Please help!

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acelenny

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OK, so the other day a member of my family sent this email (paraphrased):

"Earlier today I received an unsolicited phone call from **** at Windows Support. She told me that my PC was not as clear of problems as I had thought. Norton 360 was not keeping my motherboard clear of potentially dangerous intrusions, which were a threat not only to my PC and the other devices on the established Home Network but also to any computers that might receive e-mails from me.

After 69 minutes being gently led by ***** through my PC's innermost workings, I was aware that my internal motherboard security had expired and needed to be renewed.

I confidently allowed **** to take control of my PC and download and install the appropriate Microsoft program.

From the moment I accepted ****'s call, more than 2 hours in total were spent on this matter."

This was clearly a cold calling scam and unfortunately it worked. I have yet to run programmes like malwarebytes, root killer, etc however I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice as to how to make sure that his computer is secure/ safe for him to use (he is old and knows nothing about the internet).
 

NVX_185

Member
Usually these scammers will get the user to install remote access software which allows them to take control of the PC. First and foremost, this software should be uninstalled so as to prevent any further remote access by the scammers.

Next, the 'appropriate Microsoft program' has to be uninstalled, there could be more nasties in there.

Then, as you said, run the anti-virus/malware/spyware programs. The only way to be 100% sure that the computer is safe is to perform a system restore or reformat it. Once your computer is in someone else's hands, it's difficult to track the extent of the possible damage caused, as appears to be the case here. I would also change passwords to websites that were used on that computer.
 
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