scam?

Question

Level 1

1 points

scam?

So, my mom called some sort of number on safari that popped up because she thought her safari was not working. I only heard it was something about a security issue that needed an update or to call this number 866 899 8156. She ended up doing what the person on the phone was telling her and he took control of the mac. He downloaded Citrix Online, CCleaner, MacCleanse, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, AVG Antivirus, and Avast Mac Security. I also asked my friend and found a logmein thing (he also thinks it's a scam). She paid the person $150 and the website was isiwal.com (which i could not get info. on). He told me his name was John Daniel that worked for apple and he also said something about data technology. So I want to know if it was really a scam or not.

Posted on Feb 18, 2016 6:57 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 18, 2016 7:10 PM in response to Ritchii

It was a scam.

Her Mac should be considered compromised. All of the crapware that was loaded on it needs to be removed. All of here passwords need to be changed. She should call her bank and report the compromise to them and request all of her credit cards be canceled and new ones issued to replace them. She should also stop payment on the charges that was requested by John Daniel.

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Answer 2

ckuan

Level 10

120,914 points

Feb 18, 2016 7:10 PM in response to Ritchii

Yes, it's a scam.

You need to restore from backup prior to that date.

Talk to your finance advisor and dispute the money taken.

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Answer 3

etresoft

Level 9

56,314 points

Feb 19, 2016 2:53 PM in response to Ritchii

Hello Ritchii,

I'm sorry you are having this trouble. This is a very popular scam. The only interesting part about it what that the scammers apparently claimed to be me. You can at least use the software written by the real John Daniel to help diagnose that machine. Download EtreCheck from http://www.etrecheck.com, run it, and paste the results here. EtreCheck is perfectly safe to run, does not ask for your password to install, and is signed with my Apple Developer ID. People will be able to look at the report, say exactly what was installed, and give you instructions on how to remove it.

Disclaimer: Although EtreCheck is free, there are other links on my site that could give me some form of compensation, financial or otherwise.

Also, to follow up on what others have said, the only truly safe action to take at this point is to erase that machine's hard drive, reinstall the OS, change all passwords (anywhere), and maybe report it to the police. I realize that can be a major undertaking for people who aren't tech savvy. You can also take the machine in to an Apple Store (https://www.apple.com/support/contact/) or Authorized Apple Service Centre (https://locate.apple.com/) and they might be able to inspect it without wiping the whole thing. And as long as you've been scammed, you should probably request a free annual credit report (https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action) to check for identity theft. I speak from experience because this scammer isn't the first person who has fraudulently claimed to be me recently.

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