Scams you’ve fallen for, heard of etc.?

I mean all of this post completely serious and polite but also HIGHLY URGENT.

A guy called my home claiming he works for windows/Microsoft.

He showed infected files I had and had software on his computer to be able to control other people’s computer stuff.

He downloaded something to my computer a chat thing.

He also changed my SysKey and he said something like "send me 149 dollars to get a Windows XP upgrade".

I did not send him money luckily.

However although I am in the top 10 most intellegent safety experts on
planet earth, he even had me tricked.

My eMachines windows XP is now unplugged.

Please if you get a call like I did hang up and unplug your computer for about 72 hours but at least 2 hours I recommend.

Also while very very very rare that a scammer means physical harm, please report all scammers especially those who wish to do physical harm to targets.

Eh the only thing I have "fallen" for, was a dupe scam in Diablo 2. Didn’t lose anything of value, being skeptic about the whole premise (stand close to the town wall and then drop the item you want to dupe), I dropped a random gem, and the other dude immediatly picked it up. Looking in my inventory, I didn’t have that gem anymore.

Naturally the other guy claimed, that I was doing it wrong, but eh.

*insert obligatory eve online scam here*

Well, I haven`t fallen to some of the scams that are popular around the net. I`m just that paranoid that, when I receive them, I don`t even open/read suspicious e-mails (They be walkin` the plank as soon as they get on me ship, YARGHH!), not to mention ignoring: pop-ups on various sites, people wanting to meet me on different sites, flashing warnings about my computer (again, on sites) etc. I admit, there are probably WAY more scams than ones mentioned, I hope I won`t come across other types.

I came across an interesting article, where I have, for the first time, read and learned something about how scammers operate. This article is about what happens when a scammer, in a twist of fate, calls a security expert!

Tech Support Scammer Cold Calls Emsisoft | Emsisoft Blog (http://blog.emsisoft.com/2014/08/29/what-happens-when-a-tech-support-scammer-cold-calls-a-security-expert/)

If this article is true (I think it is), it is debatable how many levels of scamming professionals there are (probably a lot). You`ll see for yourself what I mean if you read the article.

Incidentally, it is about the same thing the Original Poster was talking about. I recommend reading it to anyone interested, especially OP.

(Emsisoft is, it seems, an anti-everything-bad-on-Internet company (viruses, malware), and while I don`t know how good their software is, they seem like fine people, at least according to their blog)

I like it that these guys are trying to raise awareness about this matter.

Over the summer, I received a notification on my laptop claiming that the FBI was shutting down Internet access on my computer and that I would be fined thousands of dollars for illegal downloads and stuff (which, I don’t illegally download music or anything, so I thought it must have been a virus). I freaked out and shut down my laptop. When I rebooted it, it was fine, and I checked my home computer to make sure it was just a scam, and thankfully it was. Other than that, though, there are very few scams that I’ve gotten like that where I’ve actually fallen for them.

The only scam I fell for was one of those "free Steam games" links that was sent to me via Steam chat. It happened years ago(around 2007, or 08? I can’t remember). My account was compromised, but I got it back, thanks to Steam support. I’ve definitely learned my lesson at that point and I’ve never let it happen again.

I know of one. It’s called car insurance.

I had one not long ago from an indian guy claiming the pc was infected – at the time i was at my folks house who are old fashoined and didn’t have a pc. I obviously knew it was a scam at the time as i’d heard of it before so i strung him along for 10 minutes and had a good laugh… he said can you see windows so i replied "yeah, they are at the front and rear of the house" 😀

Discount tickets… only to discover that actually gives the lowest discount over something expensive you buy (like Play Asia tickets)