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The Unstoppable 'Tech Support' Scam
Barence writes "A pernicious new type of scam is targeting British computer owners, reports PC Pro. The con is both fiendishly clever and ridiculously simple. The fraudster cold-calls the customer and tells them that Microsoft has detected a virus on their PC, then invites them to download a piece of remote-assistance software. No doubt reassured by the lines of indecipherable code flitting across their screen, the caller assures the customer they can make the virus vanish – but first, of course, they want payment. £185 to be precise. The spoof site behind the scam is approved by McAfee's Site Advisor and bears Microsoft logos, something which both companies have failed to act upon. Meanwhile, an assortment of British regulators have said there is nothing they can do to stop it."
The only thing you need to stop this unstoppable scam is for people to be unwilling to shell out a significant sum of money to some c**t who calls them up out of the blue.
I mean, £185, when you didn't know there was anything wrong with your computer in the first place? You'd need to have more money than brains to shell out for that.
It's like the one where some dubious company persuades you to install some new version of their operating system claiming that it's super fast and totally secure, etc. etc. and then after six months your machine crawls to a halt unless you give them more money for the next version which is faster, more secure, etc. etc.
Oh wait...
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
Perhaps they could get the people who have been scammed to report the telephone number and work with the teleco's to find out where the scammers are hiding?
This worked in my city when Scammers would steal wallets and purses and then call later claiming to be the police, and to meet them in "unmarked white police vans".
It's true, you can't fix stupid - but the smarter ones can... you know... at least provide useful information aiding in the capture.
Its funny how much creativity goes into these scams - they're more elaborate than any morally acceptable way of making money! I'm sure that creative energy could be used in a more positive way. However its probably the case that these scams feel easier than positive work.
It's hard enough to remember my opinions, never mind the reasons for them..
This does provide yet another argument against the camp which thinks that understanding the tools they use is not important.
The message I get from all this is that computers really aren't ready for prime time. They're more like automobiles from the first decade of the 1900s.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Yeah. What morally responsible individual would ruin the good name of Microsoft?
God, there are some real scumbags in the world.
And a lot of fools.
You would be surprised how many there are. I work as a network admin and I have dealt with some .... interesting?.... people. One emailed me to tell me their email wasn't working. Yes I know we have all read it in a comic but it's true. I had one of the CFO's I did some work for fill in and almost send a scam bank email form. He at the last second called me to see if I thought it was legit. sigh. I have had people call me up in a panic cause the system was "doing something illegal and they didn't want to get in trouble" (illegal exception errors). I could go on and on. This doesn't surprise me at all. A lot of people when it comes to anything to do with a computer are struck dumb immeditatly and stop using whatever intelligence they have.
letting an idiot know they are an idiot is not a game... it's a responsibility. - by Kristopeit, M. D. (1892582)
Sounds exactly like a telephone scam now happening here in Chile.
:-)
They call old people telling them that their grandson is involved in some sort of a car accident, and need money for bail or pay the affected part for the damages, anyway they tell them that if they don't get the money his/her beloved grandson will be in jail for a long time
Then, they ask for the address to send a messenger to pick up the payment, in terms of cash, LCD TV, Blu-ray, etc.
And people fell for it... even the ones without a grandson
God, there are some real scumbags in the world.
Yes, but they are non-violent and require the cooperation of their "victims". Thus, they are like ticks, leeches, mosquitoes, flies, and worms: they are unpleasant and downright nasty but they serve a purpose. They provide a limiting function. They disincentivize ignorance and stupidity by making it more painful, just like those natural pests disincentivize improper sanitation. By becoming knowledgable and savvy, the "victim" can have total control over whether he/she is successfully targeted.
Really now, all it would take is a small amount of healthy skepticism. Let's assume the scammer is so good that there are no other "tells". A user would only need to say to the scammer "Microsoft found a virus on my PC did they? Let me get back to you" and then call Microsoft. As unpleasant as calling Microsoft would be, it beats giving money to a scammer. It's the same well-known principle used for dealing with suspicious communications from banks. If you don't know if that e-mail is really from your bank because you don't have the technical skill to determine that, then you ignore it and call your bank at their published phone number. Then it doesn't matter if it's the most clever phishing e-mail in the world.
It doesn't exactly require a genius to understand these things. It just requires that one not leap blindly into what they do not understand while expecting a good result. That's general advice for life, not just computing. I personally believe that almost everyone is capable of understanding these simple concepts, they just can't be bothered to think. Perhaps they need a little incentive. Perhaps by providing one the scammers are serving a purpose, even though I fully agree with you that they are scumbags. That's why I'd liken them to a carrion-eater or a parasite.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
How so?
People still don't understand cars and if ANYTHING goes wrong with them, they don't know why.
Consider, also, that a computer's software is custom to each person as they add in more software packages and settings.
That's roughly akin to someone buying a car and having custom parts put on without knowing much of what they do. They still have no clue when something goes wrong.
How many people can do much more maintenance on their car than fixing a flat tire? That's not much different than someone knowing how to run an antivirus once in awhile, imo.
Just like the poster you're replying to was saying, it is important to understand the tools we use so we know how the things we use work.
If we don't understand that then we're just as much in the dark be in computer trouble or car trouble.
They disincentivize ignorance and stupidity by making it more painful, just like those natural pests disincentivize improper sanitation./quote?
Yet the only reason why we care to disincentivize ignorance and stupidity is because those scammers exist. Your logic is viciously circular. They need to exist to protect people from themselves?
So you think an automobile scam along similar lines today wouldn't work? Get the list of automobile type ownership from the licensing authority (most sell this information, or its easily available elsewhere), cold call the owner and inform them that a voluntary safety notice has been issued on their vehicle, would they like priority booking for just $99 over the phone...
Uninformed people are still uninformed, regardless of how long the technologies been around.
The spoof site behind the scam is approved by McAfee's Site Advisor and bears Microsoft logos, something which both companies have failed to act upon
Spammers have been doing the same thing for years. The "Canadian Pharmacy" sites always claim to be "verified by visa", "hacker safe", "bbb approved", etc... Any half-wit knows how to copy the logos from some other web page and use them to make your page look more legit than it really is.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I'm not sure, but I think you just called Microsoft's development staff "morally irresponsible." That's not very nice. ;)
My blog
They disincentivize ignorance and stupidity by making it more painful, just like those natural pests disincentivize improper sanitation./quote?
Yet the only reason why we care to disincentivize ignorance and stupidity is because those scammers exist. Your logic is viciously circular. They need to exist to protect people from themselves?
I'm glad you raised this point. It's a good one, to be sure.
Being wise and savvy and seeking understanding is the natural state of human beings. The widespread ignorance and stupidity is what I might call "unnaturally natural". The proof is that by not viewing ignorance and gullibility as problems in need of correction, people leave themselves vulnerable to this type of scam. The scammers do not create this vulnerability. They merely capitalize on it. They see that something is out of order and that this creates room for them to operate. Otherwise their dubious "enterprise" would never get off the ground.
The ignorance and stupidity is a disease state. The scammers are the disease that can thrive in the environment of that disease state. They are symptoms, not the actual problem. It's absurdity itself to say that the only reason to eschew ignorance and stupidity is because these scammers exist. Have you no concept of how much better our world would be if ignorance and stupidity were not such powerful forces in shaping it?
The personal shortcomings that scammers exploit go far, far beyond computing. They also play important roles in politics, the economy, interpersonal relationships, you name it. It just so happens that computing provides a convenient entry point for that ignorance and stupidity to come under attack since it is generally encouraged in other realms like politics.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Sacamer: Hi this is M$, we have detected a virus on your PC.
Callie: Really? What version of winblows am I using right now?
Scamer: Windows XP.
Callie: Try again there buddy, I use Linux. (click)
"Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security" --Benjamin Franklin
A lot of it is psychological; users convince themselves that computers are too complicated for them to understand, so they are.
We had an app at work that ran on a Windows CE-based palmtop that nurses used to record patient notes on their visits and then synced back to a server when they got back to base. The users never had any problems with this at all. Then, when the palmtops were up for replacement, they swapped them out for notebooks running XP with exactly the same app (newer version, same UI) and sync process and suddenly none of the users were able to cope any more.
Despite the fact that the processes were identical, they saw the notebooks as "proper" computers as opposed to the palmtops that were just electronic notepads in their minds and they convinced themselves that as a proper computer it was too complex for them to understand. So much of the trouble with technology is users creating barriers in their own minds and it's largely of "our" own making for trying to convince users throughout the 90s that computers were easy to use and would do everything for them, when we all know that isn't true.
They are far worse than that and it is definitely by careful design.
In fact I'd say that the public schools bear more responsibility than anyone else for the widespread ignorance and gullibility that these scammers feed on. A truly tough-minded population familiar with critical thinking, logic, and argumentation would not so easily fall for these scams. They also wouldn't support anything our politicians of today are pushing for. So you see that'd be really inconvenient for our increasingly centralized society *spits*.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
I'm out of mod points, but the above is very insightful. I can relate seeing, on many occasions, where a dead simple UI, no more complex than say that of an ATM, becomes utterly confounding just because it's being presented with a PC in sight. In one case: as long as the PC was hidden, and the UI was accessed via a touchscreen --- everything was fine. As soon as mouse, keyboard and the PC case became visible, people would say that "something broke" and that I should bring it back to the "way it was before". This was a big eye opener when it comes to usability: users are not rational. Not at all.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
The actual site mentioned is thenerdsupport.com
I ran them through our SiteTruth system. Here's what comes out. "Rating: "Site ownership unknown or questionable. No Location. ... This certificate identifies the domain only, not the actual business.
No street address found on the site."
Compare the SiteTruth results for Geek Squad. Street addresses found, found in the US business directory, found in Open Directory.
It's not that hard to sort out the phony business sites from the real ones. You have to check business databases, not just the Web, for business legitimacy. If you just look at the web, you get bogus results like this: McAfee SiteAdvisor: "We tested this site and didn't find any significant problems." The site itself doesn't try to attack the user, so McAfee says it's good to go.
Actually, they kept calling me for weeks, every couple of days. Here's what actually happens.
It's a Bangladesh call centre.
They call up and say that a problem on my computer has been reported to them. Of course, I know this is not true. But one time, I went along with it to find out what they were up to.
They actually talk you through getting the windows event log up on the screen - and make you count the "error" entries. Of course there are error entries.
So, they say, that proves you have a problem. My parents, for example, would be completely convinced at this point.
Then they make you go to a web site, and download a remote control application. At that point I hung up. There is no way I'm giving control of my PC over to some whackjob on the phone.
They kept calling for about two weeks, every couple of days. We're on the do not call list - which in the UK means its illegal for them to call us. And they call asking for "Mr Bruce" after I answer - my wife's name and mine are different, and the phone is in her name.
The last time they called I asked to speak to their "manager" and I told them to look out the window because the police are coming to get them. What else am I going to do? Then they finally stopped calling.
If you have never heard of Tom Mabe and his response to telemarketers, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdoogjic4I
Rejoice in your insanity, there really is no other way
Such scams are at least tried. I've had two calls to my house in the last year telling me that my car's warranty is due to expire and if I want to continue it I have to renew before the expiry date or it will cost more then twice as much to renew after that date. Would I like to renew now by card over the phone? I do not own a car and have never owned a car.
On both occasions I asked played concerned for a moment and asked "which of the cars?" at which point they hung up - obviously anyone asking any questions just makes them run as they don't have any real data other than name and phone number. Once you ask a questions about something they should know if they were who they hope the intended victim thinks they are their "cover" is blown, but they only need a few people who are not cynical/careful enough to check details in order for the operation to be profitable and said victim is no wiser until they try claim on the warranty by which time the scammers have long gone and covered their tracks.
I don't know where these people are going to school. I went to a public school in the USA, went to a decent university, grad school, and now job that actually utilizes critical thinking skills. I, and my high school friends, didn't turn out to be the fools that you would assume that we would be by going through public schools at each step. It's more likely that being ignorant is the easy way out and that's what people would rather choose instead.
Um actually it would be violent because coercing someone by displaying a firearm has the implicit attachment of "do what I say or I will shoot you". If you fuck around and hold someone up with a toy gun and think you can get cutesy with the police saying "hang on officers let me remember just what those ACLU videos told me about getting arrested oh and by the way it was a toy gun lol so you guys cant even get me in trouble" you would be in for a shitty surprise. Fucking around with toy guns can get you in trouble; for example making them appear real and threatening someone with violence is also illegal even if you had no intention or ability to follow through.
It's the big secret of people who are 'knowledgeable' about computer.
50% of the time when 'help' someone do something, like send email...we don't know anything any more than they do. we're just reading the damn screen and doing what the logical thing would be, and we're not scared of doing the wrong thing. I mean, people ask me to help them send an attachment using a webmail system I'd never seen before:
Why don't you click on the 'Attach file' link there and select the file? Okay, where'd you save the file? Okay, select it, and then type something in the body, and press send. There you go. Yes, that's me, a computer genius, reading the screen like that and having the ability to use common dialog boxes.(1)
And another 25% of the time we're solving problems by applying basic computer knowledge. Like, very basic. Like 'able to learn in 10 hours' basic. Stuff like 'The World Wide Web works by your computer talking to another computer through even more computers.' and 'Video files tend to about 10 times as big as mp3s per minute.' and 'Wireless signals are often encrypted'.
And another 20% of the time it's stuff we've either run into before, and thus know what to do, or we fricking google it. Lacking the basic computer knowledge above just turns that 25% into this also. (I'm often like this on a Mac.)
There is almost no 'skill' involved at all. Half of it is just a willingness to say 'Okay, this looks right, let's try that'.
Only about 5% of the stuff people who are 'knowledgeable' about computers do for others as 'tech support', mainly stuff like buying/building computers, and programming, and other 'creative' stuff where you aren't fixing something that's broken, actually require any skill.
I mean, I have a younger brother who doesn't have any formal computer training outside of high school and an Office class for his associate degree. He's an auto mechanic.
But he grew up with a nerd and a half-nerd, so he knows how to operate his computer, and any questions from him are things like 'Should I go with AGP or should I pay more for PCI-E?' and 'This game is giving some sort of Direct X error on startup, and all I can find are suggestions to reinstall it and Direct X...which I've done. Ideas?'. This is because he learned 'the secret' to solve computer problems: Do the obvious thing, and if you don't know what that is, google what's wrong. And backup your computer so if it blows up, you can just reinstall.
1) Yes, yes, we've all fallen prey to the stupid inability to see things right in front of us, and someone else points it out instantly, but I'm not talking about that here.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
A lot of it is psychological; users convince themselves that computers are too complicated for them to understand, so they are.
Where does this perception come from? Nothing is too complicated to understand if you work at it. I think people are just lazy and don't want to work at understanding the world around them.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I have enough empathy to be honest about their weakness. Would you prefer I help them to remain in denial so that they forever remain victims? It's amazing how angry people sometimes become when you tell a victim that he/she doesn't have to be a victim anymore. You'd think that would be welcome news, a message of hope.
Except you are doing nothing to help people either identify or overcome their weaknesses before they are harmed. Instead, you are creating a baroque rationalization to legitimize your own indifference to the harm being committed to a fellow human being, as gullible and foolish as they may be. This is why your position isn't a message of hope because it boils down to "Meh, why should I care what happens to those losers anyway?"
I also reject the notion that an individual has to be a helpless victim, at the mercy of anyone who would wish to do him/her harm. To tell people that they are helpless victims who can do nothing to better their own situation, who will always be exploited by criminals, who are completely screwed since the regulators won't protect them and they cannot protect themselves, well, I say that is sociopathy. It's telling them that they are forever doomed to just bend over and take it. Does it ever occur to you that this victim mentality is precisely why we have so many petty criminals?
My longing to live in a kinder, wiser, more sane world is beyond my power of expressing it. Really, there are not words for how badly I wish to see that. The way to get from here to there is to be honest about our weaknesses and our problems, to seek realistic solutions to them. This absolutely includes the notion that an individual can better himself or herself, that honesty about one's shortcomings and understanding one's weaknesses is the first step towards overcoming them. It's not "blaming the victim". It's "empowering the victim". And you can't stand it, can you?
I see, so it's either a nanny-state or the jungle with no other options available? How about you as an informed and savvy computer user, who by their own admission longs "to live live in a kinder, wiser, more sane world is beyond my power of expressing it", could help by giving a class on how to spot potential computer fraud? No matter what your situation is currently, you probably have the ability to teach people like this how not to be a victim. For example you could approach your local service/charity groups in your community or even a community college. If nothing else, you could record a tutorial on the subject and host it on a personal web-site.
In the unlikely event that you are already doing something to actually proactively help people, I offer a preemptive apology. Yet, due to the nature of your post it probably isn't warranted.
In conclusion, you certainly a have the right to your indifference towards others and no one can or should force you to care about anyone else. However, at least have the decency to be honest about your indifference and not use some faux-intellectual smoke-screen to pretend that you, or these criminals for that matter, are really doing the people harmed by fraud some sort of favor!