I got a phone call from a female who identified herself as a Microsoft employee. She had a strong Indian or Pakistani accent. In the background I heard what seemed to be many other voices, like a phone bank. That part seemed reasonable to me. It sounded familiar and help throw me off guard.
Due to her accent it was difficult to understand her. She informed me that apparently my computer had been broadcasting some serious viruses. I was stunned and scared into momentary stupidity, so I started to follow her instructions. First, she directed me to a web site called join.me. Her instructions were awkward, but I finally got to the website. At that point it was impossible for me to proceed. I was unable to download the information necessary to join the "meeting." I asked politely if there was someone else there who spoke English a little more fluently. She connected me with another female with a similar heavy accent. Again I was unable to understand her. She rerouted me to another website with "anomy..." in the title. I continued to have trouble with her instructions. For example, she would ask me to click on a button and, when I replied "Nothing happened!" she said "Tell me the number at the top of the page." I said "I don't see a number." She said "Give me the 9 digit number."
Finally I was passed to a "supervisor." He was able to direct me to connect to the "meeting." I gave him the 9 digit number that appeared.
I began to feel nervous- the initial shock had worn off. He directed me to download another program, which I did. He asked me to run the program. However, at the bottom of the screen a message appeared from my security software that said something to the effect- Warning!. You should only give this to a person you trust.
I thought Yikes! I don't know this guy from Adam. Anyway, I said "How do I know you are a Microsoft employee. He said only Microsoft employees would know my computer ID. He ast me to open a Word page and he would type it. He could make the cursor move. He started typing a number. I didn't know what "my computer ID" meant, so, at that point, I hung up.
This is a know and dangerous scam. The cyber-criminal counts on the initial shock reaction to get to your computer.
I restored the neighbor's computer to an earlier point in time and cleaned out everything. Since the neighbor used the computer for banking, they called their bank and had their accounts changed.
This scam is documented in several places and takes several related forms. Here are a few links:
- http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx
- http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_other-protect_scanning/microsoft-call-scam/c5456b2a-4c77-48bd-9714-f3684bdabc06
- http://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam/2013/04/phone-scammers-call-the-wrong-guy-get-mad-and-trash-pc/
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDJWixw4TCI
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