I got scammed

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I got scammed

Post by TANGODANCER » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:09 pm

Starting this thread as a confession of naivety and a warning to others:

Some time back in March I got a flashing lights and ringing bells panel jump up on my pc warning me I had a whole pile of viruses, some trojans, on it. It appeared to come from Windows, carried the Windows logo and advised me to delete them all as my unit was in danger of crashing. When I tried to do this it activated a site that wanted money for a years protection. Foolishly,( very) and not being your most advanced pc user, I panicked a little and paid sixty something dollars over the internet on a supposedly secure site. The problem disappeared but has now come back. We checked the site on my wife's laptop and discovered that the site "Security Central" is a pure scam. Meantime, it turns out, they have taken another payment out in April a total of £100 in all.

We've contacted our bank and cancelled my card (also contacted Visa who reckon they'll get the money back, thankfully) but I am totally at fault for being more than a little nieve. I'm now trying to find out how to delete the programme which, apparently, jumps in on the back of Windows. As I said, this is just a warning in case anyone else gets this nonesense fired at them. Don't get bitten as I did.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by seanworth » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:14 pm

I've had that. Knew something was fishy from the start, and what I thought was my security page was simply a webpage that looked like my security page. Luckily I did not click any of the buttons requested of me and did a few anti virus scans and ad aware scans to make sure all was cleared up. Can see how people are easily fooled though, especially during the panic of seeing all of the viruses flashing on their screen.

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Re: I got scammed

Post by TANGODANCER » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:20 pm

The bxstards even told me that my spyware program "Spybot" which is fine for getting rid of nuisance ads programmes was infected with a trojan. I've since found out you can get out of it by clicking the "Continue unprotected" button because there are no infections there anyway. Now my card's blocked it may disappear.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by thebish » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:31 pm

My F-i-L got clobbered by this a while ago - he gets clobbered by EVERYTHING as he believes EVERYTHING that appears on his screen...

anyway - I removed it (and many other trojans) with Gridinsoft

it's not totally free - BUT - it has a fully functioning (unrestricted) FREE trial download which will deal with your immediate problem.

you can download it here:

http://gridinsoft.com/downloads.php

(you want the Trojan Killer under "Trial Software")

you can then delete the program if you like - or decide you like it and buy it for more permanent protection.

there are (of course) many other trojan killers out there - some of them real - some of them not! this is simply the one that I know dealt with "security central".

if you are nervous and lack confidence - the whole process of downloading it, installing it, updating it and using it is here in this video with gentle calming music!

http://remove-malwares.blogspot.com/201 ... ow-to.html

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Re: I got scammed

Post by dave1980 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:34 pm

Download and install malwarebytes

http://www.malwarebytes.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; that should shift it.

It's free but they also do a paid version for round the clock protection

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Re: I got scammed

Post by TANGODANCER » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:35 pm

Cheers Bish and Dave. I have Virgin Media security and my pc is totally clean now. Trojans etc were never really the problem, just the thought of them instilled by these scam merchants. End of day the fault was mine for falling for it.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by thebish » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:36 pm

TANGODANCER wrote:Cheers Bish and Dave. I have Virgin Media security and my pc is totally clean now. Trojans etc were never really the problem, just the thought of them instilled by these scam merchants. End of day the fault was mine for falling for it.

ahh - sorry - thought you said you were still trying to find out how to delete the programme...

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Re: I got scammed

Post by TANGODANCER » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:38 pm

thebish wrote:
TANGODANCER wrote:Cheers Bish and Dave. I have Virgin Media security and my pc is totally clean now. Trojans etc were never really the problem, just the thought of them instilled by these scam merchants. End of day the fault was mine for falling for it.

ahh - sorry - thought you said you were still trying to find out how to delete the programme...
No, don't be sorry, you were right, and if it comes back I'll take your advice.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by Lord Kangana » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:40 pm

Its worthwhile posting the info anyway. I had one of those invasions a while back, they have you scratching your head for a minute. Luckily the resident techie at work sorted it out in a couple of minutes, as it had slightly altered my internet settings and tried to install itself.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by thebish » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:41 pm

a year or so back there was a worse one around - I forget what it was called - but it operated on the same principle - a scary pop-up that told you your PC was under attack... not surprisingly - my F-in-L caught it...

problem with that one was that the bugger recognised all attempts to download trojan-killers and blocked them from download! - even if (as i tried) I downloaded them onto a clean mammary stick from a clean PC and then tried the run them on the infected one.

the only way I found I could remove it was by using the Windows roll-back feature - I rolled the pc back to a week before he clicked on the trojan - and (though it was a last resort before reformatting and I didn't expect it to work) - it did!

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Re: I got scammed

Post by Lord Kangana » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:43 pm

Ok, so where do you find the windows roll back thingy?
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Re: I got scammed

Post by Bruce Rioja » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:45 pm

I run MacAfee, which seems to take care of everything. Slows everything up when it's updating something though, which it seems to have to do fairly often.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by thebish » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:46 pm

Lord Kangana wrote:Ok, so where do you find the windows roll back thingy?
that depends which version of windows you are using....

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Re: I got scammed

Post by Raven » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:47 pm

Had a relative with same problem, could not get it off their PC, could not download virus, malware programs etc, in the end got some onto another PC, copied them across on a wee stick thing and it worked!

They now have a virus protection (did not have it even though they were told to)
My dog (proper 57) had his anal glands emptied once and yes the smell is something to behold!!

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Re: I got scammed

Post by Lord Kangana » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:48 pm

thebish wrote:
Lord Kangana wrote:Ok, so where do you find the windows roll back thingy?
that depends which version of windows you are using....
Vista.

Go.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by thebish » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:48 pm

Bruce Rioja wrote:I run MacAfee, which seems to take care of everything. Slows everything up when it's updating something though, which it seems to have to do fairly often.
bloatware!

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Re: I got scammed

Post by Bruce Rioja » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:49 pm

thebish wrote:
Bruce Rioja wrote:I run MacAfee, which seems to take care of everything. Slows everything up when it's updating something though, which it seems to have to do fairly often.
bloatware!
Que?
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Re: I got scammed

Post by Lord Kangana » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:51 pm

I've got MacAfee and it still happened.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by Raven » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:52 pm

It slows your PC down I think.

I had that trouble with Norton and it used to let anything through so changed to Panda on advice of our local PC expert.
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Re: I got scammed

Post by thebish » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:56 pm

Bruce Rioja wrote:
thebish wrote:
Bruce Rioja wrote:I run MacAfee, which seems to take care of everything. Slows everything up when it's updating something though, which it seems to have to do fairly often.
bloatware!
Que?
bloatware - massively resource-hungry programmes that do a fairly small job (badly) whilst in the process slowing down your pc, taking up massive amounts of space and stuffing your machine with huge memory-sapping bolt-on programmes that you will never need....

(also applies - possibly slightly more - to Norton)

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