This sounds very suspicious to me, can anyone confirm it's a con please?

IggyStooge · 12 Jan 2018 at 11:30

Hi guys,

I had a phone call from my auntie earlier saying she had been called by someone claiming to be from AOL who said she needed to do something on her PC or they would disconnect her internet. I actually didn't think my auntie was with AOL anymore to be honest but she didn't seem to be sure who she was with when I asked her.

She is 73 years old and only knows the basics of using a PC. She said she was on the phone to a man for an hour trying to do what he asked her to do but she couldn't as she didn't understand. She was asked something regarding ALPEMIX which I had not heard off. I just looked it up and it is something used for remote accessing a PC. Would this be a way for a conman to gain access to her system to look for personal info? The whole thing sounded like a con to me from the off and I said I would try to find out for her. If it is she's been very lucky she didn't know what she was doing.

Can anyone confirm that this is an attempt at a con please?

Thank you very much for any info you can give me.

Mr Badger · 12 Jan 2018 at 11:32

Sounds extremely dubious - I would be surprised if it wasn't a con.

something daft already!! · 12 Jan 2018 at 11:32

Its a con, without a doubt.

Orcvader · 12 Jan 2018 at 11:47

A con. Even if she did have AOL as an ISP, they will never call you to do something on the PC, if something needs to be done they can easily access the ISP supplied router and do whatever they need from there. But even then that's very rare unless you call them first to fix an issue with your internet.

An easy way to check, she can go here to check her ISP: https://www.whoismyisp.org/

IggyStooge · 12 Jan 2018 at 12:06

Thank you very much for the help guys. I will now attempt to explain it to my auntie, I just hope she hasn't give them any information over the phone that she hasn't told me about.

Randomface74 · 12 Jan 2018 at 12:08

Just by virtue of it being a phone call there's about 99% it's a scam.

The fact that it's blatantly a scam makes up the other 1%.

100% scam confirmed.

IggyStooge · 12 Jan 2018 at 12:25

Thank you. If only my aunties generation were as suspicious as mine.

james.miller · 12 Jan 2018 at 12:29

IggyStooge said:
Hi guys,

I had a phone call from my auntie earlier saying she had been called by someone claiming to be from AOL who said she needed to do something on her PC [SNIP]

Scam.

skyripper · 12 Jan 2018 at 12:33

"She is 73 years old and only knows the basics of using a PC. She said she was on the phone to a man for an hour trying to do what he asked her to do but she couldn't as she didn't understand."

Probably important to find out what she actually did do, then you can take action to undo it.

Rannoch · 12 Jan 2018 at 12:34

Definite scam.

I hate those sods.

Blackjack Davy · 12 Jan 2018 at 13:07

Its a scam. They've targeted my 75 year old mother twice (once got as far as opening an account which got flagged as suspicious and that was that). I had a cold caller myself yesterday they must be gearing up for another go at it.

IggyStooge said:
Thank you very much for the help guys. I will now attempt to explain it to my auntie, I just hope she hasn't give them any information over the phone that she hasn't told me about.

If they claim to be from a bank you can tell her to phone the bank directly and say did you such and such was wrong with her account, she didn't quite believe it until the bank told her it was a scam.

TallPaul1878 · 12 Jan 2018 at 13:14

With older relatives I've gotten them to make sure they've bought a portable hard drive so that they can save their photographs and music to it just in case.

Sometimes they call me up and their PCs are in such a state that the only option is to wipe it all and do a fresh install.

At least with them saving photos and stuff to a portable they aren't devastated when it gets wiped once a year.

jpaul · 12 Jan 2018 at 14:26

maybe system log can help to show what (hopefully nothing) was done.

For older relations the likes of logmein can be helpful for remote admin help, although enabling that can be a weakness itself.

I would like to find a checklist to print off to give to relatives so that they could identify scams -
although maybe it is short and should be
"Ignore anyone ringing up to help with your computer" + maybe "ask them to post the information to you - w/o disclosing your address" ?

The phone companies should be obliged to fix the problems where someone can hold the line, and equally the government info adds, and Barclay's with
their 'Digital Guardian" campaign is not very helpful.

(There must be enough mayhem created by the windows 10 updates alone)

Steampunk · 12 Jan 2018 at 14:30

IggyStooge said:
Can anyone confirm that this is an attempt at a con please?

Thank you very much for any info you can give me.

Yes, a thousand times this is a con. They are trying to get remote access to her PC so they can empty her bank account.

Steampunk · 12 Jan 2018 at 14:35

Blackjack Davy said:
If they claim to be from a bank you can tell her to phone the bank directly and say did you such and such was wrong with her account, she didn't quite believe it until the bank told her it was a scam.

You have to be careful of this, because a caller can hold the line open for a while, and when you "call your bank", they can not only answer the call pretending to be your bank, they've even been known to play DTMF tones and use another person to answer the call and pass you back to the scammer who now has another bit of fake authority to convince the mark that they really are a legitimate call.

Use another line, deliberately misdial your bank to see if you can still get through, or leave it a couple of hours before calling your bank.

AHarvey · 12 Jan 2018 at 15:36

If she doesn't know anything about computers make sure she's just using a general user account, no admin access and lock it right down. It's doubtful she'll need to install anything anyway.

IggyStooge · 12 Jan 2018 at 16:03

In the past I have visited regularly and kept an eye on the pc and make sure updates were done, ran scans, back up pictures etc. But I've not been able to go as often the last couple of years, I have always stressed the importance of updates and backing up files etc. to her but I can only do so much. She's got sons and daughters who should be ensuring her online safety really. It's been interesting to read some of the points made here. Next time I'm there I might suggest a fresh install as it's not been done for at least a year as far as I know.

AHarvey · 12 Jan 2018 at 16:09

IggyStooge said:
In the past I have visited regularly and kept an eye on the pc and make sure updates were done, ran scans, back up pictures etc. But I've not been able to go as often the last couple of years, I have always stressed the importance of updates and backing up files etc. to her but I can only do so much. She's got sons and daughters who should be ensuring her online safety really. It's been interesting to read some of the points made here. Next time I'm there I might suggest a fresh install as it's not been done for at least a year as far as I know.

Always good to set up a simple online backup to dropbox for basic docs, google drive back up for photos/videos. Should be enough.

I'd also add the URL's of common remote access software to the host file, firewall and router. Even if she does fall for it it'll make it a lot harder for them to connect.

ron3003 · 12 Jan 2018 at 19:01

Steampunk said:
You have to be careful of this, because a caller can hold the line open for a while, and when you "call your bank", they can not only answer the call pretending to be your bank, they've even been known to play DTMF tones and use another person to answer the call and pass you back to the scammer who now has another bit of fake authority to convince the mark that they really are a legitimate call.

Use another line, deliberately misdial your bank to see if you can still get through, or leave it a couple of hours before calling your bank.

BT have changed the way ended calls work since last year so that now the line gets dropped after around ten seconds even if the person on the other end doesn't hang up.