Do Agents Call Customers?

[Outernaut]

Hello and thank you for your interest in my/our problem,

PREAMBLE:

I am writing on behalf of a friend who does not have safe access to her desktop Win 10.
Beth told me a Malwarebytes agent called her phone last week and told her that MB detected some serious problems with her desktop. I know what kind of call that is, Beth did not.

ISSUE:

• Beth says she bought Malwarebytes (MB) for 2 devices. All and all was good. A while later, Beth received a phone call from a fellow who said he was with Malwarebytes and he could see Beth was having issues with her desktop. (Yeah - I know - you don't need to tell me about callers like that)
• Beth gave the 'agent' access to his desktop (DTop), up to and including today (4th day) already. The 'agent' calls Beth every now and then, daily, to change something on the DTop, or to turn it back on. Beth asked what the cost would be and agent said nothing, that he credited her account with $302.00 so he could fix the unknown issue.
• Bulk of this is, the fellow kept hounding Beth, and though a bit late, decided something was amiss and pulled the power. Within two minutes the 'agent' called and asked why the computer was down. 
• Beth would reboot the DTop, and all she could see during the days while 'agent' "fixed" the computer was a black screen. She could not see what he was doing.
• A further investigation found that somehow, the agent set it so when booting, if the suspect malware agent used missing, the boot process would rebuild the folder and programs that agent was using.

I've discussed the solution of formatting and reinstalling Win 10 with Beth. It has been my experience that reinstalling Win 10 too often drops into a loop displaying that it found a problem and one has to try to re-install again. I have 2 bricked desktops where that happened to me. So that additional problems of Win 10 having a bad hair day is on the back burner - last resort.

QUESTIONS:

1. Do Malwarebyte agents ever make such calls? I don't think so, but one should clear that hurdle.
2. Does it sound to you like the 'agent' is using Beth's computer to upload/download illegal material?
3. What is the scam do you think it is?
4. Thanks for your time, and I appreciate the work you do do,

~o

[Malwarebytes]

***This is an automated reply***

Hi,

Thanks for posting in the Malwarebytes for Windows Help forum.

If you are having technical issues with our Windows product, please do the following:

Malwarebytes Support Tool - Advanced Options

This feature is designed for the following reasons:

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[David H. Lipman]

This is a Tech Support Scam using the good name of Malwarebytes to goad the victim into purchasing a Service Contract.

Reference:                                     
US FBI PSA - Tech Support Fraud
US FTC Consumer Information -  Tech Support Scams
US FTC - Tech Support Operators Agree to Settle Charges by FTC and the State of Ohio
US FTC - FTC and Federal, State and International Partners Announce Major Crackdown on Tech Support Scams
Malwarebytes' Blog - Search on - "tech support scams"
Malwarebytes' Blog - "Tech support scams: help and resource page"

 

[Outernaut]

Your A.I. did not guess right. It did not, cannot answer my question.

To auto-frustrate customers into going half-blind trudging through FAQs, and novelettes, only to find the answer isn't there - either. So, here I am, asking PEOPLE a question, and the A.I. is shoved in my face. A.I,. will never replace humans. So get of the love relationship with A.I.

o~

p.s. I wish the A.I. would tell me where I can find a human to help without myu post being answered by a binary bit byter!

*A.I. - Artificial Idiot.

 

[AdvancedSetup]

There is no AI. Davvid is very much alive and reached out to assist you and provided links showing this is a very common scam.

 

24 minutes ago, Outernaut said:

QUESTIONS:

1. Do Malwarebyte agents ever make such calls? I don't think so, but one should clear that hurdle.
2. Does it sound to you like the 'agent' is using Beth's computer to upload/download illegal material?
3. What is the scam do you think it is?
4. Thanks for your time, and I appreciate the work you do do,

~o

1. No we do not.

2. No, their scam is to convince the person to purchase some type of service that is not really needed

3. See #2 above. They just want money and rely on people's fears and misunderstandings.

 

If she needs help she, or you can work with us and post logs and we can review and see what we can find wrong and try to correct it if  we do.

Let us know.

Thank you

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by AdvancedSetup
Updated information

[Porthos]

27 minutes ago, Outernaut said:

and all she could see during the days while 'agent' "fixed" the computer was a black screen. She could not see what he was doing.

That "agent" has anything he wanted. Usernames and passwords to every website and account used on the computer. Banks,email, online stores everything.

[Maurice Naggar]

Hello @Outernaut

First, one feels absolutely horrified for your friend Beth.  The "calls" are a total scam.  So sorry that your friend fell into it.  As Advancedsetup said, and as I can vouch for it, Malwarebytes support never, ever ever wou;ld make a phone call like that in the first place.  Now then, one of you ( you or better yet, your friend)  need to report this incident to the FBI if you are in the USA.
Report incidents immediately to the FBI thru IC3.gov https://www.ic3.gov/Home/FileComplaint   , with  CISA at us-cert.cisa.gov/report

You want to pass on name / any other pertinent detail / plus number of the caller. What was done is a criminal offense.

[Outernaut]

1 hour ago, AdvancedSetup said:

There is no AI. Davvid is very much alive and reached out to assist you and provided links showing this is a very common scam.

1. No we do not.

Thanks @AdvancedSetup for your help.

I wasn't referring to David, I was referring to the post that showed up right after I clicked SUBMIT.

Quote

***This is an automated reply***

I forgot MB Forums is heads above all the other forums so when I saw it, I thought it was trying to get me to read some novels. :)
Some sites do that and some even hold back posting until we clicked on the 'suggestions'. I forgot where I was. My apologies. 

I'll need a lot of time to check each of those link and the many sub-links you provided, but meanwhile, I can tell Beth I was right and the pro's here confirmed it.

I think for now, I'll remove her HDD and hook it up to my Dtop as a slave. I can unplug from networks and run my MB on it that way. I already strongly urged her to to change all of her passwords. Too, I will encourage her to read the excellent MalwareBytes "Tech support scams: help and resource" page.

I hope I never have to take you on the offer :)

Thanks ya'all

~o

 

[Porthos]

1 minute ago, Outernaut said:

I already strongly urged her to to change all of her passwords.

Be sure to change those on/from a different clean computer.

[Max-H]

More concerning;

* Beth says she bought Malwarebytes (MB) for 2 devices. All and? all was good. A while later, Beth received a phone call from a fellow who said he was with Malwarebytes and he could see Beth was having issues with her desktop
 

Coincidence? How does he know? (Via) MWB employee, payment service employee? 

[David H. Lipman]

They did NOT know.  It was a planned coincidence. 
Just like all the fraud calls I get stating I bought an Apple iPhone on Amazon and if I did not hit "1".  But that would never, and will never, be the case.

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by David H. Lipman
Edited for content, clarity, spelling and/or grammar

[Outernaut]

7 hours ago, Max-H said:

More concerning;

* Beth says she bought Malwarebytes (MB) for 2 devices. All and? all was good. A while later, Beth received a phone call from a fellow who said he was with Malwarebytes and he could see Beth was having issues with her desktop
 

Coincidence? How does he know? (Via) MWB employee, payment service employee? 

I really didn't believe MB had called. How would they know her phone number. But safe to ask.  No doubt it is a coincidence. I get 2 - 4 calls a month saying the are from Microsoft and that my commuter is causing problems for the Internet - that'll be the day :)  Sometimes they claim to be from Norton and they noticed I had a hidden infection. Those Norton calls stopped about 3 months after I let Norton expire. Now I just get calls claiming to be from Microsoft Security.
Now I just use Windows Defender and Malwarebytes.  - if only I could let Windows expire :)

I hope to be taking a peek at Beth's computer later today. 

[Outernaut]

6 hours ago, David H. Lipman said:

They did NOT know.  It was a planned coincidence. 
Just like all the fraud calls I get stating I bought an Apple iPhone on Amazon and if I did not hit "1".  But that would never, and will never, be the case.

 

Agreed - coincidence. I hope to speak with Beth later today and get more information from. Too, I hope to be going through the computer for a look.

I don't get the Amazon calls, I get the email that I won a iPhone. I must have 30 or 40 free iPhones. I just wish they just delivered them.  :)

Thanks for the help.

~o

[AdvancedSetup]

Hopefully, a reinstall of Windows is not warranted but if you feel that it is here are some links to do a CLEAN install of Windows 10 - a long, but excellent article.

I'm not in agreement about setting up and using a Cloud logon ID. I keep mine all local and don't share or sync anything online but that's me. The second article is how to create a local account as Microsoft does make it difficult now.

 

Greg Carmack - MVP 2010-2020 -Clean Install Windows 10
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/clean-install-windows-10/1c426bdf-79b1-4d42-be93-17378d93e587

How to Create a Local Account While Setting Up Windows 10
https://www.howtogeek.com/442792/how-to-create-a-local-account-while-setting-up-windows-10/

 

Thank you and good luck. Do let us know if there is anything else you need or have questions about @Outernaut

Cheers