scam

Infopackets Reader Elliot D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm reaching out to you because I've been scammed by Live PC Experts (livepcexpert.com). Back in February this year an error message appeared, stating that my computer was infected and I needed to ... call 855 631 4214 to fix it. The tech I spoke with had a very thick Indian accent and said my computer was infected with the Zeus Trojan. They then offered me a 5 year support contract for $500 and said they would fix the problem; that was in February this year. I paid them by check because they said my credit card was being attacked by hackers and ... (view more)

Google says it's suffered zero phishing attacks since it started making staff use a physical key to log in to work accounts. Of course, it's possible it's been hit with attacks it doesn't know about. The measures were taken to prevent against ... phishing attacks in which scammers try to trick victims into following a link and opening a bogus website that appears to be from a legitimate organization. The idea is that they then type in login details which the scammers can use to access their account on the real website. This can be particularly problematic with business accounts that may house ... (view more)

A security firm says efforts to make the Internet truly global could make scams easier. It also says a program for registering domain names in numerous languages can be abused for scam purposes. The issue involves the Internationalized Domain Name ... (IDN) system. This builds on the original Domain Name System (DNS) that helps 'translate' a web site name (such as www.infopackets.com ) into an IP address. These numbers then identify the location of the server, which then allows communication between the server and client machines (such as a web browser) to take place. The basic Domain Name System ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Marjie H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just received an email offer from Norton Security asking if I would like to enroll in the Norton Identity Protection. In order to do so, the form says I need to provide my social insurance ... number. The protection being offered is free, so long as I renew my Norton Antivirus subscription. From what I understand, this service includes protection against personal credit, credit cards, bank, social insurance number (SSI), etc. My question is - with all this information they are asking for, what is the possibility they could be hacked and all my ... (view more)

Visitors to more than 5,000 websites had their computers hijacked to earn money for scammers. But the attack would have earned them less than $25 - and they aren't getting paid anyway. The attack involved compromising screen reader software called ... BrowseAloud. Websites can add the software to their site to make it easier for visitors with vision problems to browse the pages. Because the software is so widely used, compromising it was an effective way to reach a large number of computers - regardless of whether the owners needed to use a screen reader. The software is particularly popular ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 and every once in a while I receive a popup notification from ' Smart System Care ' that I have errors on my PC and I need to remove them. It then says that if I want to ... remove the problem I have to pay money. I realize this program is most likely a scam, and I tried to remove it from my system but it is nowhere to be found. I have researched the problem using Google however there are so many posts and many steps, and it seems very convoluted. Can you please help? " My response: I asked John if he would like me to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bob W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I believe that I have been scalped for a 3 year insurance policy and a 1 year extended warranty from Microsoft for the sum of $200.00. While going to Amazon's website, I received an alert that claimed ... that I was infected and that Microsoft was blocking my computer's further use and a phone number was shown to call. The listed URL was pointing to ' Secure Microsoft Support .' Based on that, I bit! 3.5 hours later and continued phone correspondence with 3 techs, my machine appeared to be functioning perfectly. The firm's name is ' LIVE PC EXPERTS ... (view more)

A new form of ransomware offers victims the chance to escape the release fee by fooling two friends into paying up instead. A security expert likened it to a malware version of a pyramid scheme. Traditionally ransomware involves malware getting onto ... a computer and then encrypting all files, with an on-screen message demanding the victim pay a fee to regain access. It's unknown what proportion of people pay up, but some big organizations such as hospitals and police forces are known to have paid the fee in the past, rather than lose sensitive data or access to control systems. The new ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader "AJ" writes: " Dear Dennis, After having a conversation with Microsoft tech support yesterday, I realized that I was scammed. I took necessary steps to cancel credit card. I do not do business on my machine - just communication ... with friends, etc. I do see that the techs that took my money have done some work on my computer and it seems to run a lot better. Question: is it still harmful to leave my computer as-is, or should I hire another tech to clean my machine again? The people that took my money also gave me their phone numbers so that I can be in contact with them at ... (view more)

A newly-publicized take on a long-running scam involves on-screen messages that falsely appear to be from a user's Internet service provider. It's a trick with a variety of ways to profit from the customer. For many years, scammers have been calling ... people on the telephone claiming to work for Microsoft or other computer companies, saying the person receiving the call has a virus. The scammer will then usually try to get the victim to pay for bogus tech support services. While most people realize it's a scam, the idea is to call enough people so that even a small percentage of ... (view more)