So, my friend got his computer “locked” and there was a number to call a Microsoft support agent. He called it and talked to him for awhile, and he got talked into letting the scammer remotely access his computer and took him to the registry where it shows all the area and started trying to sell him an anti-virus. Once he started being marketed to, he hung up and turned the wi-fi and his laptop off. He has tax documents on his computer with private information, so just to be safe I had him file a fraud alert with TransUnion.
I was wondering, if he watched the guy remotely access his computer the whole time and the scammer never tried opening up any documents or anything, how likely is it that any files or personal information were taken? I told him to also keep an eye on bank statements and credit card statements to be extra safe. His passwords aren’t saved on his browser or anything, but I read somewhere they could have stolen his cookies and use those to log into some accounts? I don’t know, I’m just worried but I think I’ve had him take all the necessary precautions for now. Are there any other steps I should have him take?
They could have done anything, but as someone who worked on the support side of one of those shady companies many years ago, normally the sales people will lie to you, but not actually DO anything to your PC.
Their goal is to show you logs with error messages that don’t mean much, get you to buy AV and if they can, a support contract.
Then the support guys, who are normally legit, are the ones you talk to any other time you call.
Still, no promise this was a “legit” scummy company, so wipe the stuff and reset everything the browser has saved, but good odds if they were selling him an AV, they aren’t trying to “steal” anything. They just want a sucker.