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Windows recovery after BT Support scam


Sider

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Hi All

I have been asked to help fix a friends laptop after he nearly got scammed

iam no expert but have a  good general knowlage of pc's

he got a call from someone pretending to be from BT saying his router may have been hacked

he allowed the BT tech guy to login to his laptop via teamviewer and saw him install some software and delete some files

but when they aked him to log into his online banking thankfully he smelled a rat and put the phone down and turned off his laptop

unfortunatley now it wont boot up past a black screen with swirling dots

i have tried to let windows recovery try with no sucess so i have removed the hdd and attatched it to my pc and scanned it with an antivirus

which did not pick anything up

i am in the process of scanning the drive with malewarebytes

but i did notice a folder on the hdd labeled $Windows~BT dated and timed around when the scam happened

has anyone come across this scam and can help with its fix

Thanks

 

Edited by Sider
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That folder is created by Windows update, it can be cleaned via disk cleanup - look for temporary windows installation files.

Does your friend have a wireless mouse &/or keyboard especially Logitech? These &/or any USB connected device can give a user the black screen w/ spinning circle of dots, by removing these it should continue to boot however a restart may be required if it doesn't.

The 'We work for (insert broadband provider here) & your router is sending out viruses/your last payment has been declined' scam is well known, several months ago Virginmedia users reported a surge in the 'payment declined/failed' email scam & recently a rise in 'your router is compromised' phone scam.

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Thank you for the reply

he does not have any usb items attatched

i restarted the laptop several times and ran the windows recovery process all failed

i now have the hdd removed and attatched to my pc and iam scanning it with malwarebytes

 

 

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20 hours ago, Sider said:

turned off his laptop

unfortunately now it wont boot up past a black screen with swirling dots

 
1

While you have it attached to your PC back up the data now. You might be reinstalling Windows to fix this.  It seems he forced a shutdown of Windows which possibly damaged the OS.

Also If you do get it back up and running ...

We are not permitted to work on possible malware-related issues here in this section of the forum.

Such work is conducted in a special forum area reserved for that purpose, or at the help desk.

 

So, for expert assistance, I suggest that you please follow the advice in this pinned topic: Available Assistance For Possibly Infected Computers.

It explains the options for free, expert help >>AND<< the suggested, preliminary steps to expedite the process.

A malware analyst will assist you with looking into your issue

Thanks,

 

Edited by Porthos
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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 11:05 AM, Sider said:

he allowed the BT tech guy to login to his laptop via teamviewer and saw him install some software and delete some files

but when they aked him to log into his online banking thankfully he smelled a rat and put the phone down and turned off his laptop

He probably deleted files that were needed by windows to load up properly... and since they did not get paid, they did not undo the actions, hence leaving your computer in the state its in.

Best solution is to do what has already been mentioned... backup the data and then re-install windows.

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