The following was written by a client of ours who was kind enough to share his experience as the victim of a common computer scam. 

 

Last week I was almost a total victim of a "tech support scam." I'm not the first person nor the last person to experience this category of assault on one's computer security. I am a client of CEO Computers in Encino, and I rely upon Jamshid and Mohamed for all my IT services. They are the good guys.

 

I was called on phone by a man purporting to be with a firm engaged by Microsoft to fix certain problems with Word program that had been reported recently by my computer to Microsoft. He sounded quite professional, much like Jamshid or Mohamed who talk with me about my computer issues. He asked me to turn my computer on and he would be able to show me evidence of tampering from aggressive "bad guys". I complied, and he guided me to technical sites on my computer that I had never seen before. He showed me "evidence" of bad coding that looked reasonably threatening. He wanted to show me more, but I began to have trouble following his directions. So he kindly offered to let him connect to my computer from his location and take over operation of my computer -something that both J and M have done for me. When he got on, he started moving around very quickly, and before long I began to see long streams of computer code rolling down my monitor screen. He explained that he was doing analysis of the items that had been implanted by the "bad guys" and would have to be removed. In fact, he said, the situation was so grave that he would have to give me a newly updated version of Microsoft Windows 7 that would work much better and resist intrusions.

 

That sounded good to me. But then he wanted me to buy one of three tech support plans for 2, 4 or 6 years at prices of $299, $349 or $399. When I said that I did not want to buy any tech support plan without talking first with my own IT guy, he just hung up. That's when I realized that the guy was a scammer. I'm still not sure whether he was copying my hard drive while claiming to be looking for malware. I'm worried enough that I spent a lot of time changing my passwords and changing my bank account numbers.

 

First, I called the police. They told me to call the FBI. FBI took the information from me, but told me to call the Federal Trade Commission. When I did that, the FTC person informed me that I had fallen for the classic "tech support scam". It's very common. When FTC gets enough evidence, they can go after the perpetrators. 

 

(Name withheld for privacy)

 

 Our client also generously provided the following additional information:

 
Click here for TECH SUPPORT SCAMS 

 

Click here for DEFENDANT IN TECH SUPPORT SCHEME AGREES TO SETTLE

Few things are as frustrating as struggling to plug in a USB cable only to realize on the ninth try that you were plugging it in the wrong way.  Well, it seems the technology gods have been listening to the cries of the masses, as the USB implementers Forum, the folks behind the USB standard, have announced a new version of USB connector that 's impossible to plug in the wrong way.

USB Type-C is a reversible cable that sports the same male connector on both ends, so you nevr have to futz with figuring out what end plugs into your computer and what end connects to your device.  What's more, like Apple's Lighting connector, you can plug the adapter into your device without having to flip it over two or three times.

The USB-If says the new Type-C will run at the same speed as USB 3.0 and support scaleable charging.  And thanks to its small size, device makers will be able to create thinner, more compact devices.  A slight clicking noise will let people know when they've plugged in their Type-C adapter.