\nSlimeballs Incorporated<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2021\/slimeballs.png\")
<\/p>\n
The Anatomy of a Scam<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/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 swindled every day \u2013 and not just for a couple of bucks \u2013 but sometimes for hundreds of dollars.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes we tend to think people get a little careless out there on the \u2018net at times, and I\u2019m sure they do \u2013 all of us do. But today 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.<\/span><\/p>\n This morning, I was browsing the web suddenly I there was a loud, frightening beeping sound coming from my laptop speakers. It must be the dire beeping of a dying hard drive – or a terribly sick PC. Those were my first thoughts.\u00a0<\/span>When I looked up at the screen this is what I saw.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/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 who are not computer savvy. When they panic, they don\u2019t think, and they call the toll-free number for help. But help is the last thing they’ll get if they call the number displayed on their screen.<\/span><\/p>\n But don’t let them fool you. YOU can beat these sleazebags!<\/span><\/p>\n Notice above, that my REAL ISP and my REAL IP address are displayed, which I imagine causes panic in those who don\u2019t know that every<\/strong> browser broadcasts your IP address, location, your ISP, and a lot more information about you. If you don\u2019t believe that, visit https:\/\/www.whatsmyip.org\/<\/span><\/a> and see how much data your browser tells the world about you.<\/span><\/p>\n With all this info broadcasted from your browser constantly, it\u2019s easy for these scammers to tap into that info stream and make it look like there is something very wrong with your computer \u2013 after all, they have your ISP, your IP address, your operating system (even 64 or 32 bit) an all kinds of other information. It is all very convincing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And though they try to make it seem personal by showing your personal IP address, browser & operating system, and name of your ISP, you\u2019ll notice they don\u2019t say \u201cDear TC\u201d, Dear Charles, \u201cDear Sally\u201d, etc., they just say \u201cDear (insert the name of your ISP here) customer\u201d. \u201cDear customer\u201d should always be a warning that something may not be right.<\/span><\/span><\/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 scumbag!<\/span><\/p>\n And sure enough, when you try to close your browser, you can\u2019t!\u00a0 Instead, you hear more awful beeping and buzzing sounds. All intended to induce panic and get to you to call some slimeball company\u2019s toll-free number.<\/span><\/p>\n And if you do call, they\u2019ll set you up \u2013 really set you up. When you call the number, they will give you a link to connect your computer 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 PC-killing malware and viruses. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n They\u2019ll show you hundreds, even thousands of fake files that (they say) are infecting your computer \u2013 and for just $99 or $199, or even $299 \u2013 they can clean all this harmful stuff off, fix your computer, protect your identity, and save your computer from terrible things.\u00a0 And sadly, many people, pay these miscreants. We have people tell us they’ve paid these hucksters up to $500 these scumbags (we helped them get their money back).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n There are a lot of lessons here\u2026 and several ways you can beat these scammers. Remember these things:<\/span><\/p>\n Scammers are not stupid:<\/span><\/p>\n If you panic, you\u2019re going to get swindled. Keep your head- it\u2019s only a PC, not a life.<\/span><\/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.\u00a0 <\/strong>CLOSE YOUR BROWSER IMMEDIATELY.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n HOW TO CLOSE YOUR BROWSER IMMEDIATELY:\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n It’s quite likely that you won\u2019t be able to close your browser the normal way — that is 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.<\/span><\/p>\n But you can close your browser if you do not panic and do one of the following:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n a.) Press the ALT key plus F4. I pressed ALT + F4 twice.<\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/p>\n Tech support scams are everywhere, and you could be faced with one any<\/strong> time you’re browsing the web.<\/span><\/p>\n No antimalware or antivirus can stop you from picking up the phone and calling a toll-free number. But you can protect yourself. Never panic. When people panic, they don\u2019t think clearly. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Always use common sense. NEVER<\/strong> call a toll-free number that appears suddenly while you’re browsing the web. Never give these criminals your credit card number. And never<\/strong> give them access to your computer by allowing them to connect remotely.<\/span><\/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.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t let Slimeballs Incorporated steal your money or ruin your computer. You are smart and now you know what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Slimeballs Incorporated The Anatomy of a Scam We work on dozens of PCs each week, and we can tell you from personal experience there are a lot of people getting swindled every day \u2013 and not just for a couple of bucks \u2013 but sometimes for hundreds of dollars. Sometimes we tend to think people get a\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1680,3766,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249"}],"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=21249"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21252,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21249\/revisions\/21252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cloudeight](\"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2017\/slimeball1.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Cloudeight](\"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2017\/slimeball2.png\")
<\/p>\n