Posted on 08/24/2017 4:32:18 AM PDT by Dad was my hero
Is this a scam? Two previous times over the last couple months I was called by someone (Indian accent) telling me that I was due a refund from a transaction I had with their company last year. I vaguely recalled the transaction and they knew the date and exact amount. I just needed to access my computer and checking account so they could give me the money. (red flags all over the place so...) I told them to just send me a check and we'll call it even then hung up.
Well yesterday another call, this time they had enough details to convince me they must have been legitimate, they had the last four digits of the credit card number I used at the time. So we began playing a verbal game that lasted almost two hours.
First they said for me to go to a site and download "teamviewer.dmg" and run it. So I did (starting to have that slight fishy smell). Then they gave me an access code. Now they had access to my iMac. They kept telling me to access my checking account and I'll soon see the money reappear in it. I had some difficulty telling the guy that the credit card I used was a club visa card with no checking account attached. He transfers me to the next person. I again explain that the card has no checking account attached to it. He insists that I'm going to see the money appear in my checking account but I need to access my account. So I told him I was accessing it, just not on the computer they were on, I work from home and my pc (two feet away from my iMac) is accessing my checking account, no money. I need to access it from my computer that they are shadowing! (fishy smell is now getting stronger but I'm still hooked.)
So I finally relent and in the mean time the guy tells me that they are not in the same country so exchange rates will apply, did I understand that? Yes. NOW, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TOUCH YOUR COMPUTER KEYBOARD OR MOUSE WHILE THIS IS HAPPENING! Got it. Now, because of banking regulations in our country we cannot transfer amounts less than $10,000 so you will soon see that amount show up in your account. Then you need to transfer back to us $9,800 and keep the remaining amount. Well, alarm bells are going off and so I try to move the mouse to the log off section of my account and I am not able to control it, all the while they are shouting at me not to do that. So I reach around the back and cold shut down the computer which disconnects their call from me because my home is using Magic Jack. Another guy was also on my cell phone. BTW, every call that came to me came through as unknown or anonymous.
I ran a malware scan and had Apple support verify that they left nothing on my iMac.
You are a frigging idiot. I am being nice!. I also toy with these idiots. I get Microsoft Tech to call ne about my computer, They need access to it. I tell them the only access port open is the one I am sitting on and I feel a lot of outbound pressure building up.
You idiot again!
I had an assistant almost 25 years ago whose identity was stolen. The bad guys created a whole new, fictitious “Alice Jones” person. As you say, the real “Alice’s” life was hell for many years, her credit rating destroyed, constantly hounded by collection agencies for payment, repo companies calling her and mailing. I’m not sure if she ever got it under control. Her life was just miserable.
You don’t hear these types of stories much any more. I think it must be too easy to steal a few hundred or thousand dollars on a stolen credit card and move on to the next card when the first is shut off.
I got a security alert email yesterday from my credit card bank about a $1 transaction at a gas station in Northern California. I called the CC issuing bank and they told me that the $1 seems to have been the way the merchant validated it was a real credit card. I don’t actually get charged the $1, only the immediately succeeding transaction for $56 for the fill-up. The security person I talked to thought this was all normal. Seemed weird to me.
I have and I do.
Unless I recognize the name, it goes to voicemail. I answer about 5% of all calls cell or home.
That is hilarious...they actually called and said “We are being prosecuted and need to return your [stolen] money. Give us your credit card number.” Now that is CHUTZPAH!!
I use a cordless Panasonic phone on our landline. While it doesn’t have the “white list” feature you requested, it does allow me to block large groups of numbers. I block entire Area Codes and some Prefixes in my own Area Code.
Now that the scammers are using my own AC and Prefix, I have to block more individual numbers. I usually spend a few minutes each week updating the Black list on the phone. I also use NoMoRobo to block known scammers.
I would certainly trust an email from SOS Rex Tillerson. Now, if I had received an email a few years ago from SOS Hillary Clinton, my BS detector would have immediately pegged at eleven.
I guess the caller even claimed to be offended when my husband laughed at him. LOL
Nobody legitimate would ever ask you to download remote control software on to your computer unless you are calling the computer manufacturer (or reseller) for some kind of technical support issue.
It's a scam. You transfer back the money but the original transfer turns out to be phony. You bank cannot recover what you ordered transferred. You did it. So sorry.
Wire transfers can be in any amount. I know, We've done several in the past several months. There is no $10,000 limit. Also, since they were using their currency as the base, that limit would have been in their country's currency, which would NOT have worked out to exactly $10,000 US. So, ergo, scam.
Keep an eye on your checking account for ACH transfers. You have only 48 hours to challenge any ACH transfers after they have been done. After that window expires you are out of luck. All they need is you saying the word “Yes” anywhere in the conversation which they can cut and paste in a recording of them asking your permission to charge your bank account for anything. Bingo. They can drain your account using the ACH charges.
Talk to your bank RIGHT NOW. They have your account numbers.
So many on here just want to call you an idiot as if they could never be scammed. In hind sight I feel pretty stupid for going that far (and hindsight is always 20-20 right?) but I'm glad I recognized before any real damage could be done.
“I called the CC issuing bank and they told me that the $1 seems to have been the way the merchant validated it was a real credit card. I don’t actually get charged the $1, only the immediately succeeding transaction for $56 for the fill-up. The security person I talked to thought this was all normal. Seemed weird to me.”
That’s how gas stations and other merchants have been doing it with me for years.
Interesting...I’ve never seen the $1 transactions on the statements, so didn’t know that was going on behind the scenes. This is the first time that the $1 transaction raised a security alert for me.
No need for them to call back now. You already gave them access to your computer when you downloaded their malware.
You need to change all your passwords NOW, and scrub that malicious program from your machine. Get with your bank immediately, and cancel all your cards and banking passwords.
You've got no time to spare. Do it now.
The IRS never calls about that stuff. When you get these call you have free license to fire them up. Ask them stuff like what’s mohammeds favorite position when he’s having a swine shagging contest, how many Isis trogs there mom can do in a night... get imaginative, you might get lucky and one of them might stroke out...
Good, good and GREAT
YIKES!
Nor will any legitimate business EVER need your login or password. Never!
That is not compeletely true. I worked for Turbo Tax and we were able to get them to show us their screens so we could help them with problems.
But of course we didn't have access to their whole computer or bank accts.
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