Junk Mail

[Ian M]

Have you seen the guy on You tube that replies to spam mail and scammers. Rather funny.
I have so far this year "earned" about 20,000 bit coin. Had my American Express card, I dont own, blocked twice. My pay pal account blocked twice.... the usual suspects. Then there are the more tricky ones. You have a parcel that is ready for collection... but first you need to pay a duty of XX€ click here....... Nope.

Re the anti virus thing I use Norton. The new version covers multiple devices. Works. Has VPN and is far less system hungry than before. So for the one price I have My lap top, my desk top and smart phone. The wife has it on her laptop and smart phone.

[Mickc1440]

The scammers are working overtime at the moment by online, email, telephone and I even got a letter from a Japanese financial guy who wanted my help to scam an estate of a deceased man with my surname :tongue-out3:

[Guest]

Never sat YES when they ask is that you speaking, they have been known to record , and splice yes in a tape confirming you have ordered from them.

Always getting email's saying my PayPal account is blocked, the last time I sent it to Paypal only to be told it was not a spam, just shows how much interest they take.

[stona]

Have you seen the guy on You tube that replies to spam mail and scammers. Rather funny.

There's a guy who really stiffs the 'Microsoft Support' scammers.

He uses a virtual machine (obviously) and strings them along right up to the point when he gains control of THEIR network and deletes everything on their computers. The networks are surprisingly small, usually about 5-10 machines, but that's 5-10 fewer scammers able to operate while they reinstall their operating systems etc.

These guys work on a numbers game. For every thousand who hang up or take the p*ss there is one who will fall for it, quite often vulnerable people or people who really know nothing about computers.

[langy71]

nxt yr i will try another which one do you think is best an how much ?
chris

Firstly I'd like add that other anti virus programs are available, these are just my personal thoughts on these programs based upon my experience whilst using them, individual users may experience a better or worse experience,

I dropped Norton, McCafee, Avast and most of the other anti-virus programs due to them being very 'resource hungry',

Norton actually slowed down my Laptop, (which was running an Intel Pentium i5 processor, and 8gb of RAM ) and I ended up getting sick of constant pop ups from Avast, which seemed to like telling me to purchase various add - on programs.

(And I might add, both of these programs missed some pretty serious and nasty malware that was doing the rounds a couple of years ago.)

In the end I went with 'Total AV',

This was originally a free anti-virus which I ended up liking so much that i purchased the 'fully paid for' version.. (link below )

https://www.totalav.com/en/free-antivirus

Here's a link that's worth checking out for more info on Anti-virus programs, This isn't an exhaustive list and there are programs that haven't made it onto the list, but it gives you a bit more info..

https://www.techradar.com/uk/best/best-antivirus

[boatman]

Firstly I'd like add that other anti virus programs are available, these are just my personal thoughts on these programs based upon my experience whilst using them, individual users may experience a better or worse experience,

I dropped Norton, McCafee, Avast and most of the other anti-virus programs due to them being very 'resource hungry',

Norton actually slowed down my Laptop, (which was running an Intel Pentium i5 processor, and 8gb of RAM ) and I ended up getting sick of constant pop ups from Avast, which seemed to like telling me to purchase various add - on programs.
CHEERS CHRIS for the info
chris
(And I might add, both of these programs missed some pretty serious and nasty malware that was doing the rounds a couple of years ago.)

In the end I went with 'Total AV',

This was originally a free anti-virus which I ended up liking so much that i purchased the 'fully paid for' version.. (link below )

https://www.totalav.com/en/free-antivirus

Here's a link that's worth checking out for more info on Anti-virus programs, This isn't an exhaustive list and there are programs that haven't made it onto the list, but it gives you a bit more info..

https://www.techradar.com/uk/best/best-antivirus

[Guest]

I've also had loads of message about AV subscriptions or renewals for products I've never used :rolling:

I regularly have a laugh at the spam calls we get. They clearly don't know how to sex or pronounce my wife's name (Zoë) in whatever country they are from. "Hello, is that Mr Zoooeey / Zowie?"

Click. Brrrr.....

[langy71]

The best scam attempt I've ever come across was somebody apparently from Microsoft, phoned my old mobile number, and informed me that my computer had shown up on 'their system' to be heavily infected with a virus and malware,

He then asked for me to give him access to my computer..( via remote access ) and he would clean and 'disinfect' my computer for a one time bargain cost of £50.00. so I made out I had know idea what I was doing with a computer and I just used it for checking how to create my own cheese.

His sales patter then launched into 'I've landed a sucker mode', he quickly informed me he was a member of the 'Microsoft computer security team' and he even gave me a supposed 'official Microsoft employee security code, that would allow me to check he actually worked for Microsoft..'

I played the confused and totally out of my depth customer, and gave the impression I was marvelled by what he said he could do, right up to the point where I asked him if he could see my computer 'on-line' as we spoke ?... his reply was 'I'm looking at your 'Desktop' as we speak, and I need you to type in the web address I'm going to give you',
I did the standard 'are you sure this will fix my computer as I need to order some supplies for my cheese making ?', and he was very convincing that he'd get me back up and running in no time at all.. safe and secure ...

He was adamant he could fix my computer via remote right up until the point where I revealed to him that my computer wasn't even turned on and was disconnected from the internet due to me re-decorating the room and despite the appearance of me being a doddering idiot with a computer, I more than likely knew more about computers than he did. and I'd also tracked his I.P. address, which I would be passing on to the police as soon as I'd finished this call... (which would have been an actual miracle as like I'd already mentioned my computer wasn't even turned on...lol ),

He hung up rather sharpish..

[Guest]

There's a guy who really stiffs the 'Microsoft Support' scammers.

He uses a virtual machine (obviously) and strings them along right up to the point when he gains control of THEIR network and deletes everything on their computers.

There are several of these on YouTube, and it’s quite informative to watch some of their videos. You learn a lot about how the scammers work, which should help you in not falling for it yourself if they pick you as a victim. Try these, for example:

https://youtube.com/c/JimBrowning

https://youtube.com/c/ScammerPayback

https://youtube.com/channel/UCp5UQ-SycPwaJ3cIqmT9V_A