The gentleman (and I use that term very loosely) accessed my laptop to 'fix' the problem showing the trojan in my system called 'toepig' and then he googling it to add to the drama and convince me it was genuine. This happened to me yesterday evening whilst installing Norton, it said it had been installed successfully but there was an error and provided and error code and a toll free telephone number to call to fix the issue. Those companies will take no greater pleasure than in shutting down someone exploiting their potential customers.įound this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on Twitter to read more of the exclusive content we post. If you come across a fake anti-virus alert, collect screenshots, audio, and whatever other data you can document about the messages, and then post those files on the affected anti-virus firm’s forum. After identifying any abuse of the Norton or Symantec brand, we pursue our rights and defend our intellectual property, and where necessary will work with law enforcement.”Īs this case clearly illustrates, tech support scammers are scums of the earth that prey upon unsuspecting users and extort massive amounts of money from them in exchange (perhaps) for anti-virus software that they could purchase at a fraction of the cost.įortunately, we can help in the fight against these scams. “While we can’t say conclusively who was behind this particular scam, we can confirm that this particular site has been taken down and that we are also in the process of terminating our partner agreement with Silurian. A spokesman for the security giant has since released a statement on the matter. Segura reported his discovery to Symantec. The fake website also contained a number of Silurian documents, including a letter formalizing the company’s reseller partnership with Symantec: After investigating the tech support scam’s website, Segura found the name of an employee who was also employed at Silurian Tech Support (a fact confirmed through a LinkedIn search), reports Doug Olenick of SC Magazine. (As a frame of reference, users can normally order one year of Norton Security Premium, which protects up to 10 devices, for $89.99.)īut the researcher was already one step ahead of the technician. The cheapest of these options totaled $199.99. The technician did not bother to verify whether the process was legitimate.Īfter a five-minute diagnostic, the technician offered two different support plans that both involved installing Norton Antivirus. To support his case, he opened up TaskManager and pointed out “csrss.exe,” a core Windows registry scanner whose name attackers sometimes use to conceal their malicious programs. Instead he used Windows EventViewer to make the case that Segura’s computer had been infected with viruses. On this particular call, the technician did neither. With remote access, scammers can literally do whatever they want on the user’s machine including stealing documents to installing (real) malware.” “This process is a core part of the scam because it allows crooks to tighten their hold on potential victims. Upon connecting to the support number, he was directed to, where he was required to grant a technician remote access so that they could perform a diagnostic of his computer. Coupled with some ominous audio warnings from a robotic female narrator, the alert message would be enough to scare many ordinary users into calling the helpline.
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