Windows tech support "ammy" scammers....

aimee5

I received a call from "windows tech support"

Apparently they're old news, right up there with the Nigerian Bank scams. I was totally unaware.

I was suspicious immediately as I questioned why windows would ring in the first place and also at seven in the evening.

However I was caught slightly unaware and carried out cautiously.

I went to the "ammy.com" as requested and ran the free software.

However common sense prevailed and I DID NOT give out the i.d (i.p address?) and password that was displayed on screen. She became almost erratic on the phone and hung up.

From basic research I assume ammy.com is a legitimate program but one that is used to remotely access computers. And a scammers favourite.

Have a done any harm by running the program as I did not divulge the username and password?

And if so what steps can I take to remedy it.

Aimee

syklops

aimee5 wrote: »

I received a call from "windows tech support"

Apparently they're old news, right up there with the Nigerian Bank scams. I was totally unaware.

I was suspicious immediately as I questioned why windows would ring in the first place and also at seven in the evening.

However I was caught slightly unaware and carried out cautiously.

I went to the "ammy.com" as requested and ran the free software.

However common sense prevailed and I DID NOT give out the i.d (i.p address?) and password that was displayed on screen. She became almost erratic on the phone and hung up.

From basic research I assume ammy.com is a legitimate program but one that is used to remotely access computers. And a scammers favourite.

Have a done any harm by running the program as I did not divulge the username and password?

And if so what steps can I take to remedy it.

Aimee

Uninstall the Ammy software and then get on with your life. Just for the laugh update and run your antivirus and anti-malware software.

skeoghman

There's a new and cunning variation on the ammyy scam - Indian guy calls says he's from Eircom, that your broadband is running slowly than it should (isn't everyone's) and asks you to log on to ammyy.com. When asked for id he gives a supposed eircom number - 012544345 ..same old scam. beware, beware..

thehouses

I like the way you took up their time. If you look on youtube you will see videos people posted where they kept them on the phone for ages, wasting their time.

skeoghman

yea, just keep them talking and talking and talking..

Khannie

I made the lad that phoned us feel bad. Told him he wasn't a nice person. He tried to assure me that there was something wrong with my windows (Linux only house). I hope he slept a little less easy that night.

duckysauce

Khannie wrote: »

I made the lad that phoned us feel bad. Told him he wasn't a nice person. He tried to assure me that there was something wrong with my windows (Linux only house). I hope he slept a little less easy that night.

don't think they could give a fuc k what you said , and he will sleep easy

aidan_walsh

When a computer scammer tries to open my windows, porn saves the day

If a top operative of the Microsoft Security would ever be so puffed up with the pleasure of his own cunning as to smirk at a poor drunken convict from the antipodes, I am certain I can sense that smirk right now, across the vast oceans of distance that separate us. Time to puncture it.

''Is it the pornography?'' I ask.

''Excuse me, sir?''

''The pornography. Is that where I got my viruses. Are they infecting my pornography?''

degsie

Got a call from 'Microsoft Security' yesterday. I hope he enjoyed listening to Pat Kenny while I went to turn on the computer, took me a while though. Half an hour later I was ready but the bugger hung up. I'll never buy from M$ again!

900913

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056231349

Khannie

duckysauce wrote: »

don't think they could give a fuc k what you said , and he will sleep easy

Maybe it's just one of a thousand tiny cuts.

brightspark

skeoghman wrote: »

There's a new and cunning variation on the ammyy scam - Indian guy calls says he's from Eircom, that your broadband is running slowly than it should (isn't everyone's) and asks you to log on to ammyy.com. When asked for id he gives a supposed eircom number - 012544345 ..same old scam. beware, beware..

He called me too..John Wilson I.D. Eir065
Same phone number to ring him.
( call came from 00410 6928102)


Claims he is in King Street, Ranelagh, Dublin 6

I was about to play along, when I got an important call on the mobile, so I hung up after a couple of minutes. He tried ringing back a few times, and when I eventually answered I kept him going for about 9 minutes, so I reckon that's about 15 minutes less time they had to use trying to con others.

I had missed calls this week from 00212340181, and last month from 002011772013 more of the same I guess, but didn't get to talk those times.

Traitor

I wish one of these guys would call me. I've had a vmware windows XP install waiting with tubgirl, goatse, rickroll, and randomized folder beastiality wallpapers waiting for ages.

Dermot Illogical

Netflix variant.
http://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam/2014/02/netflix-phishing-scam-leads-to-fake-microsoft-tech-support/

destiny6

Yeah I got this call this morning at 9am! Actually my mam had been telling me all week that someone had called twice about computers and because I have been applying for jobs recently I thought it was in relation to that. So this morning I finally got that call and some man who had an indian accent started to tell me about how I have a serious windows problem that his technicians were picking up. I was immediately suspicious. I started asking how he knows. He said that there is a code on my laptop and he knows the code so he can see the problems I am having daily. Now my laptop has actually got problems with the battery but nothing that gets in my way. So I asked him whats this code. He said look on your computer and I was like yes ok I am and he said now see the ctrl button and the windows flag button, I want you to press them. And I said what about the code you were going to tell me. Then he went on about how he needed to act urgently and that he would tell the code etc. I said to him I would prefer to send my laptop to a computer shop to fix it as I don't want to press buttons that might make it worse and then he said oh ma'am I assure you that you will pay a lot of money for such services and they will only fix the hardware but it is a software problem. I told him that I would pay whatever if I know its safe and then he just went silent so I hung up.

But yea its worrying that some people who don't have as much knowledge about technology would buy into such a scam. Is there anyway we can report such people?

Adam anto

Just got the call a half hour ago.
He told me to:

- Run cmd and at the command prompt type assoc. this returns a long list with one of the last items in the list being,
"ZFSendToTarget=CLSID{888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}"
As far as I know this is the same on all windows PCs but he tries to make you believe that it is unique to your computer so when he call it out to you, you believe he is legit.

- Go to the event viewer and see if there are any errors there. I think most computers would have a bunch of errors on them but again he wants you to believe this is the problem he's trying to fix.

- Run inf, which brings up the inf folder. He asked if there were any files in there and when I said there were hundreds he said 'Oh my god, you are big trouble'.

- Finally he asked me to run www.ammyy.com.

Now, I knew this was a scam from the get go but I was interested to see how it worked. I have never heard of ammyy so once he asked me to go to an external site I stopped, not knowing it was remote desktop software.

But fun was had :-) I would add something bizarre into a sentence like
"Ok, I can see the baldy headed window"
"Which key did you can of coke"
"I can't see that radiator from here"

Repeating these as much as I could, he got increasingly annoyed with me but I managed to keep him on the line for about 15mins. Then politely told him a convenient dark place to put his phone, well maybe not so politely..

I really would like to know where he got the number. We're not in the phone book and are on the National Registered Database 'thing' that stops cold calling.

Any ideas?

thehouses

destiny6 wrote: »

But yea its worrying that some people who don't have as much knowledge about technology would buy into such a scam. Is there anyway we can report such people?

Nothing can be done - they are operating outside of Ireland.

industrialhorse

Adam anto wrote: »

Just got the call a half hour ago.

I really would like to know where he got the number. We're not in the phone book and are on the National Registered Database 'thing' that stops cold calling.

Any ideas?

Wouldnt be surprised if the data was sold to foreign gangs by IT contractors who were employed by Eircom and UPC over the last few years. My brother received a similar call a few days ago and while the scammers called out his real name, my brother said "oh do you mean such a name"? and the caller suddenly turned on him and said no, you are a liar and hung up!

Not sure about the extent of their social engineering skills but they might want to watch a few YouTube videos about customer service best practices before they bother calling back:pac:

B00MSTICK

Old news at this stage I guess but if you happen to feel adventurous:
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2605887/microsoft-subnet/zero-day-opens-the-way-to-hack-back-against-fake-microsoft-tech-support-scammers.html

The current version of Ammyy is still 3.5 so it might still be viable.