New scam?

[Bill Ferris]

A favorite one is "This is Microsoft. Your computer is infected! PLEASE PRESS THE RETURN BUTTON TO FIX!!!"

And the" Do not turn off your computer" with siren sounds & verbal commands, flashing warnings for the ransomware infection !!
Startled the Heck out me for a handful of seconds, before I grasped the situation and reacted !

Happened briefly to me during a Win.10 reinstall before I thoughtlessly let all the backlog of updates/patches/fixes run before I stupidly tried to briefly impatiently went on line to get a free version of some software that I stupidly didn`t put on a flash drive to directly install from.

I knew what to do, so I just power button hard turned off the laptop waited a few minutes, then powered back up forced Win. 10 OS & EDGE browser to fully update, then preformed a full off line Win 10 OS security scan.

Never had any breach issues with any computer before or after that episode !

 

[Mr Boochie]

And the" Do not turn off your computer" with siren sounds & verbal commands, flashing warnings for the ransomware infection !!
Startled the Heck out me for a handful of seconds, before I grasped the situation and reacted !

A guy at work let his brother-in-law use his computer to play games one weekend. And this exact scam popped up. He pressed the link, and POOF, in minutes, the computer got locked.

He went down to the Target to buy gift cards (he said in the hundreds of $$$) to get his computer back. He never did. He had to reformat (lose everything) and start over.

That Bro-in-law never used the computer, again.

 

[Bill Ferris]

A guy at work let his brother-in-law use his computer to play games one weekend. And this exact scam popped up. He pressed the link, and POOF, in minutes, the computer got locked.

He went down to the Target to buy gift cards (he said in the hundreds of $$$) to get his computer back. He never did. He had to reformat (lose everything) and start over.

That Bro-in-law never used the computer, again.

I was aware of this ransomware scam, as a few yrs. back it happened to my long time computer challenged friend, and stupidly, he didn`t call me for what to do !
Yeah they milked him out of like $12 grand, after he gave them all kinds of financial/personal info. that he was so ashamed of getting scammed, I didn`t learn about it for months afterwards, and he told me I needed to go through his tower to clean it out of the buggers he felt was in it !

I just pulled the drive and nuked it with Deban full NSA level format 4 times, then donated a 500 Gig SSD, reinstalled the VISTA OS disc that came with the BB purchased TOWER system and connected up the original spinning rust drive for overflow file storage.
Did full patches/security updates, gave it back to him and until he passed away in Feb. of 2024 he never complained to me of anymore issues.

His unzipping his fly security scam crisis came about from his very infrequent use of the tower after he purchased a smart phone, and even though I cautioned him many, many times to always manually force the O`S updates completely before wandering around the internet because of the ever increasing infrequent use of the machine, but apparently he was forgetfully impatient one time and got taken big time !

Excellent guitar player, though !

 

[Mr Boochie]

The problem, these scammers can be more clever than end-users. Even those who think they know it all (or at least enough to keep out of trouble).

Like that woman who almost flushed her entire life savings for some Bitcoin ATM fraud. Even the police had a hard time stopping her from using that ATM. Later, she seemed so "normal."

 

[Bill Ferris]

The problem, these scammers can be more clever than end-users. Even those who think they know it all (or at least enough to keep out of trouble).

Like that woman who almost flushed her entire life savings for some Bitcoin ATM fraud. Even the police had a hard time stopping her from using that ATM. Later, she seemed so "normal."

Get rich quick, easy money mentality drawn to ignorant fools, and they tend to scream the loudest when they finally realize they`ve allowed themselves to be cleaned out !
Hard time having sympathy with all the public warnings broadcast, via multiple sources !

 

[Mr Boochie]

Get rich quick, easy money mentality drawn to ignorant fools, and they tend to scream the loudest when they finally realize they`ve allowed themselves to be cleaned out !
Hard time having sympathy with all the public warnings broadcast, via multiple sources !

Either that or being blackmailed.

 

[usedto]

Anesthesia is one of the worst things that can happen to elderly. When my late mother had surgery in her late 70s, we could see the difference. Luckily she agreed to turn all of her finances to her children. She had everything she needed, and passed without any financial issues.

I have the same plans for myself. I will gladly turn over my finances to my children when the time comes.

 

[Bill Ferris]

Anesthesia is one of the worst things that can happen to elderly. When my late mother had surgery in her late 70s, we could see the difference. Luckily she agreed to turn all of her finances to her children. She had everything she needed, and passed without any financial issues.

I have the same plans for myself. I will gladly turn over my finances to my children when the time comes.

No children, or wife, usedto, but chose have my 3 close long time trusted friends (including my "long suffering" 5 day awk. housekeeper/caregiver that are not only the executors & recipients of my trust/will, they are also indicated in it as the durable power of attorneys, with medical as well, with clearly written included DNR (do not resuscitate)

My long time financial advisor started pressuring me to get my affairs in complete legal order, as my net worth portfolio started to became substantial due to his excellent management, well over 10 yrs back, to keep my 3 sisters at that time (now only 2) hands out of it !

 

[DesertRatt]

The Internet is a crime platform, and it was made so deliberately. That is to say, it certainly could be totally secure, and it should be, but that would not have provided the Golden Eggs desired by fintech manipulators.

Strange as it seems, authorities (as broadly as one can imagine) have pretty much ceded all safety controls for technology to the patent owners and inventors, and deployers. Ex. The POTS phone system of 1970 was far more secure than our current cell phone system. WTF?
Auto-dialers that can make a million calls, spoofing source phone members, could easily be blocked and prevented , but service providers make money on that crime. Cell phones could easily be made highly secure, but the software companies that own our privacy don't want that. The phone is now the major source of ad revenue. Can you imagine having to listen to ads on your telephone in 1970?

 

[Mr Boochie]

Auto-dialers that can make a million calls, spoofing source phone members, could easily be blocked and prevented , but service providers make money on that crime. Cell phones could easily be made highly secure, but the software companies that own our privacy don't want that. The phone is now the major source of ad revenue. Can you imagine having to listen to ads on your telephone in 1970?

How about these? Scammer's Heaven Machines.

 

[DesertRatt]

How about these? Scammer's Heaven Machines.

In the broadest sense I can make available to me - society in general, is being turned into a criminal paradise, because once justice is ignored and deplored by the ruling classes, the affront flows steadily downhill and fills every crack and void within every institution in the society. That's where we are today. I am hoping it is a pendulum course - and soon it will begin to swing back the other way, but I'll probably be dead by then.

 

[Mr Boochie]

In the broadest sense I can make available to me - society in general, is being turned into a criminal paradise, because once justice is ignored and deplored by the ruling classes, the affront flows steadily downhill and fills every crack and void within every institution in the society. That's where we are today. I am hoping it is a pendulum course - and soon it will begin to swing back the other way, but I'll probably be dead by then.

I dunno about that pendulum. There's too much money at stake.

BTW... just like Target gift cards, Bitcoin transactions are 99% untraceable.

 

[DesertRatt]

Bitcoin transactions are 99% untraceable.

I'm no expert at all on Bitcoin - but I thought I heard that all governments can use NSA tools to track a Bitcoin transaction? I dunno - just reciting what I thought I heard.

One thing is for certain, an awful lot of people have been "rug pulled" in Bitcoin scams.

 

[Mr Boochie]

I'm no expert at all on Bitcoin - but I thought I heard that all governments can use NSA tools to track a Bitcoin transaction? I dunno - just reciting what I thought I heard.

One thing is for certain, an awful lot of people have been "rug pulled" in Bitcoin scams.

Maybe on paper. It's becoming one of the go-to ways to launder drug money. So, there must be ways around these guardrails.