Teamviewer scam - beware

echrada said:

A customer of mine have just had someone pull this on them. Someone called her and said there is something wrong with your computer and we need to check it. (She is an oldie with no real knowledge of computer security).

She was told to switch on her machine and walked through how to download Teamviewer. Once they were in, with her permission, they could do what they liked. Luckily she does not do any e-banking. She does however use her card to do e-shopping.

When she was asked to pay for the service over a 'secure line' she did smell a rat and told them to get off her machine. However, they could have left a keystroke trojan in her machine. I have told her to switch her machine off and not use it until I can get there tomorrow to check everything out.

Please take note there are a lot of people out there ready to scam anybody - especially the vulnerable.

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Victek said:

echrada said:

A customer of mine have just had someone pull this on them. Someone called her and said there is something wrong with your computer and we need to check it. (She is an oldie with no real knowledge of computer security).

She was told to switch on her machine and walked through how to download Teamviewer. Once they were in, with her permission, they could do what they liked. Luckily she does not do any e-banking. She does however use her card to do e-shopping.

When she was asked to pay for the service over a 'secure line' she did smell a rat and told them to get off her machine. However, they could have left a keystroke trojan in her machine. I have told her to switch her machine off and not use it until I can get there tomorrow to check everything out.

Please take note there are a lot of people out there ready to scam anybody - especially the vulnerable.

Click to expand...

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I'm curious as to how these scammers identify themselves on the phone so people will believe they're legitimate? How do they even know you have a computer?

Click to expand...

Victek said:

echrada said:

A customer of mine have just had someone pull this on them. Someone called her and said there is something wrong with your computer and we need to check it. (She is an oldie with no real knowledge of computer security).

She was told to switch on her machine and walked through how to download Teamviewer. Once they were in, with her permission, they could do what they liked. Luckily she does not do any e-banking. She does however use her card to do e-shopping.

When she was asked to pay for the service over a 'secure line' she did smell a rat and told them to get off her machine. However, they could have left a keystroke trojan in her machine. I have told her to switch her machine off and not use it until I can get there tomorrow to check everything out.

Please take note there are a lot of people out there ready to scam anybody - especially the vulnerable.

Click to expand...

.
I'm curious as to how these scammers identify themselves on the phone so people will believe they're legitimate? How do they even know you have a computer?

Click to expand...

echrada said:

Victek said:

echrada said:

A customer of mine have just had someone pull this on them. Someone called her and said there is something wrong with your computer and we need to check it. (She is an oldie with no real knowledge of computer security).

She was told to switch on her machine and walked through how to download Teamviewer. Once they were in, with her permission, they could do what they liked. Luckily she does not do any e-banking. She does however use her card to do e-shopping.

When she was asked to pay for the service over a 'secure line' she did smell a rat and told them to get off her machine. However, they could have left a keystroke trojan in her machine. I have told her to switch her machine off and not use it until I can get there tomorrow to check everything out.

Please take note there are a lot of people out there ready to scam anybody - especially the vulnerable.

Click to expand...

.
I'm curious as to how these scammers identify themselves on the phone so people will believe they're legitimate? How do they even know you have a computer?

Click to expand...

Apparently they just try random numbers as mostly every household has a computer these days and whoever falls for their patter is the next victim.

Click to expand...

echrada said:

A customer of mine have just had someone pull this on them. Someone called her and said there is something wrong with your computer and we need to check it. (She is an oldie with no real knowledge of computer security).

She was told to switch on her machine and walked through how to download Teamviewer. Once they were in, with her permission, they could do what they liked. Luckily she does not do any e-banking. She does however use her card to do e-shopping.

When she was asked to pay for the service over a 'secure line' she did smell a rat and told them to get off her machine. However, they could have left a keystroke trojan in her machine. I have told her to switch her machine off and not use it until I can get there tomorrow to check everything out.

Please take note there are a lot of people out there ready to scam anybody - especially the vulnerable.

Click to expand...

DocBrown said:

TeamViewer is safe when used properly. Normally each time the program is run it sets up a new random password needed. Unless you set it to run at windows startup with a permanent password. This can always be changed to a new password. As long as TeamViewer is not running, you should be safe. Careful who you give out the password to if you have it running.

See my TeamViewer Tutotial at the bottom of my SIG :ar:

Any questions, just ask.

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echrada said:

A customer of mine have just had someone pull this on them. Someone called her and said there is something wrong with your computer and we need to check it. (She is an oldie with no real knowledge of computer security).

She was told to switch on her machine and walked through how to download Teamviewer. Once they were in, with her permission, they could do what they liked. Luckily she does not do any e-banking. She does however use her card to do e-shopping.

When she was asked to pay for the service over a 'secure line' she did smell a rat and told them to get off her machine. However, they could have left a keystroke trojan in her machine. I have told her to switch her machine off and not use it until I can get there tomorrow to check everything out.

Please take note there are a lot of people out there ready to scam anybody - especially the vulnerable.

Click to expand...

DeaconFrost said:

I'm sorry, but if a person believes it is Microsoft calling, out-of-the-blue, unsolicited, then in some ways, they deserve to be taken advantage of. That's hard for me to say, because I hate scammers as much as any other type of person, but it becoming the way I feel. People hide behind a lack of computing knowledge to cover up their lack of common sense and reasoning.

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JMH said:

DeaconFrost said:

I'm sorry, but if a person believes it is Microsoft calling, out-of-the-blue, unsolicited, then in some ways, they deserve to be taken advantage of. That's hard for me to say, because I hate scammers as much as any other type of person, but it becoming the way I feel. People hide behind a lack of computing knowledge to cover up their lack of common sense and reasoning.

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This of course is not a politically correct thing to say but I tend to agree with you....
WWW education, safety & all that implies is the responsibility of each person venturing into the ether.

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chalasanikiran said:

Hi there

This is kiran chalasani i asked one question about teanviewer. now my quetion is, we are actually sharing router. so, does it make any problem to other systeam.

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