Long story short:

I was helping my dad do some things on his computer, but had to leave to pick my son up from school. I came back with my son and caught my dad just about to give remote control of his computer to someone he was talking to on the phone.

He had searched for login and the company his investments are with and clicked the first link that came up. That linked was a spoofed website into which he typed his account ID and password in and pop up appeared saying his password was wrong, his account was locked, call this number to unlock it. He called the number.

I changed the passwords on that account and any others that were similar passwords. I also enabled two step verification for all his financial accounts.

I’m really ticked off. Not at him, he’s 85 and his cognitive abilities are declining.

Perhaps it may be time for you or another family member to take over financial responsibility?

Go watch The Beekeeper, too BTW.

Even I have to look closely at some of these e-mails. Some of them look authentic.

I watched that movie a month ago and it was surreal how close my dad got to that point. He was just about to click something called “Quick Assist” when I walked in.

I thought I had his computer setup to require an administrator password to install new applications. I’m going to have to look at that tomorrow.

My dad was 79 when I started managing his funds for him.

You saw he was already almost scammed. You have no guarantee that he won't be scammed when you're not around.

I know it's tricky but better be safe than sorry.

I used to investigate (among other things) those phishing links.

We had a lady and her husband get scammed out of $2000. She spoke with someone on the phone who told her "we're trying to remote into your computer but we can't because the license is expired. We need $1000 from you. We need target gift cards."

It wasn't until her husband had already bought one store out of cards and gone to a different one to get more that we learned about it.

When people ask for gift cards or prepaid Visa cards for a supposedly official transaction , that's 100% scam right there .

Oh believe me, I am aware. But that lady didn't.

We need more beekeepers.

Check out Scammer Payback channel on YT for some insight into how these folks take control and scoop WAY more than $1,000 in gift cards. He and those like him is as close to remote explosion as we have right now.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Check out Scammer Payback channel on YT for some insight into how these folks take control and scoop WAY more than $1,000 in gift cards. He and those like him is as close to remote explosion as we have right now.

Believe me, I am aware. I was a SOC analyst for a major insurance company. Thankfully, we had application control programs in place for exactly this scenario (among others) since we dealt with a ton of PII. So the scammers just got a couple grand in gift cards. If I remember correctly what triggered our investigation was a request in said app control system for TeamViewer. We used Bomgar, not TV (outside of one or two very niche scenarios, none of which applied here).

Just got a Phishing Email that used PayPal as a mirror asking me to "contact" an outfit called istore by calling a toll free number to verify an "invoice". Nope. Looked very legit, too. A quick search showed "istore" was based in.... Namibia!
No such charge on my PP account, so all was BS.

These scumbags are getting more and more sophisticated and it's getting more and more people who normally can spot a scam or phishing attempt.

My Dad is always asking me about the ones he gets about a package "not able to be delivered" and should he click on the link to get that fixed?

"Dad, are you expecting a delivery?"

"Well...no"

"OK then, DO NOT click that link, just delete the text!"

We need to send the Navy SEALs in to take care of these scammers in whatever armpit of a country they are in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReQInImPXz0

Mike Rowe and his Dad’s experience.

Have you dad, and you too, watch the move with Jason Staham......Beekeeper. It's about how a senior citizen (cliare Huxtable), got scammed out of millions!!!

They very nearly got me this weekend and I'm about the most careful and suspicious person online there is!

Got an email from my cousin who is a fellow conservative and haven't seen in a while but it was a very official looking Evite type (but NOT Evite) invitation for a special dinner gathering at his house. We use these Evite services so I thought it would be nice to accept and go see him and the wife.

I click on "accept" and it takes me to a page where it wants my login to my Outlook/MS account to view the invitation. Uhhh...I don't think so!

I text him about it and he confirms it was NOT from him.

They are getting more and more slick and sophisticated with these damn things!