Pop ups

[Twinklestarstwinklestars]

My friends email got hacked so she rang yahoo who charged her £149! To unhack it and she said they took control of her laptop to do it, now there's loads of pop ups coming up all the time. Yesterday yahoo rang her and took control again and told her she's been hacked again and want another £99 to stop it.

Firstly how does she get rid of however they are controlling her laptop and how does she block pop ups? All pop up blockers are on.

Try a full virus scan and a malware scan.

Turn off remote login.

Did not know you could call yahoo.

I have NEVER heard of calling up an email provider to fix being hacked. Normally it's a case of changing your password or recovering the password, which email providers do via a web form normally.

This sounds kind of suss to me. Especially as their own page advising on what to do when hacked doesn't mention phoning them. help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&id=SLN3516&actp=search&viewlocale=en_US&searchid=1364293471537&locale=en_US&y=

Where did she get the number?

As to the pop ups, are they a web page, or a separate program? If web, if she uses firefox or chrome she could install adblock. I would actually recommend she uninstall the browser, clear out all the data for it (google for this, but warn her it will clear her history, active logins, saved passwords etc) then reinstall it and put adblock on (because it's brilliant. Seriously, blocks video ads too on things like YouTube and 4OD) adblockplus.org/en/chrome

I just showed my boyfriend this thread (we're both software engineers) and he wonders if something popped up and told her that her account had been hacked and to call such and such number. In that case it is a scam and she should cancel the card she paid with and possibly reinstall her computer. I don't want you or her to panic, but if these people were not really Yahoo then who knows what they installed on her computer while they had access. They could have put a keylogger on to steal more personal details.

Get her to get in touch with Yahoo Customer Care (via their facebook is probably easiest www.facebook.com/YahooCustomerCare ) and ask them to confirm if the number/service was genuine and take it from there. Hopefully it was and they're just money grubbers, but I have never heard of a web service like Yahoo charging for such a service.

Sorry to post 3 times in a row but my boyfriend just sent me this link: help.yahoo.com/kb/index?locale=en_US&page=content&id=SLN6349

She should get in touch with her bank. May also be worth popping down to the local police station to see if they are interested, since I think it would count as fraud. Getting a reference number from they may also help with the bank.

Thanks all, she said she got the number off the yahoo site.

She's trying to find remote login.

Yahoo specifically say they don't charge for tech support. I really think she should query this with yahoo in a public forum, such as facebook or twitter.

Twinklestarstwinklestars: Your friend has been scammed and needs to TALK TO HER BANK

This is a VERY common scam. If you search for "tech support" scam, you will find loads of results. Since she gave the scammer access to her computer, they could have installed just about anything on there, as well as copied off any saved passwords/bank details etc.

The computer needs to be looked at by a professional (or trusted and competent friend/family member). My personal advise would be to copy anything important (like family photos etc.) to a CD and get the computer wiped, and Windows reinstalled. While it is possible to remove most viruses that are likely to have been installed, you will be hard pressed to guarantee you have got them all. And I am willing to bet money that she has viruses. They will be the source of the pop-ups.

She also needs to TALK TO HER BANK asap. She has given her card details to somebody we already know is untrustworthy. If they haven't used them yet, it will only be a matter of time before she finds weird stuff getting bought on them.

I personally would also advise changing her passwords once her system is clean. Anything that has been stored/entered on the compromised computer should be assumed to have been sent to some shady people abroad, and needs changing. It is a hassle, but still preferable to having all your accounts start spamming your friends with links to cheap viagra/fake rolexes/viruses.

If your friend ever decides to believe they've been scammed, I've found out that the police have a website for reporting such scams: www.actionfraud.police.uk/

She's admitted now she's been scammed, she ringing the bank tomorrow, will get her to get it wiped etc, thanks.

Ah I'm glad :) Sorry for being pushy, it's just important she gets the bank part sorted asap. These guys are crafty, she shouldn't feel silly about it or anything like that.