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Turning the Tables On "Phone Tech Support" Scammers
mask.of.sanity writes A security pro has released a Metasploit module that can take over computers running the Ammyy Admin remote control software popular among "Hi this is Microsoft, there's a problem with your computer" tech support scammers. The hack detailed in Matthew Weeks' technical post works from the end-user, meaning victims can send scammers the hijacking exploit when they request access to their machines. Victims should provide scammers with their external IP addresses rather than their Ammyy identity numbers as the exploit was not yet built to run over the Ammyy cloud, according to the exploit readme. This is much more efficient than just playing along but "accidentally" being unable to follow their instructions.
Providing your own IP address to a criminal so you can trash their computer just doesn't sound like a good plan to me.
I got called by one last Friday night. Kept him on the phone for almost an hour, playing along. Even gave him clues I wasn't on windows (ie, when he asked me to run eventviewer I described the output of top, including clueless worrying about zombie processes).
Finally told him I had to go pick up my daughter and that I'd been screwing with him. He called me a "miserable son of a bitch" and hung up.
Kinda felt that it was my duty to keep him occupied, after all each minute I was screwing with him was a minute he wasn't scamming some truly helpless user "out there" somewhere.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
THEM: Hi this is Microsoft and...
US: hang up
Done. Fuck this war.
That's exactly what they want. It's the same reason that scammers say they are from nigeria even when they aren't.
They don't want to talk to you. They want the non-gullible to hang up as quickly as possible so they can quickly find
the little old lady who they can steal from. They called my mom and luckily she had 2 things going for her. First,
she doesn't know enough to actually follow their instructions and second, she called me. Otherwise she would
probably be out some money and I would be left cleaning up the mess. So sure, it's easier to hang up on them but
you are actually doing them a favor and helping them out by doing so.
"Hi, we've detected a virus on your machine etc etc"
"Yes, that's mine, I've been testing it. Can you tell me how and when it was detected please?"
".....[click]beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
If it's anything like how they pronounce lieutenant, then I don't know how British pronounce Brighton either.
Them: Hello, this is Microsoft. We have detected a problem with your computer.
Me: Really?
Them: Yes of course. Do you see your "start" button?
Me: No
Them: It's in the lower left corner.
Me:The lower left corner of what ?
Them: The lower left corner of your computer.
Me: The lower left corner?...........when viewed from where ?
Them: From the front.
Me: OK, let me see.....All I see is a little sticker that says Intel Inside on the lower left corner.
Them: I don't understand.
Me: The computer has a little sticker on the lower left corner. but no start button.
Them: No, I mean the lower left corner of your monitor.
Me: Wait I'll have a look..........I don't have a start button on the lower left corner of my monitor either. I do see a little sticker that says "Infant Optics" (it's a baby monitor) Them: click
I keep an old XP laptop loaded with furry porn, pictures of cows and pigs being slaughtered, BDSM porn, transsexual midget porn, stuff from rotten.com/ogrish like beheadings, gential mutilation, etc., set on random rotate every second for the desktop with a nice fading transition, everything locked except the remote assistance tool, and when they call I put that machine live and let them in.
The extortion begins, and then they see something that invariably offends the piss out of them while they're forced to watch a constantly-changing desktop wallpaper they can't stop, and the extortion ends with me laughing in their ears.
Endless entertainment. I even got a "You're the sickest thing existing on this planet." from some chick that was playing the scam.
I lol'd hard at that one.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Well, that's NMFP ... he knows damned well that what he's doing is illegal, and would have no sympathy for me if I fell victim. He is certainly aware of the fact that he's not offering me a useful service. You couldn't possibly train someone to do that scam without explaining it to them.
So, he may well have convinced himself that there's no harm if he scams us a little.
But, I don't actually give a crap about his feelings.
If what he's doing is so noble and justified, call someone in India, see if they are interested.
From me, he gets a big "fuck off".
If he's expecting me to say "oh, gee, the poor cute little Indian is just trying to make a buck", he's sadly mistaken, and should expect the kind of animosity he gets.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.