logmein123 scam: received a call saying my antivirus was corrupted

Anonymous

original title: logmein123 scam?

I got a call from someone who knew my last name, knew I had vista and called my unlisted number. He (in a thick indian accent) said he would connect me with someone from Microsoft. He had me go to start, right click on computer and go into the viewer and see all the errors. He said my anti virus and other software was corrupted. Then he thought I would under the run command enter www.logmein123.com and then he would connect me with a microsoft tech. I told him no and asked him for his number and name.

His was Austin Stone employee badge 10003 phone number *****Edited***** and he said the techs name was David Alex. what is this? is my computer infected or corrupted?

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

If you let them into your computer, that means that they could have done anything to it that they want. They could have installed software to let them capture your passwords, they could have stolen any information on it, or they could have left viruses or other unwanted guests behind when they left. Personally, if I were you I would notify your bank of this episode, then back up any files you need to keep, then wipe the computer completely clean and reinstall Windows from scratch, then reinstall your programs and restore the backed-up files.

"OnePiece" wrote in message news:*** Email address is removed for privacy ***...

If I had already let them connect to the computer what does that mean for me? please reply soon >_<

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Monkey57 3,535

support.me & logmein123.com is a very valid tool, the scam has nothing to do with the tools they use. Report malicious support people to logmein (that are using their tools):

https://secure.logmeinrescue.com/Customer/ReportAbuse.aspx

Do not let a cold caller into your computer. If you have a trusted support person, & you can see, touch, and trust them; you may find, they use that good tool (at $1300/seat/yr-unlimited connections)..

Before you have let the scammers into your computer,write down the code they give you to connect, then hang up and report it, immediately (use the phone number in the above link(hit support option(2)). That will help stop those scammers from using that tech tool.

Do not do anything, they tell you to do, give them any answer you want, plead ignorance- drive THEM through their script--get the code number and hangup...If you can get the code number, and report them they will be out $1300...

There are other remote tools scammers use, from other vendors. This suggestion only applies to the aforementioned 'logmein' tools. Other Mfg tools, that are respected vendors, may have abuse hotlines, also; but you may want to just hang up, if the caller is using them AND/OR get information on how to report them, from a trusted source, so you are prepared, the next time they call.

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Anonymous

On Tue, 14 Sep 2010 05:22:35 +0000, gemini67 wrote:

> I got a phone call right on 2pm today with the samer indian sounding woman telling she is calling from a Sydney based company...same story as all of the above and then Mike came on the phone and because I'm not familiar with all these scams, I did what they told me...I logged into logmein123.com and was shown all the errors etc....Mike who then confused his name with Michael!! agreed to call back tonight cause I said I needed to speak with my husband...Rex Hunter who was on real chat was asking if I wanted to pay now..$149.95? for 12 months and $269.95 for 24 months...I told him I dont have a credit card and preferred to be billed..he advised I could use my debit card...yeah sure pal!!!

> Hopefully they wont call back, or if they do, i'll give them a piece of my mind.....dirtbags!!! Luckily i got inquistive and checked this website!!

> So....does anyone know if they can hack into your computer at any time? Does anything explode?? Does the system crash?? Anything??

Since you did what they told you and let them into your computer, you

are now vulnerable to all sorts of problems. I highly recommend doing

both of the following *immediately*:

Change *all* your passwords
Reinstall Windows cleanly.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

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Anonymous

Back up documents and files you need to keep, wipe the hard drive clean - that is, format it to remove everything on the computer - then reinstall Windows first, then all your programs, and finally restore your backed-up documents.

"gemini67" wrote in message news:*** Email address is removed for privacy ***...

Hi, They Called Back At 7:30PM And I Called Them A Bunch Of Wan**rs And I Hung Up On Them After I Gave Them A Piece Of My Mind !

Thanks For The Info, Just Wondering, When You Said ''Re-Install Clean'' Do You Mean Un-Install Everything And Re-Install ?

Please Get Back To Me ASAP.

Thanks

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Anonymous

Hi,

Please check this link for guidelines on how to protect yourself from Email and web scams.

Let us know how it goes.

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285 additional answers

Anonymous

2011-10-30T02:35:44+00:00

If they weren't actually getting away with scamming some poor people who don't know better, I'd actually LIKE these guys...They were just too easy to screw with!

After they very nearly succeeded in scamming my technologically-challenged boyfriend, I purposely kept them on the phone for over twenty-five minutes (figured if their scamming people out of money, I'd try to waste a bit of their own) when they called back that same day. After I felt like I had sufficiently frustrated the fellow (putting him on hold for five minutes, dawdling, and just generally playing dumb--messing up the web address, asking things like "What's the control key?" and "Now, how exactly do I open up Internet Explorer?") I finally threw the book at him...Asked how he could sleep at night when he's doing this to people; does his mother (or wife or children, etc) know that he steals from people for a living; does he fear karma; etc. etc. And the poor f*@$er actually stuck with the whole "We're a legitimate company" shpiel til he hung up!

It was ridiculous! He only finally gave up when I offered a deal: if he would give me HIS home phone number, or even just a Utah phone number for me to reach him at work (since he insisted that's where he was calling from), then I would wilingly subject myself to his scam and actually follow the steps he was asking of me. He could BS his way through the morality of the job, the legitimacy of the websites and what-not, but simply couldn't hit back when forced to provide a hard 'fact' to back his story up.

Fun stuff. I encourage you all to do the same (or have REAL fun with it--like try to get him to convert to Wicca or Mormonism or something / ask him to hold on, you've got to take the kid you're cooking out of the oven / say the doorbell just rang and the FBI's arresting you for runnning phone scams / or whatever!

Anyways, I recorded the call...if anyone's interested in listening ;-)

P.S. It really frightens me to hear people on these forums describing themselves as tech-savvy or "the go-to computer person in their household" then go on to write about how far into the scam they fell...People, if you've never used command prompt, or poked around in your registry, or even used services.msc or msconfig or the like, then you probably shouldn't consider yourself a computer wiz. (BTW--DONT GO MESSInG AROUND WITH THOSE JUST BECAUSE I LISTED THEM...SOrry!)
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