tech support

Have you been scammed by Informatico Experts, Inc for a fake PC support contract? You're not the only one. Infopackets Reader 'Ulrica' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have been in contact with Informatico Experts Inc ( Live PC Experts ) since last November ... and have paid them a grand total of almost $12,000 (up until recently). They claimed my PC has been hacked and have installed Firewalls and Antivirus service over the last few months. They keep calling me all the time and want to gain access to my computer. They told me my computer was being used to commit crimes and that I needed to get it fixed ... (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)

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)

Infopackets Reader Robert C. writes: " Dear Dennis, The other day I received a warning that 'Your Avast! Firewall has been breached and a Trojan Horse is infecting your computer. Call 1-888-698-3247.' I'm a computer novice and I panicked. The ... warning seemed to appear as part of the operating system, and not the browser. I say this because the warning appeared on the screen, with a voice screaming at me, and I had no idea how to stop it. I held down the power button to force the computer to shut down. I waited three minutes, then powered back up ... but it went right back to the warning and ... (view more)