Yesterday at about 1845 I was reading something on twitter when I suddenly got a pop up and a female voice saying my computer had been infested with a virus which would be activated in one hour and eleven minutes unless I called a telephone number which was showing in the pop up to talk to a Microsoft technician who would help me rectify the problem! Being a suspicious sort of guy, I didn't phone the number, but tried to close the tab but couldn't, tried to close the whole page but couldn't, so in desperation, I unplugged the power, removed the battery and switched off my router and left it like that for well over an hour. I then turned on my router and booted up my laptop with some trepidation, the first thing I checked was my Kaspersky security, it came up green saying my computer was protected with no threats detected. Since then, all seems to be well but it has left me feeling paranoid waiting for it to happen again. Can anyone put my mind at rest?
There are others here with better IT knowledge than me but you were right not to phone MS as its a well known scam. I would make sure your Kapersky is up to date and run a full scan of your pc. Also make sure Windows(?) has all the latest updates. You could google a suitable description of the event eg twitter voice virus warning and see if rhere is any advice there. Above all don't allow anyone access to your pc unless you know and trust them.
The fake Microsoft engineer thing is a favourite for criminals. I enjoy them. We get lots of phone calls from India from people with strong accents but very English names. 'Steve' phoned yesterday. We have several ways of dealing with them in our house. a) My laptop uses an external keyboard due to a fight with a cup of tea that it lost. It is a MacBook, but I use a Windows keyboard (a mate gave it to me). I play friendly, super-compliant, but also super-stupid. And so it starts: Steve: Hello, am I talking to Mr **********? Me: Yes, good morning. S: Hello, I am calling from Microsoft Team to tell you that a report shows your computer has been infected by a virus. Me: (in horror) Oh, no! You're kidding? S: I'm sorry, no, Mr ***********, there is a virus... Me: (interrupting, very anxious) What should I do about it? Steve: Are you facing your computer? Me: Yes. S: OK, can you see the Windows key on your keyboard? Me: Yes, I can. S: Press that and press the R key at the same time. Me: Right, fine, I'm doing that. S: OK, you should see a box has appeared on your screen. Me: No. S: (surprised) What can you see on the screen? Me: Nothing. It's black. S: Is your computer turned on? Me: No. S: OK, so turn on your computer. Me: Oh, right, give me a moment, it takes a while. (My Apple turns on in about 20 seconds, and it's old, but I've known Windows computers take minutes. I wait a couple of minutes. I ask about the weather, thank them for helping me with my virus problem, are they at the start of their shift or at the end, how many people have they helped today - usual minicab questions.) Me: OK, we're up and running. What do I have to press? S: Please press the Windows key... Me: Which one is that again? S: The key with the Windows logo... Me: Got it, yes, pressing that. S: Now press the R key... at the same time. Me: (trying to sound like an amateur defusing a bomb via remote instructions "Cut the blue wire" sort of thing) OK, yes, I'm now pressing those two keys. S: You can now see a box come up on your screen. Me: No. Sorry. S: What can you see on your screen? Me: Well, it's a picture of my wife and children on the beach last year. S: Very nice, Mr ***********, but what happened when you pressed the keys? Did you press them at the same time? You must press and hold down the Windows key, then press the R key. Me: (indignant) But that's what I did. S: So what happened? Me: The screen refreshed. (Pause. He thinks.) S: Press those keys again, holding down the Windows key all the time, then press the R key. Me: (a little hurt but still trying to be helpful) OK, done that. S: Do you have a box now? Me: No, it refreshed again. (Pause. He has the marlin wanting to jump on the boat, what's going wrong? Meanwhile, I've had time to think too.) Me: Does it matter what type of computer it is? S: You have a Windows computer? Me: No, it's a MacBook. S: You said you had a Windows key on your keyboard! Me: I do! You see I spilt a cup of tea on the computer last year, but I reacted quickly turned it on its end so it could drain and I put it in a bag of rice for a week. Since then, amazingly, the computer is fine and everything on it, but my keyboard is dead. So I plug in an old Windows keyboard I have and... Steve? Steve? Are you still there? SILENCE. ---------------------------- Or b) I quickly give the phone to my 8 year-old, who is fully briefed on this, and a mischievous little bugger. He turns it straight to speakerphone so I can make sure he's alright. He adopts strange Slavic dialect at this point for some reason and answers "Yes" to everything they say. You will whizz through their script like this. His record is 22 yeses! Towards the end the yes answers become incredibly funny. I strongly recommend this action. Sounds irresponsible but I think it's important in terms of e-safety, and general world-savvyness, for kids to realise there's bad people out there who will lie to you to exploit you. Actually, the callers often find this approach funny too and start laughing as the call becomes increasingly absurd. NB Don't phone them, it'll probably be super expensive, this is for unsolicited fraudulent callers. Obviously don't actually do anything they say in reality if you do have a Windows computer. Also, I am absolutely not Mickey-taking them because of their country of origin, this is merely me wasting their time so they aren't speaking to someone vulnerable.
I have had this on several occasions over the years. I have always shut down the computer, I have found that is the only way to close the window, and never ( touch wood ) had a problem later on. My golden rule is never do anything the window wants you to do, and to shut down the computer straight away.
You did the right thing. Always close the browser immediatly, don't even click any cancel button or 'do you want to leave page' button as they can be part of the fake. So close browser, turn off devise, can't help to take battery out. I found this happened to me a number of times when on one particular site. It hasn't happened recently.
Mrs HF is a now "retired" IT engineer and she says that the big OFF button was the correct decision if turning everything off for so long was a bit overkill. Apart from AV and firewall do you have anti malware on your pc, e.g. Malwarebytes? Might be worth installing the free version off the net, I have this on all my compatible devices.
Luckily I have not had that problem but boy do I geta lot of spam telling me theyhave the order / invoice/ plans I rdered (not) and sometimes you nearly open the e-mail by mistake. I never answer any requests for info by phone or e-mail if I havenot instigated it. Recently had a call fro Amex about a card - turned out it was genuine but even then I phoned the number on mycard not the number they gave me on the phone. It always irritates me when they phone you and then ask you to prove who you are.
I love this. You do it much better than I do. We use a Mac at home but we have an old Windows machine which is in the garage and hasn't been used in years. You can guess the rest.
My son has a similar routine when he answers such calls - he speaks in mock Doric. Lots of 'aye','fit eens at?' and 'far's at?' They usually hang up. Which is what I do when I answer the calls, without saying a word.
Thank you one and all for your help and advice. I've just seen this on fb and it sums up my technical ability perfectly! please log in to view this image
Everyone has already sort of told you what to do, it's just a popup in a browser window. Try getting a different version of Adblock, there are better ones out there.
I'm just worried the cheeky little sod will answer in Slavic tones when I ring him as a grown up. When your son picks up and knows it's you does he answer in Doric?