The Brick Township Police Department would like to advise the public of a computer scam that is occurring in our area. Twice during the last week, township residents were contacted by unknown subjects, who advised them that they had viruses on their computer.
In one instance the suspect was able to operate the victims’ computer remotely while requesting their credit card information for the purpose of purchasing “virus protection.”
In both cases the money was removed from the victim’s accounts and sent to a Western Union account. No virus protection or any other legitimate service was purchased during these transactions.
“Residents are reminded that they should not provide any financial information via phone or computer to companies that they are not familiar with, says Sgt. Henry Drew.
In addition, residents who believe that they may be a victim of this scam, or believe they may have had their computer accessed remotely, are asked to contact the Brick Township Police Department directly at 732-262-1100.
These cases are being investigated by Detective Gregory Mullarkey of the Brick Township Police Detective Bureau. Mullarkey can be reached at 732-262-1122. It is unknown at this time how these individuals accessed the victims’ computers. [TLS]
they have called me several times ,usually portraying themself as a rep from windows ..he claims they have noticed several errors occi=urring and wants to help me fix it,but first i have to push two buttoms..i usually tell them i know its a scam and being a bubby,i mussah them on the terrible thing they are doing to innocent people..i always ask what do they think if someone did this to their mother? they usually hang up/but at least maybe i annoyed them!1
way to go bubby! I like that!
Someone like that once called me and I strung them along playing dumb like I didn’t know what they were talking about. In the end I said “who says I even have a computer?” and they hung up on me.
Best to keep them on the phone for hours. Keep talking to them. The more time you make them waste, the less time they have to prey on others.
Just got off the phone with one, caller id read Gaithsburg MD. After his whole shpiel, I tolld him I have a Mac and he got all flustered saying he got the wrong number.
We (TLS) reported about this malware in February of 2011 when over 4 million computers were hacked into complete control. This a variant built on that malware called “Ransomware”.
We also reported in July 2011 that a user who wants to be a part of a “Ransomeware” bot-net can earn thousands of dollars for playing “victim”.
Cyber-crime is a multi-billion dollar “business”.
By the first quarter of 2013 there were at least 250,000 variants of Ransomware. We reported on IRS, BBB and FBI versions! There are “Banks, Electric, Water, Gas companies and even EZ-Pass” versions.
If you do get attacked, Immediately turn off your computer and boot from a specialized USB or CD boot recovery program or have a pro do it to restore your system to an earlier point in time or back to factory stock condition. When and (if) that works. Re-Install your anti malware program, update, scan and set to automatic updates. Go to all your accounts, e-mail, bank, credit card, etc., and change your password. TLS did a great article on that in “How To Create The Best Passwords With The Least Effort in May 2011.
Users: Update your anti-malware programs DAILY.
Local police: Work with your regional Fusion Center!
Stay safe out there. There’s millions of creepy crawlers on the web.
Please report incidents to: https://complaint.ic3.gov/
Please view: http://www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com/
for everything you need to know….