Posted By: oldbroad
Ransomeware - 10/25/17 09:00 PM
I guess that is what this is. This is part of an email from my brother a couple of weeks ago:
"I’m doing fairly well . I think I was hacked two weeks ago . David was on the computer at six in the morning when it froze on him and put up a message that he should call the phone number that popped up on the screen or he could lose everything on the computer . He called the number ( because he really didn’t know what else to do ) and he was told it would cost $ 500 to fix it and they would have to have access to it ( actually take it over ) , which would require the security password . That’s when he came and woke me up . I tried all the tricks to get this off the computer ( hit escape , alt. control delete , unplugging it ) none of these things worked . So , I gave them the information they asked for and they took it over .
They installed a few new security softwares and asked for a check ( for payment ) . I refused to give them a check and they argued A LOT about that , then finally took a credit card . When they finally got off the phone I uninstalled the software , answered the text message on my phone from the bank to stop payment on this charge and did a few security sweeps of my own to make sure there were no viruses on it . I also went to the bank and cancelled that credit card and got another one . They have since , called almost every day ( which comes up as an unknown number )and I do not answer because I know that if they get a voice recording of me saying yes or confirm ( or anything of that nature ) they could use that to open new accounts or confirm identity for a purchase ."
After I asked some questions he replied with this:
"Anyway , the computer has windows defender on it and I also bought MacAfee security . I used full scans with both of these . I could take it to Best Buy to have a techie go through it , but it seems to be fine ."
I don't know if he would like me posting this or not but I would like to hear your thoughts. I told him to keep a close eye on his finances and that I didn't know if he should have MacAfee with Windows Defender.
"I’m doing fairly well . I think I was hacked two weeks ago . David was on the computer at six in the morning when it froze on him and put up a message that he should call the phone number that popped up on the screen or he could lose everything on the computer . He called the number ( because he really didn’t know what else to do ) and he was told it would cost $ 500 to fix it and they would have to have access to it ( actually take it over ) , which would require the security password . That’s when he came and woke me up . I tried all the tricks to get this off the computer ( hit escape , alt. control delete , unplugging it ) none of these things worked . So , I gave them the information they asked for and they took it over .
They installed a few new security softwares and asked for a check ( for payment ) . I refused to give them a check and they argued A LOT about that , then finally took a credit card . When they finally got off the phone I uninstalled the software , answered the text message on my phone from the bank to stop payment on this charge and did a few security sweeps of my own to make sure there were no viruses on it . I also went to the bank and cancelled that credit card and got another one . They have since , called almost every day ( which comes up as an unknown number )and I do not answer because I know that if they get a voice recording of me saying yes or confirm ( or anything of that nature ) they could use that to open new accounts or confirm identity for a purchase ."
After I asked some questions he replied with this:
"Anyway , the computer has windows defender on it and I also bought MacAfee security . I used full scans with both of these . I could take it to Best Buy to have a techie go through it , but it seems to be fine ."
I don't know if he would like me posting this or not but I would like to hear your thoughts. I told him to keep a close eye on his finances and that I didn't know if he should have MacAfee with Windows Defender.