Tag Archives: Essay about Scammers

Protecting Yourself, Continued

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            My computer was recently hacked. I received a message from “Microsoft Security” that my system was compromised. Then my computer froze, a blue screen telling me not to turn it off.

            My son-in-law is a techie, so I called him. Because of the blue screen, there was nothing he could do as I had no control over anything. We decided to force turn it off. I did. It looked and operated normally.

            For one day.

            The blue screen returned. “Microsoft Security” called. I believed it was them. They had my personal information: SSN, DOB, full name and home address. They also knew every credit card I owned and where I bank.

            They “helped” me file a report with the Federal Trade Commission. The site they transferred me to looked authentic.

            I was a sucker.

            Once all that was done, thanks to advice from members of my family and good friends that I trust, I did the following: (Not necessarily in this order)

  1. Filed a police report with my local department.
  2. Filed an identity theft report with social security. IdnetifyTheft.gov
  3. Froze our credit so no one could take out a loan in my name. (go to all three major credit reporting agencies. Equifax, Esperian and Transunion
  4. Filed reports with my credit card companies, cancelled those cards and asked for new ones.
  5. Changed all my passwords and user names to incomprehensible combinations.
  6.  Filed a report with the REAL FTC (by the way, the real site is identical with the fake one!)
  7. Filed a report with the FBI Internet Crime Complain Center
  8. Contacted everywhere we have money saved. Most froze our accounts while they ran their own fraud investigations
  9. Had our bank flag our accounts, which turned out to be a good thing as the scammers attempted to steal all our money.
  10. Shared my experience with everyone in the hopes that this wouldn’t happen to them
  11. The scammers attempted to make purchase on Amazon, using my information. I froze Amazon for almost a month.
  12. I looked at past credit card statements to see if there were accounts I might have missed, then changed those accounts as well.

I hope this helps keep you safe.

Steps to Hopefully Stop Scammers

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My computer was recently hacked. A fake message was sent from “Microsoft Security” giving false information. Like a fool, I believed them because my computer had been locked down that morning.

I didn’t realize it was a scam, even when the two different men that I spoke with gave “Anglicized” names but spoke with accents (I don’t want to speculate, but there was a hint of one of the Indian dialects). Both men sounded legitimate. They had my personal information: DOB, SSN, address.

The first man, from the so-called Microsoft Security, transferred me to an “Office” of the FTC. He also sounded legitimate, the site looked real. He took down my story about my computer being hacked. He then told me the FTC would represent me in a DC court. They would assign an attorney.

IF I GAVE THEM MONEY!

That’s when my eyes were opened. This was a scam.