Victim Location 55427
Type of a scam Tech Support
Pop ups started coming on my web browsers in Google Chrome and Safari. The following message occurred on every new page I opened in the search engines: "Case ID: 10252086: Dear AS209 *** *** ***, LLC Customer – We noticed excessive POPUPS and some Performance Issues on your Mac OS X computer. It could be because of a possible ADWARE in your Chrome Browser. Unfortunately we do not have a Level 3 Technician near Minneapolis Stores. So Please Call 1-844-890-4980 immediately and get connected to a Level 3 technician for Mac OS X Computer. Please note your Reference number for this Case is: 10252086." I called the number and they entered my computer through a shared screen. He installed some software claiming to be against malware and said he "installed a new firewall."
The names they gave were "Harry Smith" (with an extremely heavy Philippine accent. He gave me two different extension numbers for his phone when I asked him two different time. Once, he said it was X2561 and then x435. Then he said his ID was Ap-341. I asked to speak to a manager and he claimed his name to be "*** ***" with the extension of x0285. Then he gave another extension when I asked later: x432. "Harry" also told me his last name was "Zaidi." When I challenged him on this, and said that Hussain told me his last name was "Zaikai," he denied it.
When I called Apple, they told me they would NEVER do anything like this. I did enter my credit card, but I later disputed the charge as fraud, and the credit card company is crediting the money back to me and issued a new credit card.
The following is information that they typed and put on my desktop. I also gave them my phone number, email, and name:
"1.We need to service your mac pro.
2.We need to repair the firewall.
3.We need to remove all the infection.
4.We need to remove trojan virus.
Advanced Firewall Protection
Harry smith
x435
ID: Ap-341
Hussan Zaidi (Also, "Hussain Zaikai")
x432
TOLL FREE : 1-855-284-0500
Timings : 11AM to 8PM EST, Monday to Friday."