Public Service Announcement

Consider this a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Yesterday evening I went to Log into my blog and out of no where pops up this box ( with a loud noise I might add ( that said Windows Firewall Warning: Your Computer is infected with Adware/Spyware Virus: Call Microsoft windows Support Services. It went on to say my computer was at risk, blah, blah, blah. I usually click off of these things,( and I am always leery of things like this being a scam). Well, I tried "closing" the message, and Xing it out and Nothing worked. I panicked, so I called the number. Of course I go through the "official" hold queue and am told this call may be recorded, yada, yada, and then a man that speaks very broken English gets on the phone and starts asking me questions about my computer. he has me "run" TeamViewer.com so he can remotely see and control my computer. My gut was saying I was uneasy with this, but I had a weak moment and went through with it. Thank goodness my husband came home when he did and told me to hang up and shut my computer down right away. It was indeed a Scam. I looked the phone # up (something I should have done before I even called) and found it was a call center. My husband called the number again from his phone and asked the guy who he was and he told us he was a "certified Microsoft technician". My husband questioned him on this and the guy said Microsoft doesn't have their own line of technicians so they source out this company. My husband asked for the name and location of the company and the guy told him. It is a place in California. We looked it up and sure enough this place is getting sued by Microsoft. Ok, So what did I do? We ran a complete Virus scan ( I have a really good Virus detection software) My husband told me that if those virus message were real, that it would have come from our virus software, not Microsoft. Everything came back clear, but I was still worried about the fact that he had access to my computer. I don't know if he installed something that let him get in anytime he wanted. I changed ALL my passwords to everything last night. I think his intentions were to just scam me by having me buy his virus protection plan, but you never know what else. I am hoping to take my computer to geek squad today at Best Buy and see what all they suggest. My computer didn't detect anything crazy that should not be here, but I am still concerned by the fact that he was in my computer. Any suggestions on what else to do?

7 comments:

  1. Ugh, what a nightmare! I hope it turns out to be nothing. :(

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  2. So scary! I don't know how he could have gotten into your computer. I wonder if it is your browser? Really, really creepy.

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  3. I've seen those things pop up before and I've gotten a few phone calls from people telling me some kind of BS like that. I would change all of your passwords for everything and watch things where your CC is stored already. Sorry!

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  4. That is scary. Not long ago, I heard they can put something on your computer that lets them use the camera lens to watch you. I covered the lens on my laptop since I don't use it for anything.

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  5. So scary! Hope it works out a-ok!
    Karen @karenlovestorun

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  6. Ugh! I can't help, but this kind of stuff is always so scary. Hope everything turns out okay!

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Fairytales and Fitness is a personal blog authored and edited by us, Meranda and Lacey. The thoughts expressed here represent only our own and are not meant to be taken as professional advice. Please note that our thoughts and opinions change from time to time. We consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind in an ever changing society. Any thoughts and opinions expressed within our out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those we may express today. Some links may contain affiliate links. Some links are just to pages we'd like to share.