Where are the FBIs priorities?

Consider this a rant, warning, and call to action all wrapped into one post after working late as usual.

My mother fell for a scam this weekend. To all, if you hear about ammyy-dot-com (spelled to avoid giving them a backlink) either hang up or mess with them as long as you like for entertainment. DO NOT go to their site. It really wiped out her machine and who knows how much info they got off of it in the meantime. Add in they took two credit card numbers by saying the first did not work (I will give them credit for being clever) and then attempting to get her to go to a Western Union office to send more money. I walked in the house in the middle of it and she said, "please listen in on this" but I saw what was going on instantly, grabbed the phone, hung up, disconnected wi-fi, and ran anti-vrus. Well they were good, they disabled everything to the point I told her we needed Geek Squad to fix it. Today even they said it was a mess. Had I not been trained in identity theft and credit who knows what they could have cleared out. Spent the rest of the day freezing credit files and making calls.

This was an India/Pakistan boiler room operation, no doubt about it.

So tonight I finall y google the site they used and this crap has been going on for two or more years! Many, many hits. Now, if the FBI can sieze bodog, pokerstars, and others who are not stealing from anybody, why is a site like this still up?

Sorry to hear this, hope your Mom learned a lesson ... and is not too old to just be a sitting duck for the next one.

I wonder sometimes if the younger generation now realizes that people used to be expected to always answer the phone, politely listen, etc. ; there was such a thing as proper phone manners. It was indefensibly rude for a properly brought up person to hang up on someone except for the most extreme circumstance. It's getting to be a dim memory for me, but people of a certain age are going to be susceptible.

Assuming the below is the scam in question.

http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/local/story/Internet-phone-scam-new-to-Sarasota-County/0IaTNNE55kSGQQcsHbZl1w.cspx

Scammers suck I hate em. Here is something to consider, Set your mom up with a pre paid visa or mc to use over the internet.This is how I handle all my internet transactions. My loss due to fraud is limited to the balance on the card its not tied to any banking accounts and if fraud happens it wont have any bearing or risk to my credit. The cost on average is just a 5-7 dollar a month fee. some like green dot are fee free if you carry a balance over a grand.

Once your computer is owned it can never be trusted again. Wipe the drive and reinstall from factory media.

Ammyy is legit remote administration software. People should simply learn to use their common sense, and not give strangers access to their computers.
Running windoze on a computer is a huge security risk by itself. Trying to access it remotely is definitely asking for trouble. But if you have to do it, amyy is actually one of your best options under windoze, certainly better than the stupid RDP stuff that Microsoft has the atrocity to charge money for.

Wiping the drive and reinstalling is a very good advice BTW. No need for geek squad.

There's a story breaking now about 24 arrests in 13 countries for cyber crimes. "Operation Card Shop" was led by the FBI.

It's the age-old "do exactly as I tell you" scam, only this time involving a computer.

The software is legit, it's no more involved than the bank which the mark in the computer-free version would place a money order through.

Quote: weaselman

Running windoze on a computer is a huge security risk by itself.

While it's worse than others, any OS is a security risk if you voluntarily give root access to strangers.

Quote: P90

While it's worse than others, any OS is a security risk if you voluntarily give root access to strangers.

Yes, of course. The difference is that with windoze the "if" part is not necessary :)

I'm glad to see you were able to limit your mom's losses, but I remain mystified by how these things succeed.

I've never clicked on any kind of internet ad, at least not intentionally. If I don't know who's calling I don't answer the phone. I suspect I've passed on some good deals and authentic freebies because I'm too suspicious of the other party.

Whether it's:
- "Help, Grandma, I'm in jail in Toronto!"
- "Cash the enclosed cashier's check, keep the change and wire the difference back to us"
- "This is the IRS, we need to confirm some information," or
- "You've already won, but need to prepay some taxes to collect," there seems no end of people who fall prey to this stuff.

The victims are often elderly; I'm still not sure whether it's plain old greed, or if there's a technology v. age thing going on, or it's just inevitable with passing years.

Edit: If you think it may help, consider reporting it at ic3[dot]gov.

Old people should have to take a tutorial before using
the internet. Don't do anything unless you initiate it
first. Don't answer an email or open a link you don't
know. You haven't won a contest or a prize. Nobody
left you money, or wants to give you money, they
only want your money.

Instilling paranoia about computer usage into old people can have detrimental effects. My mom still calls me every time her computer's virus scanner, or adobe acrobat, or flash, want to update.

Truth is, social engineering can take advantage of anybody, no matter what their skill in computers. We can only spread the stories so others are aware of the scams, and also remember that if it sounds too good to be true, there ya go.

Quote: Calder

The victims are often elderly; I'm still not sure whether it's plain old greed, or if there's a technology v. age thing going on, or it's just inevitable with passing years.

If you become feeble minded, there's someone willing to take your money if no one is looking out for you.

Quote: konceptum

Truth is, social engineering can take advantage of anybody, no matter what their skill in computers.

IDK about that. Of course it's not computer skill alone. But I believe a lot of people are significantly more scam-resistant than others.

You play enough poker, you learn what Dr.House has been telling everyone for years to no avail. And learn to treat every interaction with other humans that is more than banter like a poker hand. What are they saying, what they represent their reason to be, what they gain by representing that, what you stand to lose and what to gain, what are the odds of either.

Once you remove the term "trust" from your inner vocabulary and replace it by calculating odds every step of the way, you are a lot more difficult to take advantage of, at least for someone without insider access or material leverage over you.

Quote: rxwine

If you become feeble minded, there's someone willing to take your money if no one is looking out for you.

Of course, though this happens to plenty of people whom no one would describe as feeble-minded.

Quote: rainman

Scammers suck I hate em. Here is something to consider, Set your mom up with a pre paid visa or mc to use over the internet.This is how I handle all my internet transactions. My loss due to fraud is limited to the balance on the card its not tied to any banking accounts and if fraud happens it wont have any bearing or risk to my credit. The cost on average is just a 5-7 dollar a month fee. some like green dot are fee free if you carry a balance over a grand.

I plan to do a form of this by having her lower her limit on her Amazon Visa to about $400 which should put a firewall around losses in case of a future breach, even one we do not know about. Credit cards also have more legal protection than debit cards, this one is no-fee. After that I plan to have them de-list their phone number, which being listed caused this mess in the first place as they knew her name so she trusted it. My dad didn't want to pay the fee. I think this will change his mind.

Quote: konceptum

Instilling paranoia about computer usage into old people can have detrimental effects. My mom still calls me every time her computer's virus scanner, or adobe acrobat, or flash, want to update.

Truth is, social engineering can take advantage of anybody, no matter what their skill in computers. We can only spread the stories so others are aware of the scams, and also remember that if it sounds too good to be true, there ya go.

This is so correct. I feel like if I had $1 for everytime she asked, "is this OK" if I couldn't buy the Wynn outright I could at least bankroll myself enough to martingale it from Steve at his craps table with free odds. (Joke--I know it won't work, no comments back, please.) She has gotten much better which is what really drives me crazy. Again, I leave the house for a freaking hour and this. Grrrrr. My dad wants to learn how to use a computer for basic stuff since I showed him how to find video and shop manuals to do work on their cars. I am thinking of getting him an iPad for my sanity as if one littl thing changes on the interface he is lost. Any advice there appriciated, here or PM. It is an iPad or I have to really lock what he buys via admin/user privlege split.

You are right on social engineering. I have come close to being taken on a thing or two, just far more subtle than this one. I think the cleverest one was someone who said lonely women wanted male escorts since they hated to go places alone--RICH lonely women. Just send your SS and DOB for a background check, which they even charged you for at first. Later that was free. Boy that was tempting.

Thanks to all who had supporting comments. There is nobody IRL I can rant on this to. Hopefully we all help each other with ideas if anyone else has senior folks.