HELP - TECHY STUFF!!

[magicma]

I have just had a phone call from Indian?man who I could hardly understand saying:
'You have a lot of error reports on your computer and I will help you get rid of them' or words to that effect!! He asked how long I've had my computer.

I asked him who he was and where was he from and why he didn't send me an email etc so that I could verify things.
Because I had all that Speedtouch trouble, I wondered if it was anything to do with that, but he didn't know anything about it.

Then, I thought that as that was a Virgin problem, maybe he 'they' wouldn't know.
I then asked him more questions and he told me to type in www .windowssupport. info to prove he was legitimate. I did that and could see it was a correct link to windows support.

Then he asked me to enter www .ammyy. com where, he said, would show all the errors on my computer. He wanted me to click a link, I had a quick look but didn't fancy it. Then I ended the conversation and put the phone down

Anyway, I've had look since it has two Icons 'compatible with Windows7 and 'certified for WindowsVista and the following blurb


Ammyy Admin is a highly reliable and very friendly tool for remote computer access. You can provide remote assistance, remote administration or remote teaching for your clients, employees and friends regardless of their location. Ammyy Admin connects remote computers within seconds without any installation or configuration. You can view and/or control (using your keyboard and mouse) any applications running on the remote computers.

Am I being too cautious?? I'm getting too old for all this!! But now I'm worried that I may have some 'nasties' on my machine!!!
HELP!! MM

Edit by Chrissie - MM, I hope you don't mind that I've broken up your links - just don't want folks clicking on them in case they aren't safe.

[skeandhu]

a quick easy way would be to download a free program called spybot

www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,22262-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html

run it and fix problems

[Chrissie]

MM, I think you have been taken in with a known scam

I may be wrong but I think you have allowed them to hack into your PC

I think you may need more than spybot to help you

Off to try & find out more to help you.

[Chrissie]

MM, I'm sadly right

You have allowed the scammer/hacker to have acess to everything on your PC Sorry to alarm you but you need to take action & as fast as possible.

Have a read of this : -

www.avforums.com/forums/isps-internet/1241546-ammyy-phone-call-scam.html

[Chrissie]

MM, I've started a thread on the eBay techie board asking for more help : -
community.ebay.co.uk/topic/General-Technical-Issues/Help-Ammyy-Download/1900019232?&#msg1900140643


Grumpy Cook advises the following : -

Ammyy itself is legitimate, so you should be able to uninstall it in the normal way via Control Panel > Add/Remove programs.

The real problem is whatever else has been put onto the PC. I would suggest scans with whichever AV is installed and both Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware.

www.malwarebytes.org/

www.superantispyware.com/

It is also possible that any stored passwords have been harvested so your friend should change them as soon as possible.

[Scylla]

I didn't see this thread as it wasn't yellowed

I've emailed you {{{Madam}}} and put a message on the eBay thread. This would happen when we've got postal delays And when you've already had problems so you were suggestible.

scylla x

[Chrissie]

Scylla, from lots of googling, I sadly think think this has happened due to MM's previous problems

It looks like some ISP call centre "helpers" are selling on info to scammers

[Scylla]

Scandalous and shameful, but that's what must have happened

As long as Madam gets on to her bank/CC company a tragedy can be averted.

scylla

[Scylla]

MM - I know you're here !!!

scylla

[Scylla]

You may get a security message - because the board has slightly changed - if you wish/need to post as Guest.

Just type in what it says.

s x

[magicma]

Thanks Scyll - just picked up your emails thank you. I did NOT click on or open anything or download anything on that Ammyy site.
That quote up there is on their first page - I did not click on 'Press to download' - I terminated the telephone call and shut everything down.

I have looked all through my programmes and computer - cannot find it anywhere.

I will have a look at the links etc ^^^^^^in a little while - have to go off now. Back later.
MM

[Scylla]

Oh!!! That's absolutely GREAT! Well done!!!

You should be fine, but just as well to run the antispy and malwarebytes anyway.

Thank you so much for popping in to tell us.




scylla

[Stan]

MM - this is quite a widespread scam - but the way they get their money is by conning people to pay for a service that is not needed. As long as you didn't give them any card or payment details, you should be fine.

This link gives some details:

www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/jul/20/phone-calls-india-scams

Quote:- the people who are doing this have never, in any of the many, many examples that I've seen, installed malware on anyone's machine;

But as you probably know now - you should never give any details to anybody who cold-calls.

Unfortunately these scammers often get given contact details by rogue individuals in real call centres, which is how they already know that you may have a PC problem. This makes them more believable.

[Scylla]

I've seen an IT buff claim that when he was called he set up a virtual PC on his HDD and he could see notepad and other things being accessed remotely. I can't find the right link just now.

scylla

[Chrissie]

So relieved to hear you are OK MM

Sorry for panicking everyone