Nothing gets your attention faster than turning on your computer and finding a flashing warning “your computer has been infected by malware due to material of a pornographic nature.”
Say what?
Your immediate reflex is to close out of it all as fast as your little fingers can type and just start over.
You can’t.
The creepy writing on the screen warns you if you ignore the warning, that Microsoft will lock out your account.
It sounds all official and threatening.
What are you to do but call the emergency help line flashing and do it now? (before the RCMP raid)
They kept asking if anyone else uses my computer?
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes... I mean no. Well, my cat can press the buttons, but he's a very innocent cat. He doesn't know what porn is. I barely know what it is!"
I absolutely know what many of you tech-savvy folks are thinking. Don’t do it, it’s a scam. They just want to get your money to fix problems they created in your computer. They ARE the hackers.
Let’s just say, as of today, I am either the biggest stooge in the universe or I have the best protected laptop for the next three years.
I write this not having a clue if I got taken to the cleaners or not.
I expect many, many people have found themselves in a similar situation.
Who do you trust?
I did end up calling the emergency number listed and explaining what I was seeing on the screen. This ended up as a 90-minute session of questions and answers.
Experts have always said, “Don’t let anyone you don’t know take remote control of your computer.”
I heard that warning in my head. However, my computer was virtually on lockdown and I felt like I was negotiating with a hostage taker to release my loved one.
They were tossing around statements like, “You need 12-layer, high-end network protection. It will give you security on all your devices.”
Before you yell out loud, “They had you at protection” — and I was thinking the same thing even as I kept talking to them – here is why I am not sure it was a scam.
I was transferred to three different people who were, in fact, doing something on the computer and showing me step by step what they were doing, allegedly.
I was, at each stage, given the technicians name title, employee number and contact numbers. There was a written contract explaining what would be covered. It was all sent via e-mail as they promised. There is a company logo, address, etc. They set important numbers up on my desktop so I can call back in future.
So, if they are the hackers, would they waste all that time and effort or just grab my credit-card number and go?
There were also a few times I was transferred to the person’s supervisor to agree to the work being done.
I have since gotten two follow-up calls to check if I was satisfied and if all was working.
So, I write this to ask these questions.
“What is a person to do?”
“Who do you trust”?
If you don’t have a computer expert in the family or a 10-year-old kid, you are alone in a scary, high-tech world.
It’s a lonely place. It can be an expensive place. You will feel ill-equipped and uneducated. People can easily take advantage.
I still don’t know for sure if I got played or not.
The one technician said, “While I work on your computer, you will have time to go and have a glass of wine, ma’am.”
Now, THAT I understood.
Cheers!
