Large Companies Using Ransomware

John_Bains

This is based on my Experience.

Cornucopia

Did you instigate the call, or were you cold-called by them?

If you were cold-called, can I suggest that you were not actually talking to Canon, because this account sounds very similar to the known fake Microsoft ransom calls (I have received several myself). What I usually do is to put them on hold, and never go back to them.

I suggest you investigate with Canon UK, and they will probably help you with your printer issue, and probably do it for free (unless there are hardware/consumables/software items required).

Contact Canon UK Support By Phone

Call us on: +44 (0)207 660 0186
Available: Monday - Friday 08:00 - 20:00 (excluding bank holidays)

Fosterdog

What utter tosh!

If you have been in IT for 20 years you would not need Canon support to get your printer back online. This reeks of someone being a disgruntled customer and making up some far fetched story to make them look bad.
Canon do not offer a network support service whether free or chargeable.

What I would suggest has actually happened here is that you've either made the whole thing up or you are actually an IT novice who somehow managed to contact one of the many scam companies out there, you gave them access to you PC while on the phone to them and only after your refusal to pay did they start to mess with your system, also how did they access your router with the separate username and password for it being entered? There would be no record of that in your PC so they would need to know it, I know most come as standard admin/admin or admin/password but I've met very few people working in IT who don't change that along with the configuration of any new router they get.

shaun_from_Africa

John_Bains wrote: »

While I was on the call the IT agent logged into my Virgin Media router and my PC without me giving any permission. The Agent went on to show me error reports in the Event panel claiming that the Virgin Media Network was Viruses and that only one of their Agents could fix this for me at £200 per year.

The only ways that this could have been done are:
1/ You gave permission by allowing remote access or by giving the access details for your router or
2/ You have a keylogger or other virus on your PC, something that someone with "over 20 years in IT" should easily be able to prevent.

I totally agree with the other posters.
You were not the victim of an attepted scam by Canon. You were the victim of an attempted scam by someone pretending to be Canon support.

I seriously hope that you have changed all of your passwords and any other private data stored on your PC and that you have run full virus and malware scans.

Caz3121

OP you need to be more careful...this one appears to have been around for a while
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/642840/imac-was-hijacked-by-fake-canon-tech-support-chat/
https://www.myce.com/news/new-scam-tries-to-trick-users-to-call-customer-service-to-receive-technical-assistance-78163/

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

John_Bains wrote: »

This is based on my Experiance.
I have been in IT for over 20 years and am fully capable of assessing abuse on my Network. Recently I have seen a growing number of large companies including Amazon,Google and Microsoft harvesting data from users Networks and then selling it on. I hope this practice will be brought to an end soon.

However this post is about my recant Experience with CANON printers.

In summary CANON IT Support which I believe is provided by an overseas IT company Demanded I pay them £200 a year to ensure that my Home Network was "un interrupted" and if I wanted my Printer to work again.
While I was on the call to them they were able to get full details of my Network, Router services ruining on my PC etc from their Cloud system.

Apparently they harvest this Information under the disguise of "Usage Statistics" that the printer sends to their cloud service. Even if you try and disable this service it carries on sending data. If you read the CANON small print it says you can not disable this service. I feel that is wrong and unacceptable.

While I was on the call the IT agent logged into my Virgin Media router and my PC without me giving any permission. The Agent went on to show me error reports in the Event panel claiming that the Virgin Media Network was Viruses and that only one of their Agents could fix this for me at £200 per year.

When I pushed to know what I would get for £200 I was told by CANON that an Agent would run "BullGaurd" once a week on my network and that it would all be done remotely I would not need to be in or give any permissions. I was also told several times that CANON would support my Virgin Media Hub and put my Printer back online.
I declined the offer and immediately my Printer stopped working completely and other devices on my Network including my Alexa started to get blocked on my Router. I immediately pulled out the power to my Router.

In Summary it is my experience and view that CANON and their IT Support team were Infecting my Network and then holding me to Ransom to Pay them £200 a year to stop the attack on my Network. Because I refused my Printer no longer works because CANON have made some settings on their cloud that stops the printer working. Before any print Job the printer communicates with CANON cloud.

I hope that if enough people who suffer this kind of attack report it hopefully somthing will be done about it.

Thanks

I don't work in IT and my Canon printer does not hold me to ransom!

John_Bains

Thanks for the opinions. I hope that all who experience this kind of thing report it to Trading standards. Clearly companies will infiltrate boards like this and try and Rubbish Posts. Of coarse I am in communications with CANON UK.

Firm ware on the Printer was updated and various COM and C++ services added to the extent that even without the Network the Printer will not allow the user to change settings. I can Video tape this. It has a fixed IP that is not within my Network. Without talking to CANON IT support it is Impossible to know or understand what the COM objects are supposed to be doing or what the services are doing. Go think about this before loud mouthing and calling experienced users lairs. Shame on you.
The IT Firm were clear and sent an MSG asking for £200 a year where is the lie in this?
The printer will not function unless I pay the £200 a year where is the lie in this?
I contacted CANON and have the support reference numbers.
Think what ever you like but for the poor consumer who is Impacted by this its a disgrace some of the responses I have seen. Fact is there are firewall logs, IM messages saved, emails etc about my comms. with CANON.I now have a £300 printer that is useless unless I pay CANON IT support another £200 a year. Disgraceful.To be clear they wanted £200 a year to run Bull Gaurd on my network once a month and re enable my Printer. They would also "clean up my network" and carry out "general maintenance" If you think I am lying sue me.

waamo

What number are you ringing when you speak to Canon?

powerful_Rogue

John_Bains wrote: »

What a lot of abuse I get from thoughtful Individuals pumped up to their own self Importance.
Please do check all my previous posting and "Rambleings" how they have been proven in reality - PPI, Unfair Bank Charges, Unfair depbt collection practices all confirmed to be true. Just trying to raise awareness and what abuse I get. So I suffer from Dyslexia. Hold it against me but every one suffers. The CANON issue appears to be well known on other sites.
I truly feel sorry and SAD for some of the responces to my post. Would it not be bettwer for you Indivduals to not post at all rather then try and discredit facts that are allready in the popular press? If CANON dont deny they have issues?
How ever the referance to Iran I take personal offence to and feel it needs to be moderated. What are you suggesting by saying I have been in IRAN? You are on dangerous ground. I am As British as you are and I only post when I feel I have somthing passionate to post about. John 22 and stragglebod should think hard of the publicity they are giving them selfs.

No-ones talking about your spelling or grammar, so no need to throw in the dyslexia ball.


What people are talking about is that you reckon you have 20+ years in IT yet have fallen foul of a huge scam which has nothing to do with CANNON.

John_Bains

An Update. I talked to CANON and the issue is resolved. I am still confused about the call yesterday and the £200 a year for home support. I called the same support number , the support agent was very helpful and this time the issue was resolved without asking for any Money?
I suppose i will just put it down to experience. If there is a company out there pretending to be CANON IT support and they are messing with CANON products then if I was CANON I would be very concerned about it. Just my thoughts.

[Deleted User]

John_Bains wrote: »

If there is a company out there pretending to be CANON IT support and they are messing with CANON products then if I was CANON I would be very concerned about it.

If you were Canon you would already be aware of it.

It's not a new development.