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Hacked

  • 30 September 2014
  • 13 replies
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I keep getting message from a technolgy company from a person with a heavy accent saying my computer has been hacked and I should call them.  The number is 888-265-7816.  I think this is a scam.  Do I need to bring my laptop in?
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Best answer by Baldrick 30 September 2014, 23:34

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Userlevel 7
Badge +56
It's a scam.  Don't give them any personal information or any money.
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
@ wrote:
It's a scam.  Don't give them any personal information or any money.
Right on I just called that number and it's a scam! It's a nice turn around instead of the scammers calling me!
 
Daniel 😉
Userlevel 7
Hi Jodygamble
 
Welcome to the Community Forums.
 
Would completely agree with Nic & Daniel...and if yo uhave run a scan with WSA and it has come up clean then that would most likely confirm that.  If however you have any concerns/yo feel that you system has been impacted in some way, etc., you can Open a Support Ticket and let the Webroot Support Team take a look for you.
 
But given that you have been messaged directly you need to ask yourself...how would they know that my system is compromised...answer is they would not...therefore = SCAM.
 
Regards, Baldrick
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
@ wrote:
Hi Jodygamble
 
Welcome to the Community Forums.
 
Would completely agree with Nic & Daniel...and if yo uhave run a scan with WSA and it has come up clean then that would most likely confirm that.  If however you have any concerns/yo feel that you system has been impacted in some way, etc., you can Open a Support Ticket and let the Webroot Support Team take a look for you.
 
But given that you have been messaged directly you need to ask yourself...how would they know that my system is compromised...answer is they would not...therefore = SCAM.
 
Regards, Baldrick
Yeppers Sir Baldrick! :D
 
TH
I keep getting a message from a technology company from a person with a heavy foreign accent and I should call them.  Should I bring my laptop to Best Buy?
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
@ wrote:
I keep getting a message from a technology company from a person with a heavy foreign accent and I should call them.  Should I bring my laptop to Best Buy?
Hi Jodygamble,
 
Welcome to the Community! Do you purchase Webroot from Best Buy? If so you can contact their Support at GeekSquad at
 
1-800-GEEKSQUAD.  If you purchased from Webroot you can issue a Support Ticket here free of charge.
 
Do not Contact them. But if you want to check for PUAs then I recommend doing this as well while you are waiting for Support.
 
What you are seeing and describing sounds like it may be what we on the Community refer to as a PUA. (Potentially Unwanted Application)These are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behavior that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools.. but they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.
 
WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behavior that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.
 
For those that are not detected by WSA, please see this KB Article. It has some easy to follow directions on locating and removing PUA's. You may also want to submit a Trouble Ticket, especially if you cannot remove it easily from the directions in the KB Article.
 
For those that ARE detected by WSA, but cannot be removed automatically, you can submit a Trouble Ticket.  Webroot Support will help you get these annoying 'crapware' off your computer at no extra charge, and the additional examples may help to better automatic removal of that particular PUA for all users in the future.
 
To make sure that your WSA is checking for PUA's with the best proficiently, it sometimes helps to reset the PUA detection within WSA's settings. For PUA's that had previously been scanned and determined to be OK, but have since been added to detection/removal, you may want to complete the following steps:
 
  • Open Webroot SecureAnywhere
  • Click on ‘Advanced Settings’ from the top right
  • Select ‘Scan Settings’ from the left side
  • Unselect the option “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
  • Click on the Save button (you may have to enter in a CAPTCHA)
  • Reselect the option to “Detect Potentially Unwanted Applications”
  • Click on the Save button
  • Run another scan with Webroot and remove any items that get detected.
To help avoid PUA's in the future, remember to read all of the information when installing or updating software (Adobe downloads often have those "extra special offers"attached... PUA'S!: often the PUA included will be mentioned, and you can opt out of installing it.  Those check boxes you see? Usually only one of them is for the User Agreement of the software you want, the others are for the junk you don't.
 
 I hope this helps you too understand, and resolve the problem and if not please let us know!
 
 
Please get back to us one way or another so we know how you are doing.
 
Best Regards,
 
 
Userlevel 7
Hi Jodygamble
 
Welcome again to the Community Forums.
 
As I said in my reply to your original post above...if you have run a scan with WSA and it has come up clean then that would most likely confirm that.  If however you have any concerns/yo feel that you system has been impacted in some way, etc., you can Open a Support Ticket and let the Webroot Support Team take a look for you.
 
But given that you have been messaged directly you need to ask yourself...how would they know that my system is compromised...answer is they would not...therefore = SCAM.
 
Regards, Baldrick
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hello Baldrick,
 
Excuse me for jumping into this post I neglected to see that you were already assisting.
 
My Apologies!,
 
 
 
Regards,
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
That's me Sherry as I put the 2 threads together in this one!
 
Daniel :$
 
 
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Daniel I didn't mean to edit your post!! I was trying to tell you I didn't think gain in answering the OP.
 
Sorry!:@
 
 
Good job Daniel.
Userlevel 7
Hi Sherry
 
Absolutely NO NEED to apologise...the Teamwork here is great.
 
I just reiterated my post in the other thread opened by Jody to make sure that all angles were covered.
 
Regards, Baldrick
 
Userlevel 7
Well, Daniel...that is what we agreed we would do in those circumstances...so no need for :$...as you is following the master plan...:D
 
Baldrick
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
@ wrote:
Daniel I didn't mean to edit your post!! I was trying to tell you I didn't think gain in answering the OP.
 
Sorry!:@
 
 
Good job Daniel.
No worries just letting you know what happened as the OP posted in 2 places nothing more and I don't know which version the OP has so since the words Best Buy came up maybe it should all go into the ISP forum.! 😃

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