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 So Mum, Dad and I go for coffee today and dad tells me that something happened in his computer that smelled SO MUCH of ransomware.

So I figure it WAS ransomware and it gave a phone number to call to get "rid" of it and unlock it. So dad calls the number and:

first of all, there are 10 voices talking 4 different languages in the background, AKA sounds of a boiler room.

Next, they got into his computer, he thinks,

No proper English,

Never heard of ransomware with a phone number attached to it until lately,

Cost was atrocious and didn't sound even remotely right

Claims to have been from Microsoft, AKA the Microsoft scam.


Actual cost of this was CAD $600!

Mom revealed to me what had happened that he hid from me earlier when I asked HER and not dad. Dad did not seem ashamed. I got so FUCKING MAD!

Dad finally "confessed to me after" to confirm this. Now he is out CAD $600.

I couldn't have been madder or my language at its worst around my parents, and I NEVER talk shit like that unless real true shit happens. I was saying pardon my French a few times.



I am so embarrassed for Mum. When Dad got that computer at his age, I KNEW dad was playing with fire,m I just knew it. Now he got burned.

I was a sitting duck on the lakeside watching this whole FUCKING affair crash and burn

Teach him some basics and all will be fine.

I try over and OVER again to teach him the GOD DAMN basics and he still won't catch on. Fuck sake he IS stubborn. I told him as much as

I knew and he either won't or doesn't somehow fucking catch on for God Sakes. Hell, Mum knows and smells a scam from MILES away. I told him,

no I SHOUTED at him to at least FUCKING CONTACT ME before calling a number posted on a locked computer with bars or whatever on it. Jeeez.

I would have fixed his goddamn motherfucking machine for a GODFORSAKEN LOT LESS than the CAD$600 price he paid to the fucking scammer.

I didn't feel shame as of yet, but so furious that I hollered, screamed and cursed, very much unlike most times. This is the worst fail by him that I

have evar encountered with him and his actions, or lack thereof.


I KNEW when dad got the computer that he'd be burned eventually. I FUCKING DAMN WELL KNOW NEVER PAY $600 to get my FUCKING computer "fixed".

I just had to be that fucking sitting duck by the lakeside watching the game slowly, unfold, crash and burn.

Maybe put some restrictions on it like you would a kid. You can get decent software for this. Just limit him to browsing, don't allow downloads, maybe allow Skype or his favourite apps, etc.

Update:

I called Mum back and said that I was never more sick and tired of this shit.

To indicate this I said "Soon as dad bought the computer at his age, I thought "Here we go"! Here we go as in many more

harebrained ideas and scams. Mum said he'd try to prove that it wasn't a scam. HOW!? I was like. Mum was like "Let him

prove it somehow." I got more angry. I hope that he doesn't somehow convince her, as I seriously think it is a goddamn

scam. My Dad plays with fire, so to speak and gets his crotch burned. Every. Time.

Did he by chance pay with a credit card or something he can dispute with his bank?

Scammers typically ask for Western Union or Bitcoin for this very reason...

Dad doesn't seem to use Bitcoin that I remotely can fathom. He has never mentioned to me that he would use it. Sounds like he paid with a V/MC type card.

ANDDDDDD

He is allowing time to elapse to prove it wasn't a fucking scam. OMFG DOES HE EVER LEARN!? NO!!!

There is a Statute of Limitations, I believe on a V/MC card dispute and I have a sinking feeling that he

won't do anything until it runs out. Harebrained things have happened before but this

TAKES THE FUCKING CAKE!

I have had ransome ware many times, it does not actually lock up my computer.
Bringing up task manager then kill the page or use task manager to shut down, if that fails shut down the computer using the power button.

Even after restart I clean all cache and cookies, run virus scans, and clean.
These ransomare sites mostly lock your browser, all other options with my computer are always available.
I never known it to be so serious for anyone.

Sorry about your Dad.

I am not all sorry crybaby about dad just yet. I am so critically mad that I could hit random people if it was socially acceptable.  I mean, wow.

$600 CAD in savings MEANT for him to live off of, along with Mum. I was that sitting duck on the side of the lake watching a whole event unfold, crash and burn, meaning as soon

as Dad got that computer, something would happen. I just know all along from day one. This takes the FUCKING CAKE!

What gets me is that REAL Microsoft tech support is unlikely to talk in broken English.

Before the fact, I came into the info that Microsoft is illegally used by dark world to pull these scams.

I dont know if he had gotten an 800 number or what. He should have compared the number against a

REAL MICROSOFT VERIFIED PRODUCT! Thing that I severely doubt he did.

Had he seen this number discrepancy, he would have had a clearer clue to question. I don't give a damn

if he got the real verified Microsoft number off the back of a Microsoft format disk.

Another pointer, Microsoft wouldn't EVAR initiate contact through action on phone or computer unless

YOU YOURSELF initiated said contact-GET IT!?

No offence but 78 is getting up there, my neighbor fell for the same scam and shes in her fifties. We have to realize at a certain age you are not going to see much change for the better. Share the worry but we differ on getting angry at them.
See so many people yelling at their older parents, bit of a pet peave. That and kids ripping their parents off as they become more reliant on them.
Show some patience, you are lucky to still have parents around. parental locks sound like a good idea though if he is starting to slip.

Coming in here and bitching over not teaching your father basic internets isn't going to save anything at this point unfortunately.

I highly suggest giving him internet 101 before letting him get all his personal info stolen (if it isn't already).

Can't say I haven't tried with him. I have tried numerous times.

I told him about several things and still he keeps at it. If his credit

card is now stollen, I am going to say yes it WAS a scam. I was so

unsurprised at all this. He NEVER admitted scam or anything. Nope,

no scam here, he was like. Damn, should get computer security for

dummies or something like that.

TBH, he has a slight stroke, so he wasn't at his sharpest in the drawer, I suppose when it happened. I didn't come to think of that one, tbh.

That could be one of the underlying factors of why it didn't clue in that he was in a scam. I just knew when he got the computer an explosion

like this could happen. IDK why, but I knew he was in trouble sooner or later.

Seen a lot of old people in libraries that are clueless about email alone. See people explain and they usually waste 10 minutes before they realize its a death trap.

My dad didn't actually spend the 78 or 600 on the ransomware just yet, but he had considered it seriously. I got done calling him and

told him to stick with what he knew, NORTON. I insisted on that for that is what he knows and has trusted for years. I said any paid

options should only be ones basically found in mainstream computer stores. I sure chilled out after finding out this update and told him

to cancel his credit card and watch for unusual changes and charges on them.

My dad was a victim of hackers that wanted a ransom to unlock his files.  Luckily he didn't have much on the computer worth losing and he had most things backed up.  He didn't pay a ransom, but he did take it somewhere to have his computer cleaned up, so it did cost him something, but not much.

Well we cant blame our dads if they'd be in trouble in that ways. So you gotta show him around the net.

I found out through Mum that dad went to Best Buy and learned there that this whole fucking fiasco was indeed a scam JUST LIKE I SAID.

Then from there he went to his bank and explained what happened and the bank did paperwork for MasterCard to get the money back. MC paid at first,

so AFAIK, they can get this reversed somehow. I hope now Dad learned to FUCKING LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY SOMETHING.

IF YOU KNEW MY DAD, YOU MIGHT AS WELL TALK TO A POST.

Yes some people fall for the easiest scams ever, especially old people are easy targets.
They will believe everything because they don't know a lot about technology and doing everything online.

I know that if someone calls you and says you have a problem with ur computer that guy is full of shit, but for us computers and technology are easy, but if I look at my grandma she doesn't even know how to work with a pc or mobile phone.
While the daughter of a friend of mine who is 2 years old, knows exactly how a smartphone and tablet work.

The only thing you can do is warn them and if something like that happens again you tell them they should call you before they do anything!

Actually, $600 CAD is a pretty cheap education.  I think my niece paid $10k CAD for her first year of university in Canada - that might have included a residence fee though... not sure.
  My parents are the same when it comes to computers, they try to learn but it's totally foreign to them.  If I happen to be angry about it when something happens, I do my best not to show it because if you curse and stomp around, they're not going to call you and ask you for help when they need it.  You are essentially setting the stage for a recurrence by way of your actions.  Calm the fuck down.  If you live in Canada, $600 is SFA.


Edit: Set them up a couple of accounts on rollluptherim; maybe they can win it back from Timmy's.

Tell your parents not to keep anything they can't handle losing on their PC.
And maybe teach them how to put pictures on a USB drive etc.
Chances are that is the only valuable on the PC aside from Credentials.

THEN.. tell them be careful but if anything happens ?
Do nothing !
YOU will come over to their house and re-install Windows etc on their machines fresh.

Mine are pretty damn savvy.. i am lucky.
And they also know the go to method is to re-install Windows.. and they do all on their own.

EDIT:
Homer you said...
"$600 CAD is a pretty cheap education"

BULLSHIT !

What if his senior parents are on a tight budget ?
$600 could be a massive beating.. a lot of people just wouldn't have it !
OR be able to get it in 7 days..

Not everyone is made of money rich kid.

homer, you are the one who doesn't realize that people can be on a budget-tight as hell.

you are not helping matters any by indicating that it is cheap.

Because, for them it isn't. The idea for rolluptherimtowin was novel, though.

I could not believe Dad fell for the scam. Mum fortunately saw through it and got him to go

to Best Buy to get convinced.  Dad relented and found out the truth. I couldn't have felt more

                                                              VINDICATED!

 Yeah, it's possible but not probable that a 78 year old Canadian who bought a computer, pays for internet and can take his wife and kid out for a coffee is on that tight a budget and if he was, he would have balked at paying $600 over the phone via credit card to have his computer fixed.  Sounds more like OP is on a tight budget since the thought of his dad forking over that kind of cash made him want to go around hitting random people...

 Oh, I'm not a kid ;)



 

   I stand by my assertation that $600 is a cheap education; it wasn't my intention to harm or help your situation with that statement but simply to put it in context.  My main point to you was that you needed to calm down.  People wont listen to a raving maniac no matter how true their words.  I'm glad things worked out for the best; it seems like your mom is the voice of reason and the calming influence in your family but isn't that generally the case?

You are right about a tight budget for me. I AM on a tight budget and FORTUNATELY can fix my own damn

computer w/o help, most often of an expensive technician. I have actually NEVER called a technician for

computer difficulties for YEARS. And so, I have learned how to fix computers MYSELF and on a small budget.

Small wonder I was so irate. I couldn't believe he was not trusting my mum's or my opinion on the matter.

Stubborn old coot.

So mad, I don't know if he actually deserves to loose the 770 charged on the MC or not. I really am annoyed

to the point of no longer giving a damn.

I think because he was being crypitc about how he and whether he ACTUALLY charged the MC was a way of his

being embarrassed over what had happened. He would not admit to this and Mum had to get it all out to me. I just felt

worse by dad's attempts at hiding this part. That is what made it so much worse.

You seem to have some anger issues that you may want to look into. To get this worked up over a issue that they do not seem to bothered about seems like something else in play. Look into it,you will only learn something about yourself and grow as a person.
Dwelling on the situation just lengthens the problem and your Father will not feel comfortable coming to you about anything in the future.
Trust me,my mother is stubborn as well,any sign of me pushing her one direction and she gets her back up with some passive aggressiveness.

New day. same shit. Hackers are back, what is worse, he is in denial about the hackers. I will NOT bring this shit up today when we go out as he is MAD.

OMFG he verbally abused Mum over shit like this! Thankfully he never hit her. OMFG he was FIT TO BE TIED! I will wait a few days and ask Mum when

to ask him the tiniest question unless expressly allowed. He has anger problem as well.

 Well it's never easy to admit you've been duped and many people will go to great lengths to avoid embarrassment.  Nobody deserves to get scammed but it seems there's no end to the number of scammers out there.

 Rather than wait a few days, why don't you just e-mail your dad a link to a site like this which might help him understand what's going on and possibly fix it himself:

https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-tech-support-scam-popups/

 

 

HELLLLP!

Mum was hollered at so bad by my Dad who IS in denyal about the whole fracas.

I was perfectly and FLATLY warned NEVER bring a SHRED of this up when out for coffee with him. So, I never even did.

sounds like he is locked out of his computer. I just am lost at the deal. Was told to let the whole matter sink in to him

on the sidelines before I would bring it back up. I dont know whether to become so bloody exasperated that I give up,

or what to do. Actually this is the first damn thing that I KNOW is driving a wedge between Mum and Dad. I am so worried now

just for their relationship. It IS true that finances can ruin relationships.

Why are you so mad your dad lost money? perhaps anger management classes would be the fix here?

I guess I am just as embarrassed as he is about it, because I feel for him. I just couldn't believe he fell for that. I believed that he

had to have a little more sense than this. Nothing much new known abut the whole fiasco this morning. No one said anything new

yet. All I want for this is to be fixed.

That is embarrassing, but don't ridicule the man. Everyone makes mistakes...

It's really hard to teach older people about computers, maybe you should check them from time to time.

My great grand mother refused to fly and never took elevators. Pretty sure we will refuse to do something these kids in diapers currently will dream up in the future. When a young kid is not eyeballing you any more you know you have crossed over to being a old fart in their eyes.

Watched a guy when I had to use the library to print off some documents get how to use the computer explained to him. Took the person 15 minutes and when they left he asked another person the exact same stuff. Sometimes its not worth the effort because its just so foreign to them.

If you are really concerned you could set it up that they only get phone calls from people that they know. Have to face a fact that people are living longer and dementia will disrupt more and more with the length of life. This baby boomer generation is going to be massive,prepare for more depends ads for adults or it even becoming a cool trend.

Old people are always easy targets.
Don't get mad to them. Just help them and teach basics.

Once I wrote my email and password to fake gmail website way years back. I was just unaware that day, or careless idk.
It can happen you know.

Why not install a live anti-virus program on him? He's not really going to be able to have any harm done to his computer if you manage to do that.

I live in a neighborhood full of blue-haired baby boomers. A foreign guy named "Steve" from "microsoft" calls them, convinces them to remote in and then shows them the warnings in the system log and says that those are viruses, which they are not. And charges them $400 for the lifetime support scam.

Simply installing a virus scanner will not fix social engineering.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdrwiTlVoo

This is what happened.

He did what I hoped he woud do. He quit the Net. I was glad so I wouldn't have to worry more about socail engeneering.

Sounds like everything worked out for the best.  Maybe your dad will have a little more respect for your knowledge of all things computer now as well.

I really hope that this is a GOLDEN lesson to listen to me when I say anything along these lines.

sad news but ransomware are really! :(

Its interesting that phone lines are still unable to block spoofed numbers or out of country calls. Sure you could achieve these things easy yet they allow people to be scammed every day in this manner.

He's still your dad.

I have now come to peace with this now that it has seemed to blow over by now and doesn't seem to be a mega-issue now. I forgave him, but just felt so awful at the time.

I just do not feel as roughed up by this as I was a few days ago.

what a shame!

Jesus. I really feel sorry for you and your family, lol. Malware and adware, as well as common scams are the worst thing to fall for... Especially with an older person who is most vulnerable. And 600 dollars isn't a small amount either.

So really, fuck those hackers. I hate them. They ruin everything.