in on the entire country and the entire world, but we can't come up with a method to keep these crooks at bay.  Thankfully, my cynical approach to life keeps me well protected.  No matter who calls me, I don't believe a damned thing they say.

Jerry

[ZVO]

That is lame....with a double L...llame. Good job giving him ish.

[HighOnHD]

It's a shame our supposedly best in the world government internet experts can't seem to figure out how to shut these scam artists down.  I'm on both state and federal "do not call" lists, and get calls from the credit card lady, the computer scammers, and various others all the time.  NSA can listen in on the entire country and the entire world, but we can't come up with a method to keep these crooks at bay.  Thankfully, my cynical approach to life keeps me well protected.  No matter who calls me, I don't believe a damned thing they say.

Jerry

Jerry, unfortunately this is not enough protection anymore. We are the same way. My wife is even worse. She won't even text me her SSN when I need it. We shred EVERYTHING as well. With that said, we recently received letters from a previous health care provider (from many years ago) that there system had been hacked and our SSN's along with all other data may have been hacked!! So much for being careful!

[MrSurly]

The sad but real truth is that he did this to you because he succeeded  with someone else. Maybe the percentage is way low (I hope) but it's not zero.
I recently printed out a screenshot of a very good fake and passed it around the office because it was SO good. The ONLY giveaway was that it had a Zip attached and Chase Bank would NEVER send me a .zip file. I have accounts with chase. I get legit stuff from them almost weekly. The fake looked exactly like the real thing but for the attachment and some text added about the attachment.
 The point is that they are getting MUCH better at this, so vigilance is crucial.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[grc]

Jerry, unfortunately this is not enough protection anymore. We are the same way. My wife is even worse. She won't even text me her SSN when I need it. We shred EVERYTHING as well. With that said, we recently received letters from a previous health care provider (from many years ago) that there system had been hacked and our SSN's along with all other data may have been hacked!! So much for being careful!

I'm right there with you on that one.  Unfortunately my employer contracted with Anthem in Indiana to process claims for the healthcare insurance of those living in the state, rather than have it all handled in the corporation's home state of Michigan as had been the case previously.  It turned out that not only did they constantly screw up the processing of even simple straightforward claims, but now we find they kept reams of data on everyone including information that had absolutely nothing to do with processing claims, and the data was stored unencrypted and thus super easy for a hacker or employee to use for nefarious purposes.  This is the same sort of thing we've seen from Target, Home Depot, and many others, and even after all those examples of stupidity most places do not encrypt data and purge the data they do not actually need.  Unless government regulates this data storage, I guess we will continue to be victimized by companies who are too cheap to hire security experts and actually safeguard the data.  Good luck.

Jerry

[sadunbar]

I'm right there with you on that one.  Unfortunately my employer contracted with Anthem in Indiana to process claims for the healthcare insurance of those living in the state, rather than have it all handled in the corporation's home state of Michigan as had been the case previously.  It turned out that not only did they constantly screw up the processing of even simple straightforward claims, but now we find they kept reams of data on everyone including information that had absolutely nothing to do with processing claims, and the data was stored unencrypted and thus super easy for a hacker or employee to use for nefarious purposes.  This is the same sort of thing we've seen from Target, Home Depot, and many others, and even after all those examples of stupidity most places do not encrypt data and purge the data they do not actually need.  Unless government regulates this data storage, I guess we will continue to be victimized by companies who are too cheap to hire security experts and actually safeguard the data.  Good luck.

Jerry

I had my credit card hacked around the holidays thanks to Home Depot.  Fortunately my credit card provider replaced my card and reimbursed my account 100%.  With my new credit card, I subscribe to every "alert" possible to warn me of potential problems.  Well, my replacement credit card was hacked a couple of weeks ago, after only 29 uses!!  All local - grocery store, a few gas stations, local veterinarian, Farm and Fleet store and yes - Home Depot.  Once again, my credit card provider provided outstanding service and again reimbursed me 100%.  As of now, this has only cost me a little aggravation and no money.  So I am now on my third credit card since the Christmas holiday.  This one is encrypted with a "chip", which is rumored to improve security exponentially.  We'll see.....

[phato1]

I had my credit card hacked around the holidays thanks to Home Depot.  Fortunately my credit card provider replaced my card and reimbursed my account 100%.  With my new credit card, I subscribe to every "alert" possible to warn me of potential problems.  Well, my replacement credit card was hacked a couple of weeks ago, after only 29 uses!!  All local - grocery store, a few gas stations, local veterinarian, Farm and Fleet store and yes - Home Depot.  Once again, my credit card provider provided outstanding service and again reimbursed me 100%.  As of now, this has only cost me a little aggravation and no money.  So I am now on my third credit card since the Christmas holiday.  This one is encrypted with a "chip", which is rumored to improve security exponentially.  We'll see.....

Sounds like the same thing that happened to me, only it was not only my personal card that was compromised but also the Corporate card I use for work. The one place both cards were used?....Home Depot!! No out of pocket losses but there was some inconvenience experienced. Thank goodness for zero fraud liability.

I've had a fraud alert on my credit for years with the three major reporting agencies and I plan on keeping it on there even though initially it was put on do due a rather vindictive X wife. I also set up my banking with every alert they offer - my wife thinks I'm a little paranoid because when I use my CC I receive a text AND email notification of the transaction. I figure the sooner I know of potential problems the easier it will be to deal with.