Discussion
So earlier today, my daughter fell for the BT scam and allowed a hacker to access her laptop.
He messed about on it for a while and made various adjustments and, no doubt got access to everything.
She went to the bank and told them that she had been scammed and I think that they have frozen her bank account for the time being.
I dread to think what else they may have done..
Now I am useless with computers and have no idea what else she can do now apart from getting her laptop checked over - or what else these guys can do next.
So any advice would be appreciated on where she goes from here.
Does she scrap the laptop and start again or can it be safely wiped and restored?
He messed about on it for a while and made various adjustments and, no doubt got access to everything.
She went to the bank and told them that she had been scammed and I think that they have frozen her bank account for the time being.
I dread to think what else they may have done..
Now I am useless with computers and have no idea what else she can do now apart from getting her laptop checked over - or what else these guys can do next.
So any advice would be appreciated on where she goes from here.
Does she scrap the laptop and start again or can it be safely wiped and restored?
Edited by Davel on Wednesday 21st August 21:56
Edited by Davel on Wednesday 21st August 21:57
Alex Z said:
Assume every password has been compromised and change them all ASAP, and take the opportunity to set them to something different.
Don’t bother trying to clean the laptop. Wipe and restore the operating system from scratch.
^^^ what he said.. bin the laptop. Change all passwords to unique ones.Don’t bother trying to clean the laptop. Wipe and restore the operating system from scratch.
Might be worth getting her to sign up here
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk
for free credit reports and keep an eye out for any new accounts opened in the next few weeks.
The scammer will have all sorts of info now and could try Identity theft etc.
https://www.creditkarma.co.uk
for free credit reports and keep an eye out for any new accounts opened in the next few weeks.
The scammer will have all sorts of info now and could try Identity theft etc.
I hope your daughter has learnt her lesson. Dont assume she has though.
I know of someone caught twice by these people.
This is a warning, she WILL get more calls, as she will be flagged as gullable and will be spread around to other scams.
I keep repeating this to people, forget trying to spot a scam, just dont answer the phone to any number you dont know.
Some people can never be taught common sense so just stop them answering the phone to strangers.
I know of someone caught twice by these people.
This is a warning, she WILL get more calls, as she will be flagged as gullable and will be spread around to other scams.
I keep repeating this to people, forget trying to spot a scam, just dont answer the phone to any number you dont know.
Some people can never be taught common sense so just stop them answering the phone to strangers.
thebraketester said:
Alex Z said:
Assume every password has been compromised and change them all ASAP, and take the opportunity to set them to something different.
Don’t bother trying to clean the laptop. Wipe and restore the operating system from scratch.
^^^ what he said.. bin the laptop. Change all passwords to unique ones.Don’t bother trying to clean the laptop. Wipe and restore the operating system from scratch.
The_Jackal said:
I keep repeating this to people, forget trying to spot a scam, just dont answer the phone to any number you dont know.
Some people can never be taught common sense so just stop them answering the phone to strangers.
This x1000Some people can never be taught common sense so just stop them answering the phone to strangers.
A friend of mine said recently of one of these type of calls "he just wouldn't get off the phone". Astonishing.
MOBB said:
The_Jackal said:
I keep repeating this to people, forget trying to spot a scam, just dont answer the phone to any number you dont know.
Some people can never be taught common sense so just stop them answering the phone to strangers.
This x1000Some people can never be taught common sense so just stop them answering the phone to strangers.
A friend of mine said recently of one of these type of calls "he just wouldn't get off the phone". Astonishing.
If nothing after 3 or 4 seconds I hang up.
Most comments above I agree with, but to add some more context.
1. The machine most likely now has something installed on it, but you don't know what. It could be a key logger, it could be malware that sends spam, it could be ransomware waiting to encrypt etc. You could run a full Anti-Virus scan, but I would never be 100% sure you have removed whatever it is. So the only answer (in my opinion) is a complete wipe and re-installation. If you or your daughter is not familiar with this, you should either recruit a friend who is, or pay somebody. If the computer is old, the cost of paying somebody may outweigh the cost of a new PC.
Restrict use of the machine until you have done this, as currently you do not know what the machine is doing in the background.
2. If you have other PC's on your 'network' (same wireless environment for example) that were or have been turned on, and whose passwords could have ever been used/types on the 'hijacked' machine (before or after the call), you cannot be sure that the scammer has not gained access. You need to decide what to do based on the level of risk you think exists. At an absolute minimum change passwords to them all and run a full AV scan. Best practice would be to also re-stream those, but you will have to use your best judgement.
3. As mentioned above. Unless you are meticulous about password management and understand the risk of what has occurred (in which case you can address it accordingly), change all passwords for any service that has ever been accessed from that device, starting with email! Before changing your email password, check that the phone number used for recovery is current, and has not been changed!
4. As mentioned above, use this as an opportunity to implement a higher level of security. Make sure you follow password best practice (Unique, long & complex), 2 Factor Authentication where available, consider the use of a password manager, make sure you always enable updates so as to patch etc. Also consider the way you backup those important files.
5. Hopefully you have all important files backed up to storage that was not connected at the time (or since) the call. If you have any remaining files on the machine that you need to retrieve - then I would suggest you need to speak to an expert to get such files removed safely, so they can be put back onto a clean machine when you have one. It is not too difficult to identify clean files, and you could read up on it, and do this yourself, but if unsure it is best to get help.
That's all I can think of for now.
1. The machine most likely now has something installed on it, but you don't know what. It could be a key logger, it could be malware that sends spam, it could be ransomware waiting to encrypt etc. You could run a full Anti-Virus scan, but I would never be 100% sure you have removed whatever it is. So the only answer (in my opinion) is a complete wipe and re-installation. If you or your daughter is not familiar with this, you should either recruit a friend who is, or pay somebody. If the computer is old, the cost of paying somebody may outweigh the cost of a new PC.
Restrict use of the machine until you have done this, as currently you do not know what the machine is doing in the background.
2. If you have other PC's on your 'network' (same wireless environment for example) that were or have been turned on, and whose passwords could have ever been used/types on the 'hijacked' machine (before or after the call), you cannot be sure that the scammer has not gained access. You need to decide what to do based on the level of risk you think exists. At an absolute minimum change passwords to them all and run a full AV scan. Best practice would be to also re-stream those, but you will have to use your best judgement.
3. As mentioned above. Unless you are meticulous about password management and understand the risk of what has occurred (in which case you can address it accordingly), change all passwords for any service that has ever been accessed from that device, starting with email! Before changing your email password, check that the phone number used for recovery is current, and has not been changed!
4. As mentioned above, use this as an opportunity to implement a higher level of security. Make sure you follow password best practice (Unique, long & complex), 2 Factor Authentication where available, consider the use of a password manager, make sure you always enable updates so as to patch etc. Also consider the way you backup those important files.
5. Hopefully you have all important files backed up to storage that was not connected at the time (or since) the call. If you have any remaining files on the machine that you need to retrieve - then I would suggest you need to speak to an expert to get such files removed safely, so they can be put back onto a clean machine when you have one. It is not too difficult to identify clean files, and you could read up on it, and do this yourself, but if unsure it is best to get help.
That's all I can think of for now.
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