phishing

Todd got a Facebook message from a friend that said "Is this Your Video?" and it had his picture on it. So he clicked on it, and it said the content wasn't available. Leo says that Todd was likely hacked in a phishing scam, accessing his Facebook account. What they are hoping is that you log into Facebook and get their password stolen. They can also try and get you to pay for a bogus support contract or grab your credit card number. They can even put a bitcoin miner on your computer. So NEVER click on a link. EVER.

Dave got a call that his computer was hacked. Knowing he was being phished, he decided to have some fun with them (especially since he doesn't have a computer). Leo says it's good that Dave gave them a taste of their own medicine, but it's sad that we have to deal with scammers and end up using so much energy to protect ourselves. But while it's great Dave knew and was able to turn the tables on them, it's always best to just hang up.

Mara was a victim of identity theft, and just narrowly avoided having her brokerage account drained. Leo says that Mara should change her password and turn on 2 factor authentication right away. Leo suspects the bad guys got her information from a database breach like the Collection #1 or the Marriott hack. Leo also suggests going to haveIbeenpwned.com/passwords and see if her passwords have been compromised and are known.

Ellen feels like she got ripped off by Microsoft. She got a popup saying she had a virus and listened to it, then paid $250 for support. Leo says that wasn't microsoft. That was a bad guy. Leo says it was a browser popup and they use that to phish for gullible people to sign up. Microsoft will never, ever do that. It's even worse, though. They likely got remote access and not only do they have her credit card, they have also likely installed more malware on the computer. At this point, Ellen should call the credit card company, reverse the charge and have her card number changed.

Anne got an HP Envy wireless printer. Can she use it with an XP Machine? She keeps getting a popup asking for a driver update for something called "Slim Cleaner." Leo says that XP is a security issue because Microsoft has stopped supporting it. There are no fixes for it, and newer hardware won't work quite right with it because manufacturers don't expect people to use it with such old computers. Leo would not recommend banking on an XP machine. When she bought Slim Cleaner, someone actually took over her computer as well. So now there's no way to know exactly what they may have done.

Kevin's mom went to a website and got a virus alert. She then called the phone number on it and they had her install something, which gave them control over her computer. Leo says that's a common scam. They probably installed a virus and maybe even turned her computer into a bot. The worst part is that they took her money and now have her credit card number. She realized her error and called him, though, and Kevin has since changed her passwords. She has trouble remembering passwords. Leo says many do and they end up using the same password over and over.