This scam is the classic old game where the thief takes control of the PC, pulls up the Event Log, and tries, very hard, to convince the target that their PC is infected. While browsing yesterday evening, my 76 year-old mother got a generic "Your Computer is Being Hacked! Call (855) 860-1205 NOW!" and took it seriously. Within minutes, one "Walter" (don't know why they always use western names) took her call and spent 50 minutes "guiding" her through her PC by phone to see what the "hackers" were doing while he was simultaneously wreaking the havoc himself. At one point, he created a NotePad attack with auto-repeat set to "[Jane Doe] YOU ARE BEING HACKED!"
"Walter" did the typical notepad writeup of the "services" his company could "offer," ranging from $200 to $750. The entire time, he kept upping his activity on her PC to convince her that the hackers had almost destroyed her PC and stolen all of her money.
By the grace of God, I came to check on her and walked in immediately after she hesitated to give him her cc info and told him she needed to consider whether to make the investment. I unplugged the cable and power to the modem while he went on and on with her and then took the call and shut him down. I alleviated my mother's anxiety by putting this moron on speaker for a quick Q&A (see below). "Walter" will not call again.
The Good News:
Walter is, by far, the most inept tech scammer I've dealt with. After changing his Employer from MS to the "Mac Department," he could not even tell me which city Apple HQ is located in and tried to convince me that it's location is private information.
Walter identified himself as an agent of "Webshore" on his little pricing list (he forgot that he was now with 3 companies). A 30-second review of the website (check out the page for "texting," which the website author(s) think(s) is the term for printer support because printers turn out text) will leave you rolling on the floor laughing.
All the same, stay smart and be safe.
THERE ARE NO REPORTS ON THE WEB YET, so Walter may very well be in the beginning stages of his respectable new career...
WEBSHORE SERVICES, LLC. Reviews
This scam is the classic old game where the thief takes control of the PC, pulls up the Event Log, and tries, very hard, to convince the target that their PC is infected. While browsing yesterday evening, my 76 year-old mother got a generic "Your Computer is Being Hacked! Call (855) 860-1205 NOW!" and took it seriously. Within minutes, one "Walter" (don't know why they always use western names) took her call and spent 50 minutes "guiding" her through her PC by phone to see what the "hackers" were doing while he was simultaneously wreaking the havoc himself. At one point, he created a NotePad attack with auto-repeat set to "[Jane Doe] YOU ARE BEING HACKED!"
"Walter" did the typical notepad writeup of the "services" his company could "offer," ranging from $200 to $750. The entire time, he kept upping his activity on her PC to convince her that the hackers had almost destroyed her PC and stolen all of her money.
By the grace of God, I came to check on her and walked in immediately after she hesitated to give him her cc info and told him she needed to consider whether to make the investment. I unplugged the cable and power to the modem while he went on and on with her and then took the call and shut him down. I alleviated my mother's anxiety by putting this moron on speaker for a quick Q&A (see below). "Walter" will not call again.
The Good News:
Walter is, by far, the most inept tech scammer I've dealt with. After changing his Employer from MS to the "Mac Department," he could not even tell me which city Apple HQ is located in and tried to convince me that it's location is private information.
Walter identified himself as an agent of "Webshore" on his little pricing list (he forgot that he was now with 3 companies). A 30-second review of the website (check out the page for "texting," which the website author(s) think(s) is the term for printer support because printers turn out text) will leave you rolling on the floor laughing.
All the same, stay smart and be safe.
THERE ARE NO REPORTS ON THE WEB YET, so Walter may very well be in the beginning stages of his respectable new career...