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AMMYY Scam
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Anonymous
Hello
I got a call from a guy with a really heavy Indian accent claiming to be working with Microsoft.
He told me that my computer had multiple problems.
He then told me to hit the Window icon on my keyboard and R (Which is to activate Run)
After that, he told me to type in "www.ammyy.com" and hit enter.
Right when he said that, I got suspicious.
I checked their website and it seemed legit.
I decided to google "AMMYY" and I saw "AMMYY scam"
I checked lots of posts having the EXACT same thing
-Indian guy
-AMMYY
-Computer problems
-Work for microsoft.
I hanged up and shut down my computer just in case. (I"m paranoid)
I turned back my computer on and the guy called me again.
He asked me why did I hanged up and I told him it was an accident.
He asked if I downloaded AMMYY yet.
I told him this "I ain't getting my computer hacked today, buddy." and hanged up again.
I ran a full computer scan with Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security.
(Which I trust since it went with my computer)
So my question.
Who are these guys?
How many people work with them?
Why aren't they sued yet?
Is my computer safe?
Thank you
Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy
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Answer accepted by question author
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
You're fine. They cold called you and have no access to your PC since you didn't install anything or allow them to connect to your PC.
Avoid scams that use the Microsoft name fraudulently - Microsoft does not make unsolicited
phone calls to help you fix your computer
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/phishing/Msname.aspx
Hoaxes and Scams
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/cu\_sc\_virsec\_master?ws=support#tab3
Microsoft Consumer Support Center
Microsoft Support
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support#tab0
Microsoft - Contact Support
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/help/contact-support
270 additional answers
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Anonymous
2013-08-15T02:22:00+00:00 Hello, we unfortunatly let the scammers enter in our computer and we are very upset. Do you think that they can get to our bank account even if our pass word are secure ? I, M a french speaking sorry for my bad english
Caroline
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Anonymous
2013-08-15T05:30:36+00:00 Your English is better than my French!
First ... protect yourself.
The safest thing is to immediately get onto a trusted computer and change all financial and e-mail passwords. Make sure financial passwords are NEVER the same as e-mail passwords. Make sure web access and other passwords are NEVER the same as financial passwords or e-mail passwords.
Second ... protect your computer.
The safest thing to do is very painful and not a lot of fun. The truly safest thing to do is to remove the disk drive and scan it on a trusted computer. Then you save the drive (with something like Acronis or maybe Ghost), clear it, reinstall the operating system and all programs from scratch. Then restore the data. This activity should only be reserved for the worst problems. One way to avoid this problem is to have a periodic hard drive backup and use the "C" drive for programs only.
Maybe somebody can help us here. I don't think the situation with AMMYY in this thread is that bad.
If you don't want to go through the long hours of a complete re-installation, then get an updated and full virus scan followed by a malware bytes to help clean. Then, check the list of programs and make sure that there is nothing strange on your computer.
Hope this helps.
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Anonymous
2013-08-15T16:33:20+00:00 Incidentally, doesn't anybody wonder when someone calls to tell you your computer is sending offending spam, how they got your number??? THEY CAN'T. THEY DIDN'T. They're just calling you out of a digital phone book at random.
At the risk of sounding anti-social, I think it is of the utmost importance that anyone called by these people reply in the most hostile and insulting way possible. [Naturally, avoid language that will degrade YOU as a speaker, such as ethnic slurs, etc.] But I always yell at these guys, "YOU ARE A BUNCH OF CRIMINALS. YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN DOGS. I WOULD REPORT YOU TO INTERPOL IF I COULD. YOU BELONG IN PRISON. YOUR BOSS IS A WORSE CRIMINAL THAN YOU ARE. YOU STINK." That sort of thing.
There is a tactical reason for this. It has GOT to be harder to go to work and know you will be verbally abused all day than it is to merely go to work and have people hang up on you. Anything you can do to sow discord in these companies is worth it, by making it hard to recruit and retain lackeys, etc., or better yet, by making them engage in hostile acts toward their employers while on the job.
Anything that will make them hate their jobs is good for the rest of the world.
NOTE: There is a "sport" known as SCAM BAITING, in which the person called pretends to play along, and gets the caller to engage in degrading speech, all the while recording the session for later posting on YouTube. There is even a Danish reality TV show based on scam baiting. IMHO, it's a time consuming endeavor that I don't recommend, since degrading someone and simply insulting them are different.