SCAM ALERT

[Jolly Blue Giant]

There is a scam going on right now that is nerve wracking. You get an email and it looks like this:



If you're like me, you go "whaaaatt??? I didn't order that".

So if you call the number to say you didn't want that so why am I getting it, you are told, "no problem, here's what you do to cancel"

You are told (in barely audible English) "Hold the windows key (bottom left hand corner) and the "R" key at the same time". A pop up comes on screen and the guy tells you to type a line of code. This is where you tell him to do whatever you want to himself. Regardless, DON'T follow his instructions and hang up.

I responded with "this is a scam buddy and I have a record of this going straight to the FBI" and hung up.

I called my bank and they said they have gotten a lot of calls about people saying they were charged for Norton 360...and it is a straight up scam. As long as you don't follow their instructions or give any information, then they can't get into your bank account.

[MightyGiants]

The tipoff that this was a scam/spam was right up at the top left corner, Ric.    See the email address after "Norton Team Billing"

Norton team billing doesn't use Gmail

As a general rule, you always want to look at the email address (not the name but the actual email address) that sent you whatever.   

[Jolly Blue Giant]

The tipoff that this was a scam/spam was right up at the top left corner, Ric.    See the email address after "Norton Team Billing"

Norton team billing doesn't use Gmail

As a general rule, you always want to look at the email address (not the name but the actual email address) that sent you whatever.

Good point! Thanks Rich

[LennG]

I understand the theory of it, but really, why would you (or anyone) call them?

How could they charge you?

I get emails all the time telling me I just bought $1200 worth of something from amazon, click on here if it wasn't me?

I go to my amazon account to check it out, not click on here.

[Ed Vette]

Your county Division of Consumer Affairs may have an investigationEnforcement Outreach. We do in Bergen County.

https://bergenpassaicconsumeraffairs.com/

[Blue4Life]

I understand the theory of it, but really, why would you (or anyone) call them?

How could they charge you?

I get emails all the time telling me I just bought $1200 worth of something from amazon, click on here if it wasn't me?

I go to my amazon account to check it out, not click on here.

Maybe Jolly had been curious as to what happens, if he calls. I actually curious what was the code, that they wanted him to run. The "Windows-Key + R" will run the command, scripts, etc., at the logged in user account's access level. Since most of the people log in as administrators at home, even if the actual name of the account is Jolly for example, it's rather easy to gain remote access to the system. This type of scam counts on the administrator account, without it, the script will fail.

Well, there are ways to gain administrator access from the standard user account, but that's too long of a script to type in. Albeit they could give you a link to the script to run...

I'll stop here, before start to list all of the possibilities.... 

[Sem]

Maybe Jolly had been curious as to what happens, if he calls. I actually curious what was the code, that they wanted him to run. The "Windows-Key + R" will run the command, scripts, etc., at the logged in user account's access level. Since most of the people log in as administrators at home, even if the actual name of the account is Jolly for example, it's rather easy to gain remote access to the system. This type of scam counts on the administrator account, without it, the script will fail.

Well, there are ways to gain administrator access from the standard user account, but that's too long of a script to type in. Albeit they could give you a link to the script to run...

I'll stop here, before start to list all of the possibilities.... 

Hey hey easy there. I come here during work to get away from the I/T issues I deal with all day. Now I almost feel as if I should be getting paid to read this. 

[Blue4Life]

Hey hey easy there. I come here during work to get away from the I/T issues I deal with all day. Now I almost feel as if I should be getting paid to read this. 

Presumably, you were getting paid for reading this...