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I'm sitting next to a woman who is likely getting scammed.

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Leynos

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I'm in a library, and she's on a laptop, talking to someone on her cellphone. She is saying that an error message about Netscape keeps coming up, won't go away, and she called the number that came up. She asked who she is speaking to, and the person answered with (at least from what the woman responded back with) "Windows." Sounds like the person on the phone is trying to get her to give him/her remote access of her laptop, and she is giving the other person on the phone the needed info.

I feel like she is being taken for a ride, but I can't step in. What if this is a legit support call? What if she is being scammed, how do I know for sure, and how do I prove it to her?

Oh, well I guess that she has to take the lesson the hard way.

Update: she was being scammed, but I hopefully stopped it in time before anything serious happened.
 
Ask some questions to verify whether she is being scammed or not. Just stop her mid-conversation and explain you have good motives.
 
Help her, but make sure to really emphasize how gullible she is. She'll fall for you instantly.

This is exemplary GAF-Man territory, by the way.

f8Ra3dI.png
 
If you want to help her you will need to install a new browser for her, transfer her bookmarks, then explain that she should never download "updates." If you want that burden then do it but don't half-ass it.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I can help you with your computer but you need to tell the people on the phone you have to go because they are going to sell you a subscription." And then fix her shit.
 
Leave an anonymous note.
You're making a huge mistake.

Regards,


Your Future Self from the Darkest Timeline.
Click to expand...

Alternately... welp. I was going to say "maybe it's legit" but if its a "I work for Windows" guy then shut off her computer and save her digital life ASAP.
 
Approach her under the pretense that you want to help. Ask her what's wrong. Explain that you feel like it might be a scam.

Worst thing that can happen (to you) if you intervene is that you feel awkward if she doesn't want to listen to you.

Worst thing that can happen (to her) if you don't intervene is pretty bad; stolen info, maybe including credit card numbers, SSN, etc.

Get off GAF. Go help her.
 
Fucking help her out, dude. By now it might be too late, since you took the time to type all that out. Say something before she gives out her Social Security number and birthdate or something. Not everyone should have to learn the hard way.
 
My biggest takeaway from this is that there are people that talk on their cellphones in libraries.

She deserves whatever scam she's got coming.

Half-joking, before the white knights start howling for blood.
 
"I'm sorry for intruding on your phone call, but this sounds just like a scam that happened to my mother. They pretended to be from Microsoft and asked to take control of our computer. You should hang up now and you'll be safe."

Then walk away.
 
She was definitely being taken for a ride. I stepped in, and she put the call on hold. She had a new Dell laptop with McAfee installed, but the caller was most definitely not McAfee. She already has a subscription with McAfee, and this person was trying very hard for her to hand over her credit card number. She showed me the warning screen, and it was the most obvious-looking scam that I've ever seen. I had her hang up, and disconnect from the internet. The guy tried calling her back (I have the number if SleuthGAF wants to look into it,) and was indeed in remote-control of her computer. I had her stop the Dropbox installation that was going on, turn off her laptop, then she left the library to call McAfee.
 
Hey, looks like an actual good outcome then. Hopefully you got there in time. The fact that he was already remoted in isn't very confidence inspiring though.
 
Leynos said:
She was definitely being taken for a ride. I stepped in, and she put the call on hold. She had a new Dell laptop with McAfee installed, but the caller was most definitely not McAfee. She already has a subscription with McAfee, and this person was trying very hard for her to hand over her credit card number. She showed me the warning screen, and it was the most obvious-looking scam that I've ever seen. I had her hang up, and disconnect from the internet. The guy tried calling her back (I have the number if SleuthGAF wants to look into it,) and was indeed in remote-control of her computer. I had her stop the Dropbox installation that was going on, turn off her laptop, then she left the library to call McAfee.
Click to expand...

you did good, OP
 
This exact fucking thing happened to my parents when I went over for a family thing like a year ago.

My little sister gave me the phone freaking out since someone from "Windows" was calling to inform us that we had been hacked. Which is mindblowing... like what? I was in the shower when this happened so I was like the hell is going on.

A PC is being hacked.

Which one? There's like 3 in the house?

A PC. I need you to go to your PC and I can show you.
Click to expand...

Now mind you I'm butt ass naked so I feign interest for a bit while sitting on the toilet dripping everywhere. The guy asks if I'm at the PC, I say yes. he says to hit the Windows key, then R (To basically hit the RUN command) then gives me this whole spiel about how he's going to prove I'm infected.

Just told the dude to get a better scam and hung up. You can actually read the entire scam here from someone who took the whole ride in a virtual machine.


You literally did stop a scam, OP. Good stuff. Shit like this is gross though, since an elderly person or someone with 0 PC skill could easily be fooled with what they do.
 
Someone called my house yesterday from Windows Support, trying to explain that there was an error cause by some site I had visited. I kept asking "what?" in different phrasings for two or three minutes, then tried to say that I'm not using Windows, then finally I just laughed at him and hung up.

I wish I would have stayed on the line and messed with him some more. Kinda glad my parents didn't pick up the phone there though, who knows if they would have listened.
 
My dad got one of these scam calls once, luckily he doesn't know how to use a computer and told them to call back later and ask for me. They never called back, I would have chewed those fuckers out.
 
Some guy with the most stereotypical Indian accent in the world called my house last week with this same Windows support bullshit.

Said my computer was infected by hackers and he was going to fix it. I asked him which of the 3 computers in the house he was talking about. Told me the nearest one. lol.

Also said that the virus has been transmitting for 3 months. I told him I formatted a new copy of Windows 8.1 less than 2 months ago. He completely ignored that and started giving me instructions for remote access.

I strung him along for a few minutes for the lulz, then told him to fuck off and never call back again.

I can see and older computer illiterate person definitely fall for these scams sadly. "Hacking" is the buzzword these days.
 
My strategy when these people call is to get them to hold for as long as possible. There's always one more thing that's going to take me a few seconds to grab before I can get down to business.
 
Evo X said:
Some guy with the most stereotypical Indian accent in the world called my house last week with this same Windows support bullshit.

Said my computer was infected by hackers and he was going to fix it. I asked him which of the 3 computers in the house he was talking about. Told me the nearest one. lol.

Also said that the virus has been transmitting for 3 months. I told him I formatted a new copy of Windows 8.1 less than 2 months ago. He completely ignored that and started giving me instructions for remote access.

I strung him along for a few minutes for the lulz, then told him to fuck off and never call back again.

I can see and older computer illiterate person definitely fall for these scams sadly. "Hacking" is the buzzword these days.
Click to expand...

yup also happened to me 2 weeks ago.

i strung him along for close to half an hour and at the end told him "Oh shit sorry mate, i just realized i have been using linux the whole time and none of this crap is going to work!"

i'd like to think the entire time i led him along was enough time that a potential victim would be far enough from their computer to do permanent damage.
 
My wife fell for one recently. She's adorably naive about this shit. Fortunately, I realized what was going before she let them remote in. Lessons were learned.
 
OP you're sitting next to a woman who is being scammed and your first response is to create a thread on Gaf?

Good call we can question how hot she is and if she is worth saving. :p
 
RockTurtle said:
yup also happened to me 2 weeks ago.

i strung him along for close to half an hour and at the end told him "Oh shit sorry mate, i just realized i have been using linux the whole time and none of this crap is going to work!"

i'd like to think the entire time i led him along was enough time that a potential victim would be far enough from their computer to do permanent damage.
Click to expand...

lol this is good
 
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