Glass Chatroom Board

SHELLY @shellyrae37

My husband fell for that scam with the pop-up telling him he had a virus. The thing was, you couldn't get rid of the pop-up and were instructed to call a "microsoft technician" to remove it. He fell for it because I was sleeping (can't leave that man alone!) and gave them his card for $250 to remove it, and was then asked to pay $200 more for 'insurance' against this virus. At least he refused that. When he got off the phone I was just coming out to tell him to go to bed and he told me about his foolery. I immediately shut his system down completely and meanwhile my phone was lighting up with warnings from the bank asking if we really wanted to pay these fools. So we called the bank and said NO, it's a scam and they removed it,,, took 30 min. In the a.m. we had our geek SIL dial in to DH computer using TeamViewer and he removed all the detritus left behind by these stinkers. The deal is, if you don't pay the $200 'insurance' they leave little worms that will cause the same issue days later, at which point some people will pay the $250 again .... PLUS the $200 insurance!!! And it still may come up again and they'll tell you it's a different virus!!!

By the way, anyone who took a course from Microsoft can call themselves a MS tech. And what they're doing isn't even illegal. It's just horribly deceptive and they prey on (usually) senior citizens who are - let's face it - afraid of technology. Our kids and grandkids grew up with a device in their hands and are more comfortable with electronics than with people, but we will die in awe of the whole damned mess. I remember the bliss of not having a phone, even, in the house 'til I was 16. We lived in the city and actually walked to friends' homes (back door for kids!) to 'call on' Susie or Jack. When we did have a phone there was an egg timer on the desk so you'd better do your business and hang up! We spent at least a few hours a week poring over an encyclopedia finding out the whys and wherefores. Life was not instant. Now in a New York Minute you can hang yourself with debt and aggravation.

Poor DH got a ration from his frustrated wife and again from SIL. He won't do that again! SIL has a tech company on Martha's Vineyard and spends 2/3 of his time undoing messes like this. He'd much rather set up networks and do fun stuff but nay, nay. Too many scams out there.

Be safe!
Janice