Manjeet from India fails again

[Jonathan Jarvis]

Manjeet from India rang me last night on my land line. He told me that my computer had been sending out error messages due to a virus on it.

I asked him what the IP of the computer was. He couldn't tell me. I asked him which of the operating platforms on my three computers was sending out the error messages. He couldn't tell me. I then asked him what the error messages and the error codes were. He couldn't tell me. But he said it was a serious problem.

I had nothing better to do so I let him ramble on.

He said if I could log on to an address then he could clear the errors for me. I told him that I was wary of logging on to strange sites. He said it was OK and it was a safe site. Clearly he wanted to load a ransom page on my computer.

He said he was very concerned that these errors on my computer were causing a lot of problems on the internet slowing it down and infecting other computers. He could fix them for me so saving me getting into trouble.

I asked him how these problems had got on my computer when I had anti virus software on it. He said they were not ordinary virus's but a special ones which were new and that he had just found out about.

I said if that was the case I was interested in sorting the problems as I did not want to get into trouble with the internet. I asked him to wait while I powered up my PC. The minutes ticked by.

I asked him which browser I should use. Chrome IE or Firefox. He said it did not matter. We agreed that I should use Chrome as this was the most common browser. More time wasted.

About 10 minutes had passed. By this time I was getting a bit bored and the Simpsons was just starting on the TV so I thanked him for his time and hung up.

I have to give credit to him for persistence.

 

[High Fidelity]

I caught them out the last time. Told them I was about to start work and could they call my Skype so I could speak to them from my desk... they added me and I got their IP address from a resolver and passed it over to the police.

 

[Jonathan Jarvis]

Got me thinking. I have an old laptop. I could develop a ransom page of my own and put it in a file on the desktop (called say "Banking account passwords"). Then when he accesses the file he will have to pay me. What should I charge to unlock it?

 

[High Fidelity]

Just be sure to make a new subnet if you're going to give them any access.

 

[FreedByte]

Manjeet from India rang me last night on my land line. He told me that my computer had been sending out error messages due to a virus on it.

I asked him what the IP of the computer was. He couldn't tell me. I asked him which of the operating platforms on my three computers was sending out the error messages. He couldn't tell me. I then asked him what the error messages and the error codes were. He couldn't tell me. But he said it was a serious problem.

I had nothing better to do so I let him ramble on.

He said if I could log on to an address then he could clear the errors for me. I told him that I was wary of logging on to strange sites. He said it was OK and it was a safe site. Clearly he wanted to load a ransom page on my computer.

He said he was very concerned that these errors on my computer were causing a lot of problems on the internet slowing it down and infecting other computers. He could fix them for me so saving me getting into trouble.

I asked him how these problems had got on my computer when I had anti virus software on it. He said they were not ordinary virus's but a special ones which were new and that he had just found out about.

I said if that was the case I was interested in sorting the problems as I did not want to get into trouble with the internet. I asked him to wait while I powered up my PC. The minutes ticked by.

I asked him which browser I should use. Chrome IE or Firefox. He said it did not matter. We agreed that I should use Chrome as this was the most common browser. More time wasted.

About 10 minutes had passed. By this time I was getting a bit bored and the Simpsons was just starting on the TV so I thanked him for his time and hung up.

I have to give credit to him for persistence.

I don't understand how people still fall for this stuff.

 

[Sketcher]

I don't understand how people still fall for this stuff.

They're the same people who go to the store to buy "a computer" and don't know anything else besides that.

 

[pawnraider]

I know that this is a bit off topic but hopefully there won't be too many objections.

Many years ago when I was still living with my parents I answered the phone and the person on the other end claimed to be from the Sheriff's Dept. and stated in so many words that he was collecting for charity. I thought this rather suspicious and I said no and then he loaded on the guilt so much that it made me feel really uncomfortable so I just hung up. A few years ago someone called me and introduced himself as Officer_____ and asked me how I was doing and I said "OK" and then hung up. There's no way for me to know if these people were in fact police officers and I rather doubt that they were. One thing I do know is if it's official business they either send a letter or an officer shows up on your doorstep.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

I caught them out the last time. Told them I was about to start work and could they call my Skype so I could speak to them from my desk... they added me and I got their IP address from a resolver and passed it over to the police.

Haha, good thinking - I would have hacked that address too

One time they called me and the guy said can you click your start button. I asked him where was the start button and this confusion ended about 20 minutes later when I said does a Linux machine have a start button?

At this point the patient "support" guy "praised me with blessings" and hung up.