Microsoft Windows Support [ AMMYY ] scam

Watch out, this scam alert is all over the internet; so it's real!

We just received a phone call from an Indian speaking guy who said he was with Microsoft Windows Support and that our computer was emitting a warning signal that we had a "fatal" operating system errors that needed immediate correction. He told Mark that they needed to access our desk top through AMMYY remote access to fix the problem. Fortunately, Mark was suspicious and refused to play his game. After the call, I checked out AMMYY scams on Google.

Apparently this group has been pretty successful convincing gullible people to log into the legitimate AMMYY website and give these thugs access to their computers. Once in, the callers are accessing software and potentially personal data they can use for identity theft. They are also known to be selling illegal copies of software they "scalp" while they are hacked into the remote computers. According to the various scam warning web sites and blogs--some of these guys are in and out of your computer quickly--telling the person they have fixed the problem (once they have copied all the data they think will be useful to their purposes ). Other go so far as to try to get people to give them credit card or bank information to pay for "continued monitoring and protection".

I hope most folks are savvy enough not to fall for this scam, but thought you may know some folks on your contact list who may not catch on quick enough to prevent these thieves from stealing data from their PCs.

The easiest way to politely fix this is to tell them that you wish to inform them before they start talking that you are recording this conversation, [ really you are not ] and they will hang up, if it was genuine they would not mind you doing so.

SpeedyFox

Direct download from here

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Easeus Todo Backup 1.1

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There probably isn't an easier way to change the look of Firefox than with this little freeware add-on. Personas installs just as easily and quickly as any other Firefox extension. When it starts for the first time, a Web page opens giving instructions in three steps. That's all you'll need to understand how this program works.

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Reviewed by: CNET Staff