Scam- urgent help needed pls!

dugsie

Hi all

A friend received a phone call earlier today from someone claiming to be from Microsoft & to cut a long story short has given them remote control of his computer. He's realised straight afterwards its a scam and is very worried now about what the implications might be. Can anybody shed some light on this please and also advise what he should do?

Thankyou

Marktheshark

Call any online banking that had passwords stored on it, including paypal and e-bay.
They now have all password files and the key to unzip them.

JasX

His computer will now be riddled with spyware/malware/keyloggers. I t will need a thorough decontamination (see malware removal thread) or ideally a reformat and start from scratch.

He should also consider if they could have gotten access to any financial details (eg has he logged into internet banking, made a purchase, logged into Paypal from the compromised machine during or since the call.... gmail even?)

he should basically stop using the machine and certainly not log into anything on it

JasX

Marktheshark wrote: »

Call any online banking that had passwords stored on it, including paypal and e-bay.
They now have all password files and the key to unzip them.

are password hashes stored locally these days? can they extract them from cookies etc?

dugsie

thanks all for the advice. he is now currently scanning with Malware bytes. I've had a quick search for the malware removal thread - is it on this Techie forum?

Big_Graeme

Marktheshark wrote: »

Call any online banking that had passwords stored on it, including paypal and e-bay.
They now have all password files and the key to unzip them.

Total rubbish.
The PC will be infected now though and will need thorough decontamination.

RumRat

They could have done any of the following.

• Trick you into installing malicious software, that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software.
• Take control of your computer remotely and adjust settings to leave your computer vulnerable.
• Request credit card information so they can bill you for phony services.
• Direct you to fraudulent websites and ask you to enter credit card and other personal or financial information there.

Take precautions against them all.

Did it go a bit like this?......
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/11/malwarebytes

JasX

dugsie wrote: »

thanks all for the advice. he is now currently scanning with Malware bytes. I've had a quick search for the malware removal thread - is it on this Techie forum?

It's one of the old stickies listed here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4903833

Here is a direct link:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64093681#Comment_64093681

dugsie

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. I've passed on the advice so can hopefully limit the damage to a bruised ego and lesson learnt!

J_B

Did they give any payment details for the scammers 'services'?

If so, call their bank/CC and tell them