Needed a driver for a 7 yr Hewlett Packard printer to work with Windows 7. Called a phone number listed under HP Support and got a foreign accented, believed Indian, guy who said he was Microsoft Certified Tech and could help me. I thought I was talking to an HP Support person. Subject says let me run a diagnostic scan of your computer. As I am not a computer oriented person, I agreed and he ran a scan and posted results on my monitor that he said drivers were corrupted. He also said there were foreign I.P. Addresses that were able to get on my computer, there was one foreign I.P. Address showing and at the time did not know it was his I.P. Address. What bothered me was the spelling of the word drivers. It was spelled drirvers. The word corrupted was spelled corrupet. Computers do not make spelling mistakes, this was hand typed into the screen. Subject also said I had the Koobface virus spread though Facebook. I am not a Facebook subscriber. Funny thing is that my computer stated that drirvers was not recognized as an internal or operable program or batch file. Unwittingly I agreed to a 270 dollar fee to clean up the virus and get a one year support contract. The subject then said it would take about 45 minutes or so to rid the computer of the virus and install the HP printer driver. Next thing I see is a green screen which I found out later was nothing more than the CPU usage. Little did I know that this was to mask what was being done with my computer. I did manage to take pictures of the various screens with my digital camera, especially the mispelled terms drirvers and corrupet. After about 45 minutes or so, the Indian accented guy calls me back on phone and says ok your computer is cleaned of viruses and now they will install the printer driver I needed. This was done, although, I do not know if somehow an executable program is hidden in there somehow. He had me sign an elaborate form with the credit card I used and that I was satisfied with the service. I did agree although with some trepidation. The agreement was sent to me and showed up as MAX PC SUPPORT with an 800-982-1360 24 hr phone number. It was dated 04/06 instead of 06/04 and when asked about this, he stated he was in New Delhi, India. Conversation ended, I turned the computer off and hours later turned it back on. When I turned it back on, all my icons on the start page were blinking rapidly and were somewhat grayed out. I had no start button, non operable. First time ever did this happen and I immediately felt that my fears earlier had been realized, that I become a victim of an online tech support scam. I had slso noticed that he deleted my Cookie Crusher program. My anti-virus program was just a blinking icon and would not respond to open up. Sonehow I was able to click on a utility program contained a registry cleaner and repair function and it worked. It showed there were several dozen registry entries that had been repaired. Once I ran this program, my desk top icons went back to normal and I was able to activate my antivirus program. I dont know how much information they got out of my computer or if any key logger programs were installed to copy my key strokes looking for the various passwords I use which would allow them to infiltrate my credit card or other financial information. But they got my phone number, email, password to my computer and credit card number used to pay for the one yr. Tech support. I subsequently asked a local microsoft certified tech and described what had happened and he knew exactly that it was a scam and that they had control of my computer for the 45 minutes or so to disable my antivirus and firewall and install their own virus program. But I have pictures of the scam words that were used to induce me into believing I had been infected as well as the local microsoft tech who agreed that the computer does not not mispell words as well as the computer itself saying it did not recognize them. Their Max PC Support website shows a 1220 N. Market St, Wilmington, Delaware address which is a building with several businesses that handle incorporating various entities with the State of Delaware so they show a U.S. Location when in fact there is no physical location in the U.S. There website describes themselves as everything you would ever need in terms of computer support. The local microsoft tech also stated that, yes, they probably did install the printer driver I needed, but after they had rummaged around my computer at will disabling protection and setting it up so that when I restarted the computer, it became inoperable. I got so mad I called the 24 hr. Number and another raghead answered and wanted my email address. I told him to go eat a hamburger. And so I cancelled every card for new ones and changed what needed to be changed. A lesson learned quickly but not quick enough.
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