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<\/p>\nWe featured this article several months ago, but we are reprising it because so many people are again getting hooked by scams just like the one we describe in this article. We don’t want it to happen to you. Knowledge is power and knowing what to do if scammers try to trick you can save you a lot of misery and trouble.<\/p>\n
We work on dozens of PCs each week, and we can tell you from personal experience there are a lot of people getting scammed every day \u2013 and not just for a couple of bucks \u2013 but for hundreds of dollars.<\/p>\n
Sometimes we tend to think people get a little careless on the internet at times, and we’re sure they do \u2013 all of us do.<\/p>\n
Recently we got a taste of what a lot of these poor folks who get scammed out of hundreds of dollars run into on the web. And it\u2019s not pretty and it can be scary – unless you know what to do.<\/p>\n
This morning, I (TC) was going to a site I visit quite often when suddenly I noticed a horrid beeping coming from my laptop speakers \u2013 the dire beeping of a dying hard drive, a terribly sick PC or some other unseen and unknown computer malady, were my first thoughts.<\/p>\n
I looked up at my browser and this is what I saw:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Notice at the top of his screenshot that it says \u201cVirus alert\u201d and in the background it looks like a computer screen (my computer screen) with a bunch of fatal errors being displayed.<\/p>\n
This kind of sleazeball scam with all these dire warnings, awful computer noises, and a browser that you can\u2019t easily close, is a scam designed to scare those are no computer savvy. When they panic, they don\u2019t think, and they call the toll-free number.<\/p>\n
But they can\u2019t fool you, I tells ya! YOU can beat these slimeballs.<\/p>\n
Notice above, that my real Internet Service Provider (ISP)\u00a0and my real IP\u00a0address are displayed. I imagine causes panic in those who don\u2019t know that every browser broadcasts your IP address, location, your ISP (and a lot more information about you). If you don\u2019t believe me, just visit http:\/\/www.whatsmyip.org\/<\/a> and see how much data your browser broadcasts about you. Will all this info being broadcast from your browser constantly, it\u2019s really easy for these scammers to tap into that info stream and make these scams look personal \u2013 and that’s easy to do since they do have your ISP, your IP address, your operating system and the name of the browser you are using. It’s all very convincing and it’s all used to trick you into falling for a scam. \u00a0Despite their efforts to make it seem very personal by showing you that they know your IP address, browser & operating system, and the name of your ISP, you\u2019ll notice they don\u2019t say \u201cDear TC\u201d, “Dear Charles”, \u201cDear Sally\u201d, etc., they just say \u201cDear Time Warner Cable Internet Llc Customer\u201d. They misspelled LLC as Llc as well. \u201cDear customer\u201d is almost always a dead giveaway that something\u00a0is not right.<\/p>\n Then they tell you that \u201cfor your safety\u201d, you won\u2019t be able to close your browser unless you call their toll-free number and talk to a \u201ccertified technician\u201d. More like a certified slimeball!<\/p>\n And sure enough, when you try to close your browser, you can\u2019t close it. Instead you hear more awful grating beeping sounds. All this is, of course, intended to \u00a0alarm you , make you stop thinking and panic, then \u00a0get to you to call some slimeball company\u2019s toll-free number.<\/p>\n And… if you do call, they\u2019ll set you up \u2013 really set you up. When you call their toll-free number, they will set you up to connect to them so they can \u201canalyze\u201d and \u201cfix\u201d your computer. And of course, they\u2019ll run fake scans on your computer showing a litany of fake malware and viruses they will claim are destroying your data and your PC.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll show you hundreds, sometimes thousands, of fake files that they will say are infecting your computer \u2013 and for just $99 or $199, or even $299 \u2013 they can clean all this bad stuff off, fix your computer, protect your identity and save your computer from a terrible fate. And sadly, many people, pay the slimeballs. We have known people who have paid up to $500 these scumbags (fortunately, we we able to help them get their money back).<\/p>\n There are a lot of lessons here\u2026 and several ways you can beat these scammers. Remember these things:<\/p>\n Scammers are not stupid:<\/p>\n If you panic, you\u2019re going to get scammed Keep your head- it\u2019s only a PC not a life.<\/p>\n Microsoft nor any other legitimate computer repair company is ever going to show you a warning like the one above \u2013 not now, not tomorrow, NOT EVER. If you see a popup like that, that tells you your computer is infected or has serious errors or both and\/or asks you to call a toll-free number. DO NOT DO IT.<\/p>\n CLOSE YOUR BROWSER IMMEDIATELY.<\/p>\n HOW TO CLOSE YOUR BROWSER IMMEDIATELY: You probably won\u2019t be able to close your browser the normal way (by clicking the X at the top right corner of the browser or by right-clicking the browser\u2019s icon in the taskbar and choosing \u201cClose window\u201d. But you can close your browser if you do not panic and do one of the following:<\/p>\n a.) Press the ALT key plus F4. I pressed ALT + F4 twice.<\/p>\n b.) Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and open task manager. Right-click on each instance of your browser that you see and choose \u201cEnd task\u201d \u2013 disregard the Windows warning about losing data, etc.<\/p>\n c.) Press & hold down the Windows key and tap the R key. In the Run box which appears type SHUTDOWN \/R \u2013 this will restart your computer. You may see a warning that certain programs are open and need to close before you restart \u2013 do not click Cancel. Let Windows close all programs and reboot.<\/p>\n d.) If nothing else works, completely power off your computer using the power switch, and leave it off for a couple of minutes. then turn your computer back on.<\/p>\n Tech support scams are everywhere. No anti-malware or antivirus can stop you from picking up the phone and calling a tool-free number. But you can protect yourself. Never panic. When people panic, sometimes they don\u2019t think clearly. And remember that these scumbags are smart\u2026 but you are smarter. Think ahead. Be prepared for something like this, so if this happens to you, you\u2019re ready for it, and you know exactly what to do.<\/p>\n Always use common sense. NEVER EVER call a toll-free number which appears suddenly while your browsing the web. Never give these slimeballs your credit card number. Never give them access to your computer by allowing them to connect remotely.<\/p>\n Look carefully at the pictures shown above and familiarize yourself with them. Most online tech support scams use similar tactics. Then follow the tips in this article, and you\u2019ll know how to get yourself out of a situation like this if it ever happens to you.<\/p>\n Please don’t let these slime balls steal your money or ruin your computer. We hope this helps you and that now you know what to do.<\/p>\n Donations help us continue our mission to keep you informed, separate the truth from the hyperbole, and help you stay safer online. We provide support\u00a0to thousands of people. Every week we help dozens of people via email at no charge. Thanks to donations, we do a lot more than provide this free newsletter. We help you recognize online threats, fight for your online privacy, and provide you with the knowledge you need to navigate the Web safely, and help you get more out of your PC. Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n It’s the beginning of a new year, and we really need your support.\u00a0 We hope you’ll take a few minutes today and help us with a small donation.\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n After you donate, you will receive info on how you can become a Cloudeight Booster.<\/p>\n Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n We would really appreciate it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Anatomy of a Scam We featured this article several months ago, but we are reprising it because so many people are again getting hooked by scams just like the one we describe in this article. We don’t want it to happen to you. Knowledge is power and knowing what to do if scammers try to trick you\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1655,1433,1678,1669,1680,1656,1654],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12300"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12304,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12300\/revisions\/12304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cloudeight](\"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2017\/slimeball2.png\")
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