I want to share a true story that happened to a client of mine. I know this is a bit long but please read this though!

Let this be a lesson and a warning to everyone.

I received a call from a client of mine, he left me a voice mail stating that his internet was blocked and he didn’t know what happened.  I called him back upon hearing the voice mail but he didn’t answer the phone.  This started my wheels turning because I was thinking “How in the world could his internet be blocked?”  So, I called him again and left him a message.  Still, in the back of my mind I’m thinking something just isn’t right, but I guess he will call me when he gets a chance.

A few hours later my phone rings and it’s my client.  He proceeds to tell me that he’s not sure what happened but he was trying to get on the internet and he got a message that his internet was blocked and he needed to call a phone number.  In addition, he received that same message on his iPhone, so he decided to call the phone number.  The person he called, gave him his name and gave him a case number so he thought this was truly Apple support. He kept telling me how professional this guy was and he truly believed this was the right thing. Again, to me red flag, Apple doesn’t have anything to do with internet or Microsoft.  He told me he was on the phone with this tech support person for hours and they were on his machine installing a firewall.  I asked him who was on his machine installing a firewall.  He told he spoke to a gentleman named Kevin and he, Kevin was on his machine via Team Viewer, a remote access client, checking his machine and running some tests.  I told him that I didn’t understand how a company knew his internet service was cut off.  So, he explained this to me again.  Still confused, I told him that this didn’t sound right and I’d call him back.  I then called his Internet Service Provider and asked them if they monitored or cut off internet due to a virus. They told me no.  I called him back and told him this isn’t right. Stop this and get your money back.  He insisted this was legit.  I asked him how would anyone from apple support know you had a virus or how would anyone know your internet was blocked?  I explained that in order to know that your service was blocked someone would have to monitor every device you own, and Apple simply does not do that and the only people that can cut off your internet was your internet service provider.  I told him I was on my way over there and he should cancel this immediately and get his money back.  He told me he paid this alleged company with ITUNES cards?  I asked him how much, he told me $300.00.  I then said you paid them in iTunes cards?  What company accepts that for payment?  He said Apple. I told him no way this is right.

When I arrived at my client’s house, I observed that someone was on his PC running a program that looked to me like it was tracing his internet.  It’s called a packet tracer, in other words this program was going to monitor my client’s internet access.  This program would trace his every move on the internet, my client made, record his keystrokes, meaning all passwords. So that if and when he decided to go to his bank account this program would record his user name and password so that whoever this was could gain access to his banking, credit cards and even his identity.  I called the so-called tech support tech “Kevin”.  Now Kevin had a very heavy Indian accent, probably from India or maybe Pakistan, I’m not sure. I asked him who he was and what company he was from.  All he would tell me is that he was Network Support.  I again asked him what was the name of his company and he told me Network Support. I asked to speak to his supervisor, and he told me no.  This was finally becoming clear to my client that this indeed was a scam.  I cut off the remote access immediately.

My suspicion was correct. This so-called company was doing exactly that; recording his keystrokes.  I know this because upon doing  a virus scan, my client uses Viper, it revealed that whoever was on his machine had installed Trojan horse. A Trojan horse can do a lot of damage.  It can record your every keystroke on your computer.  For example, when you access your bank account on the internet, the trojan horse will record your user name and password thereby giving whoever is recording your information access to your bank account, credit card information and even your identity.

I cleaned up the virus and told my client to change is email password and his computer password.  He did that.  I rebooted his machine and the damage was done!  The PC had crashed and would not come back.  I explained to my client that this probably was a result of him letting whoever this was into his PC.  About 2 hours later I got his PC up and running and got his data back.

Moral of the story…

This cost this man $300.00 in iTunes cards plus what he paid me.  And unfortunately, he’s not going to get that money back.  Upon speaking further to my client to try to figure out exactly how this happened I found out the following:

He was expecting a package from Fed Ex which was delayed.  He received what he thought was an email from Fed Ex about his package.  He clicked on the link and this started this entire scam in motion.  What happened is when he clicked on that link it installed what is know as a redirect in his browser to emulate a problem.  In this case it directed him to a page which told him his internet was blocked and he needed to call a number to have the problem resolved.  What he failed to realize is that by calling this number and allowing this criminal on to his machine that this was the scam.  He has his phone service though his Internet company and I asked him if his phone was down.  He said no.  I told him that his internet was never down in the first place and this was all a set up.  His pride was a bit damaged but I explained that this could happen to anyone.

Don’t let this be you!

First thing to understand that the only people that can cut off your internet service is your internet service provider.  The first call you need to make is to them to find out if there is a problem.  Second thing to know is that NO how, NO way, does anyone, Apple, Microsoft or any internet service provider monitor your internet.  Meaning they will NEVER know if you’re infected with a virus.  You have to initiate that call.  Third thing and MOST IMPORTANTLY; NEVER, NEVER allow anyone on to your machine via remote service that you don’t know.  If you call tech support and they want to get on your machine then that’s fine but remember you MUST initiate that call and it should be to either your Internet Service Provider your maybe your own tech support person, No one else.  Any reputable company will never take iTunes cards as payment for anything and any reputable company, if you cancel a service will never give you a problem.

Lastly and I can’t stress this enough, when you go though your email especially when you get something from Fed Ex or USPS, or any company, check the return address on the email.  That will tell you who it’s really from so you don’t get scammed.