Is this a scam... "Do something on your computer"

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 09 Sep 2011 Posts: 3

Hi all,

Unfortunately I'm not the recipient of the phone calls, so the detail is a little fuzzy.

My household has received a call from a man identifying himself as 'Reg' or 'Rex' 'Robinson'.

He requested to speak to the 'holder of the internet account'. When the person who answered the phone explained that I wasn't there, he asked that someone sit in front of the computer and follow some instructions that he would give.

It was explained that this wasn't possible at the moment, so he gave a phone number, asking that we phone him when possible.

He has since phoned again.

The phone number that he left goes to a call center of some sort. Phoning after hours reveals that the call center belongs to 'E T Protections' (as best as I can judge through the accent).

I'm unwilling to phone during-hours and find the guy until I know a little more about what it could be.

I'm in KZN South Africa. The phone number is in Cape Town.

So... anyone heard anything about this? Aggressive sales technique? The first step in some kind of scan or malware installation?

Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 3:40 pm

The one thing you can be sure of is that it is NOT legitimate.

The only people who would reason to call about your internet service would be your ISP--and they would have all of your account information, including your name, account number, services etc.

Most likely, it would turn into a "your computer has a problem, and we will help you fix it" scam. This is very common. The caller claims to be some kind of technical support, and he will offer to walk you through solving it. In reality, he is walking you through the process of giving him control of your computer! From there he can steal your information, including bank and credit card information stored on it; he can install a virus, then charge you for his removal; he can turn your computer into a bot and use it in DDOS attacks, etc.

There are a few discussions of this scam scattered throughout Eater. Here's one: http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=205319

Stay far away.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 09 Sep 2011 Posts: 3

Thank you, Dorothy... that was my reasoning, but it's nice to hear it confirmed Smile

As I have a local land-line phone number, does anyone know if there's a useful contact in the SAPS or similar that I can pass it on to?
I used to lurk here in the forums a while ago, and I vaguely remember that someone had an SAPS contact, but I also vaguely remember the specific division being closed down/merged, or something.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 02 Sep 2011 Posts: 20

Hi Wraitholme
I have a local SA mobile I can call from so drop me a PM and the info and I'll check it out for you.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 09 Sep 2011 Posts: 3

Hey Bob,

Sorry for the delay... RL intruded. I'll PM you the number in case you're still curious Smile

I spoke to the guy and strung him on a little further to see where it would go.

He basically had me open up window's event manager and told me that every 100 events it had recorded was an 'infection'. Lots of scare-the-user gibberish... apparently 'application' means hardware and 'system' means software.

Once he'd decided he'd scared me enough he had me go to a site called 'logmein123'
I thought the site was a malware site, so didn't go immediately... which was a pity, since if I'd gone to the site I would have realised that it was just a remote connection/backup service, and I'd have gotten his code.

I just hung up, so I guess there's always a later chance Razz

Anyway, I hope that's helpful to someone.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 28 Aug 2011 Posts: 37

Thanks for the heads up

Is this a scam... "Do something on your computer"	View next topic View previous topic