PANDAMATENGA

Can any of you resident experts explain this please.
Last week a phone call purporting to be from my French bank saying I have a virus on my pc and that I should run an Anti virus program and change my password.I ran AVG free and changed my password.
Today she phoned again to say I still have a virus.I asked her why there was no message to me on my Credit Agricole login and she said it only applied to a few people. I then rang the bank and of course they said that nobody had called me and that it was probably a scam!!
My question is-what could they possibly gain? She did not ask(nor would I ever say) for any of my account details and in fact she told me to run an Antivirus.
Any advice appreciated

Confused of Brittany

Panda

PhineasC

Did they tell you which anti virus software to use? If you downloaded something they've written it could get your details

It could be a pure fishing exercise, I guess they know your name, they got that from the phone book, they now know you have a Credit Agricole account and use internet banking.

I'd give Credit Agricole a call and change all your passwords.

HTH

green granite

It could well be the start of identity theft, they gradually build up a profile of you and your bank etc the use the info to impersonate you and obtain credit in your name, I suggest you start getting suspicious, very suspicious.

ORAC

Cold Calling scam alert

PANDAMATENGA

Thanks for that Phineas and GG.
GG now I am really getting worried!!
The first time she called she said she was from Credit Agricole so she already knew that I banked with them and that I used internet banking.No,she did not say which Antivirus to use neither did she tell me to download anything.
The guy at the bank said he could send me a new 6 digit password to use but surely if somehow she has access to my pc she will see the new number the first time I enter it.
I have run Iobit/AVG and CC cleaner and no virus has been found.
Still confused and getting ever more paranoid!!
Panda

PhineasC

How do you know that? you call 10 domestic numbers at random, 3 will bank with CA, what's the cost if they don't, the caller just says it's another computer mess up.

Don't get paranoid it looks like you picked up the scam in time.

visibility3miles

As said, it's a big bank, so it could easily be a lucky guess.

Likewise, easy guess.

If you say no to either they say "sorry" and move on.

Always be suspicious of them calling you as a personal favor. Assume that one to one contact with a customer is unlikely unless you're a really big customer. (If the latter describes you, please provide me with a plane ticket and I will drop by to clean (out) your financial accounts.)

More likely a simple warning or link to a warning on the website gets it out to everyone. That and/or a generic e-mail is more likely.

Beware of phishing websites. They often have all the correct links, but the "head" link has a url is so long you have to scroll through a bunch of clutter making it hard to spot the re-direct to the bogus site.

PANDAMATENGA

Thanks for all your advice.
Actually I return to the UK tomorrow so will not be using the french pc for bank access for 2 more months.
Hopefully they will lose interest and move on and my wife will try and capture their telephone number if they call again!!

Cheers
Panda

Milo Minderbinder

An old old scam, usually they tell you they're callingh from Microsoft, you've reported a variation
They would have falsely identified viral problems with the PC, and then scammed you to pay to get it fixed. Either by conning you into handing over bank or card details, or else by paying through a proxy service such as Ukash or Western Union

Alsacienne

You might want to contact ScamWarners ... www.scamwarmers.com

There might be information about this already on the site or they might be interested to learn about it from you. The more information available, the less chance the scammers have to cause you and others grief.

Ancient Observer

I suspect that GG is right. They were probably warming you up. Intent would be to gather small bits of data about you in each call, gain your confidence, and then try to strike for the underlying scam.

The CA bit was probably a guess.

G-CPTN

I've just had another one of these calls.

This time the caller was barely intelligible (Asian 'Engrish').

She (?) started by asking what key was next to the CTRL key (it's not the Windows key as expected) but after asking me to press the Windows key together with the R key (which would prompt the Run command I believe) the line deteriorated and was disconnected.

The thing is that these callers have my name and initial (although they don't understand the correct juxtaposition of surname and initials - presumably basing their 'knowledge' on Asian name formats) - so where are they getting this information?

I presume that there is no way that they could connect directly to my computer (which uses a wireless router)? - or would that have been possible if I had followed the instructions?

Is the scam simply that they will ask for creditcard details and then rip-off the account?

Hoax Microsoft Windows security calls offer hindrance not help | Money | The Guardian

Airclues

G-CPTN

This is worth watching;


It shows exactly what happens if you fall for the scam.

Dave

sotiras

They'd almost certainly need some form of co-operation from you to gain full remote access - unless the machine is already infected.

I'd download and run a programme called Hijack this

Essentially it identifies and reports to you exactly what programmes and services are running on your PC. Google then becomes your friend (assuming you don't have a PC savvy mate!) and you can then set about establishing the legitimacy of everything that Hijack this identifies.

There are also forums in which you can discuss your findings.

It's incredibly useful.

Good luck.

EEngr

I can explain the whole scam operation and help you avoid it in the future. Just send $20 to me at .......