GoToAssist Scam

Hi everyone,

This isn't a question, but a post to raise awareness and prevent this from happening to anyone else. My Macbook Pro was recently infected with a virus. A pop up window kept on appearing at random times while I was using either Safari or Chrome. An extension called Chill Tab kept re-downloading itself and would make my laptop dysfunction (browser kept closing, the search engine would be changed, and a fake Apple Virus message). I wanted to fix this solution so I typed Apple Support into my web browser. This is where the hacker rerouted my search to open up a fake Apple page. A fake chat window popped up on the bottom right of my screen. He pretended to be an Apple agent and asked me what the problem was. He asked for my phone number and then preceded to call me.He had an indian accent. I explained to him what was happening, and he asked me to download a program called Go To Assist. I didn't type this into my browser. He sent me a link through the chat box and told me to click on it and the program downloaded onto my laptop. He then asked me to verify my apple ID. I told him my apple ID, and told me that the technician fee was free to clean my laptop. He then tried to sell me a 2-year security plan for $200 dollars. He asked for payment. I told him that I would think about it after my laptop was cleaned and the virus was removed (at this point my friend and I began to have some serious concerns as to whether this was a scam). However he had access to my laptop and was, what I believed he was doing, "cleaning" my laptop. This took about an hour and a half. When he finished he called me and told me that he had cleaned my laptop and had installed the security system, which I had not asked him to do. He then demanded payment and I told him that I had not agreed and also that I did not have the money. He continued to demand and told me that if I didn't pay he would stop my laptop from working all together. I was scared, confused, and stressed. My friend started to google to see if she could find the case number he had given me, but obviously couldn't because it was a scam. Since he had control of my laptop I told him there was no money on my card right now but if he could charge the card in a week. As soon as I got off the phone with him, my friend contacted the real Apple support on her laptop and that is when we 100% confirmed that I had been scammed. I immediately called my bank to cancel my card, luckily it had not been charged, and had apple help me get them off my computer. We force quit all the programs that were running and uninstalled the Go To Assist. Apple support then helped me find hidden malware files that needed to be deleted and helped me clean up my laptop all without remote accessing my laptop. Apple will not ever have control of your laptop. They will do screen sharing, but are not allowed to click buttons. I hope this post help someone out there and prevents this hacker from taking advantage of more individuals.