Malware& viruses from Phishing Scam Help

[RichardRG]

Hello community,

 

Last month I unknowingly entered a malicious website and got a pop-up message stating that a phishing scam was taking place and to call a certain phone number to receive technical support and resolve the problem. I mistakenly called the phone number and gave the technicians remote access to my computer, but I then realized that the technicians were fraudulent and trying to scam me for money and were likely installing viruses/malware on my computer while they had remote access. Since then I have called Microsoft customer support many times and I've ran anti-virus programs (Windows Defender, Bit Defender, Hitman Pro) on a near daily basis (nothing shows up besides some cookies), performed a system restore, and even re-installed Windows 10. I also had to uninstall Mozilla Firefox and Adobe flash player because it got to the point that those programs would freeze whenever I tried to use them.

 

But I am still having certain problems, such as my screen glitching whenever I play videos from youtube and even when a video appears on my facebook newsfeed. A few nights ago my screen suddenly turned black, so I turned off and turned on my computer and quickly purchased Malwarebytes Anti-malware. I have ran the threat scan many times and no malware has been detected, but I have received a few notifications indicating that malicious websites (inbound?) had been blocked even though I only had my browser open and was not searching the internet.

 

So my questions are: 1) Can malware/viruses be responsible for my screen glitching whenever I play videos on youtube, and if so, what more I do about it? 2) Is it a major concert that malicious websites are trying to attack my computer only when I have the browser open but not searching the internet and is this an indicator that my computer is infected with malware/viruses? And what can I do about it?

 

I'd be very thankful for your help.

 

Thank you

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Hello,

    

 

They call me TwinHeadedEagle around here, and I'll try to help your with your issue.

 

     

    

Before we start please read and note the following:

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That being told, if any evidence of illegal OS, software, cracks/keygens or any other will be revealed, any further assistance will be suspended. If you are aware that there is this kind of stuff on your machine, remove it before proceeding!

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Let's first check your PC for infection and then I will answer you questions.

---

Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your desktop.

Note: You need to run the version compatibale with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them.

Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version.

• Double-click to run it. When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
• Press Scan button.
• It will make a log (FRST.txt) in the same directory the tool is run. Please attach it to your reply.
• The first time the tool is run, it makes also another log (Addition.txt). Please attach it to your reply.

[RichardRG]

Hi TwinEagleHead,

 

I mainly use this computer for studying and try to download as little as possible, so I am certainly not aware of any illegal downloads or programs. I'll go ahead and download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool. Thank you!

[RichardRG]

Here you go

Addition.txt

FRST.txt

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Your PC doesn't seem to be infected.

 

Last month I unknowingly entered a malicious website and got a pop-up message stating that a phishing scam was taking place and to call a certain phone number to receive technical support and resolve the problem. I mistakenly called the phone number and gave the technicians remote access to my computer, but I then realized that the technicians were fraudulent and trying to scam me for money and were likely installing viruses/malware on my computer while they had remote access.

 

 

No, as I know they do not install malware on your PC. They just download and run all kinds of utilities and show some unimportant errors to actually trick you that your PC is in danger, so that you pay them for nothing.

 

 

Now let's answer your questions.

 

 

1) Can malware/viruses be responsible for my screen glitching whenever I play videos on youtube, and if so, what more I do about it?

 

 

It probably can, but I don't think this is something malware related. Does it happen in all browsers and does it happen only when watching videos?

 

2) Is it a major concert that malicious websites are trying to attack my computer only when I have the browser open but not searching the internet and is this an indicator that my computer is infected with malware/viruses? And what can I do about it?

 

 

There are all kinds of compromised websites and some of them contain scam messages, some of them contain ads that lead you to adware/malware installers and some of them even have hidden exploits that will scan your PC for security holes and then try to install malware silently if such hole is found. Because of this, you should have your Antivirus active and updated and MalwareBytes is a great ally to your antivirus. I also recommend to install Adblock, because it will block majority of ads and make your browsing much easier.

 

There is one great service called Qualys that scans your browsers if it is outdated.

 

https://www.qualys.com/

 

Good way of staying protected is having your software up to date.

[RichardRG]

Hi TwinEagleHead

 

Thanks for that information! What a relief.

 

1) Right now I am only using Microsoft Edge since Mozilla Firefox started to become slow and freeze whenever I used it and had a problem with the flash player. But when I did use Firefox the screen wouldn't glitch when I played videos, but then the flash player was having errors, so that was not any better. And yes, this only occurs when I am watching videos or on a web page that has a video. I also uninstalled Google Chrome since that was the browser I was using when the phishing scam occurred.

 

2) I'll run Qualys to scan my browsers. I don't know what else could be causing the problem with the flash player.

 

Thanks a lot for your help!!!

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Flash Player is slowly going to history, it is being replaced by HTML. You can try to reinstall Google Chrome and to see if this helped.

[AdvancedSetup]

Glad we could help.

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