Category: Geeks r Us
I recieved a couple of emails about a scam going on. Here is a copy of the email below...
I just received a phone call from one of the individuals we serve reporting on a call that concerned him. The unsolicited call was from a man who said that the individual’s copy of JAWS has caused a virus in his computer. The man would repair the computer if the individual could simply turn it on, go to a specified site (my caller could not remember where) and type in a few numbers. He immediately knew something was not right and did not turn on his computer nor comply in any way with the person. The person gave him a call back number, which was 347-871-5995.
I checked that number and it is all over the Internet as a scam. The part that concerns me most is that the individual who called me was identified as a JAWS user by the scammer. I don’t know if a Freedom Scientific database was hacked or what, but I feel it is important for you all to have a heads up on this in case individuals on your caseload call. Most may know not to do anything, but some may be naïve and think there truly is a problem. Let’s hope no one gets caught.
All they'd need to know is you are blind and use a computer.
Freedom Scientific wasn't hacked, as far as I know, but a spammer, and a good one, does a bit of research on the people they are calling so they can get them to do as they ask easier.
Ever tell a customer service worker you are using Jaws?
Lots of ways to know this, or what I'd call, taking an educated guess.
A blind person that uses a computer likely uses Jaws.
Now, we know there are other screen readers, but most people don't know this outside the blind community, so Jaws would get most blind persons to do as asked.
It is advised never to do anything you are asked over the telephone.
Any service calling you should have your account numbers and such, or they need to train the service reps better, don't you think?
Smile.
Good girl!
Wow, I have not heard about this, thank you for posting it. If you belong to a jaws specific mailing list, and use your real name, that could do it. Looking up a phone number online isn't all that difficult, and if they can get you to go to a website and such, that's often times all it takes.
Haven't heard of this either, but good to know, just to be wary. Given that it's not hard to find someone's personal info if you google them, that's how they could have come up with this person's phone number, and others have said, JAWS is the most well-known screen reader. I think if FS had actually been hacked, they'd have had to send something out notifying their customers, just as any other business would have to.
I had someone called me a few months ago with this same type of scam but had nothing to do with jaws. i just ran them about all in fun and told them I did not have a PC, just a mac so on so on and then hung up on them after I confused the hell out of them. It was funny.
Keep up the good work.
Next time ask "what is a PC?" Smile. Go on in that vain until they hang up if you've got time and have the devil in you. Lol
I'd like to add. Any pop up messages, emails, or whatever alerting you to the fact your computer is needing care, or updates other than your virus programs, and ones you know and trust, are to be ignored.
It is far better to ignore the warnings, and allow your computer to self destruct in 5 minutes, than to help it along.
i love your advice and tend to do it. i never help out my computer... I actually have gotten a pop up message a few days ago that kept coming up everytime I opened the internet. I googled it and found it was a virus or something...
Did a scan with your virus program get rid of it?
restarting my computer got rid of it.
@Post1: What you experienced sounds like exactly what everyone else is saying. Identity theft theorists call this social engineering hacking. Meaning, no algorithms involved, just use of socially constructed systems to get enough information to make you believe they are legit and then get you to give them credit card information. The company name Freedom Scientific was just used as bait.
Consider how it is psychics try and tell you they are talking from the dead, or preachers say the spirit told them some things about you. Usually these are things they can get from your body language or mannerism. Or, more sophisticated ones can get it by inference, e.g. social algorithms. This one which you experienced is pretty easy for anyone who knows that a lot of blind people use JAWS. Or even that a lot of blind people are presumed to have used JAWS at some point.
Not real hard, and actually an insult to hacking.
Good for you for not responding. The best defense against social hackers is a good BS meter and a healthy dose of skepticism combined with the tenacity to follow it through.