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Posted (edited)

Hey guys,

I would like to share with you all my just recent social engineering attack I experienced. To be honest I don't know if it was or not a social engineering attack but it was a very strange call that I refused to cooperate. Anyway,

I was sitting at my computer in my room, when my dad called me to say that, there was a person on the phone calling from some random place that he didn't understand. Well I took the phone off him and immediately answered the call, asking the person on the other end where they were calling from. The person on the other end was a lady at her 30's, with an Indian accent.

She then replied by saying, she represented a company by the name of "Virtual PC Doctor" that provides remote support services to end users experiencing problems with their PCs, due to virus or other malware type of infections. She then went on explaining how viruses can get into your computer without your knowledge. I then for a second stood still and listened to what she was saying and all the sudden the obvious questions started to emerge.

1) Do you have a PC?

2) Does it have access to the internet.

3) Also do you have access to email?

Frankly, if I had answered yes to Q 2 and 3, it was so obvious she was going to be sending an email containing a link to some website. Furthermore, I replied to her by saying that I do have a computer, but didn't have an internet connection due to some technical problems I was experiencing. She then politely apologized for bothering me and hung up the phone.

After the phone call was over, I headed over to Google to do a little bit of research on the company and came across this website, http://www.virtualpcdoctor.com/

so has this ever happened to anyone before?

Edited by Infiltrator
Posted

So it is a SCAM, thanks dude!!

Posted

Hey np, you caught it...

But yeh.. I've always hated people like this.. but if you dont know about computers and they offer a free scan to save all your stuff.. .we'll sadly most people do it..

What really put me in a defensive position, was the fact that she asked me if I had access to internet and emails. From that moment onward, I knew something about that call wasn't right. Just like any other computer savvy user I came up with a polite excuse and told her that had some issues with my internet connection.

After she hung up, she never called me back.

Posted (edited)

Its obvious this person either wanted to sell you something, or even SE you so they could send something, like a brochure to infect your machine via PDF or even harvest your email. Unless you initiated a support call, I would have hung up on the person right away. Hate telemarketers, and scammers even more. The fact they got you to visit their site is enough right there.

Edited by digip
Posted (edited)

Its obvious this person either wanted to sell you something, or even SE you so they could send something, like a brochure to infect your machine via PDF or even harvest your email. Unless you initiated a support call, I would have hung up on the person right away. Hate telemarketers, and scammers even more. The fact they got you to visit their site is enough right there.

I've never been social engineered before and what happened to me today has served as a good experience. Its something that you think will never happen to you, but thanks to all the articles and forums I've been reading I think in a way it helped me.

So its very important to be aware and cautions of these kind of issues.

Edited by Infiltrator
Posted

I've never been social engineered before and what happened to me today has served as a good experience. Its something that you think will never happen to you, but thanks to all the articles and forums I've been reading I think in a way it helped me.

I heard about this scam quite some time ago. You were fortunate because you are computer-savvy. Just imagine if the recipient had been a 70-year old (I don't mean to be ageist!) who had just managed to get online to exchange e-mails and holiday snapshots with his grandchild who lives 800 miles away. He may have been taken in hook, line and sinker!

Posted

I heard about this scam quite some time ago. You were fortunate because you are computer-savvy. Just imagine if the recipient had been a 70-year old (I don't mean to be ageist!) who had just managed to get online to exchange e-mails and holiday snapshots with his grandchild who lives 800 miles away. He may have been taken in hook, line and sinker!

I instructed my parents to put through any call regarding computer stuff to me. So that way if they try to pull any tricks, they can try on me but it won't work.

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