Originally Posted by
WhyFi
Ugh, my mom has me texting her in all caps. She posted an FB update about her computer being locked and having to call the 800# and pay $300 to get it "fixed." Jezuz Christ on roller skates.
Mom, that's a scam. Call your credit card/bank and cancel the transaction now.
Why? It's working now.
Mom, they're ****ing scammers. You don't pay $300 to have someone remotely "fix" your laptop.
Will they sue me?
Of ****ing course not! They're ****ing scammers!
It took one or two more "really? are you sure?" exchanges for me to get in to the caps lock.
About two months ago my hotmail (which I rarely use) was hacked and sent a spam to everyone in the address book. One of them of was my father. I ended up spending 30 minutes on the phone with him explaining that my hotmail was hacked...
Why did that happen??
Dad, I don't know why, it just did.
But what did they hope to gain.
Dad....I'm not a hacker, I have no idea. Maybe they are hoping that someone will open the email and then get a virus or a Trojan Horse.
I clicked on the email........................do I have a virus?
I don't know, run a full scan.
What's a Trojan Horse?
It's similar to a virus, but it hides on your hard drive until you open a certain program, then it activates, just like the Trojan Horse.
What program activates it?
I don't know.
How can I find out?
Why do you want to find out?
So I don't open that program.
Dad....run a full scan.
But I opened the email.
Did you click on any of the links in the email?
What's a link in an email?
The different color text in an email.
No, I didn't click that.
Good...run a full scan.
What should I do if the full scan finds something?
Dad?
Yes?
I'm at work.
Run a full scan.