Scammed by US Software Solutions

Last night I was scammed by a company called US Software Solutions. I was on a site and a lot of pop ups started to appear. I was also asked to update Adobe Flash which I clicked on; all of a sudden a big box appeared in the middle of the screen that said I was blocked from my computer because a virus had been installed and was attacking everything in my computer. It gave a number to call, so I called. The man I spoke with told me I had been hacked and needed to have all of the "bad stuff" removed. I gave him permission to access my Mac remotely. He looked at a lot of things and a lot of pop ups kept appearing; ones that I would never access. He also told me to check my Windows computer upstairs because he said it would have the virus also. So, he remotely looked at that computer also. Finally, he told me it could all be cleaned and fixed for $349.99. I hedged for a few minutes, but was scared and finally agreed to the amount, which they charged to one of my credit cards. Today, I spoke to my daughter, who told me it was scam; she said Apple products never get a virus. So, I contacted Apple and they agreed with her. The technician worked remotely with me and all of my files to remove all of the bad ones--for no cost! I called my credit card company and they said the amount would be credited back to me since it was a fraud. I will keep checking my account to make sure it is credited back to me. I will also receive a new credit card.

However, now I have to contact Microsoft/Windows (to fix my Windows computer) and hope they will be as helpful as Apple was. I learned a good lesson; on the Mac, never click on any of the pop ups, and never agree to anything unless checking with Apple first!
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MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), iOS 10.1.1

Posted on Nov 12, 2016 2:12 PM

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Posted on Nov 12, 2016 5:08 PM

Those pop ups are always a scam.

Since you gave access to your computers to this thief change all passwords for all your accounts. If it were me I would perform a Windows recovery to a date prior to the date you gave access to the crooks. But you should contact a Windows forum or repair shop and seek their advice on what to do. Regardless, change your passwords immediately.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 12, 2016 5:08 PM in response to Zebra2010

Those pop ups are always a scam.

Since you gave access to your computers to this thief change all passwords for all your accounts. If it were me I would perform a Windows recovery to a date prior to the date you gave access to the crooks. But you should contact a Windows forum or repair shop and seek their advice on what to do. Regardless, change your passwords immediately.

Nov 12, 2016 5:13 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

Thanks for the advice. I did change my password to access my Mac, but have not yet changed passwords for my accounts; I will do this. Also, I contacted Microsoft to have a technician access my computer with Windows on it. Unfortunately, Microsoft is not so benevolent; I had to buy their tech services for $149.00 for a year or $99.00 for one time service. I chose the year subscription, and a technician went through everything on that computer, so I feel that It is clean. As I said before, I learned a quick lesson!

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Scammed by US Software Solutions

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