:AMMYY SCAM: Safety Notification

Dannflower Reguba · May 19, 2015, 10:00:32 PM

I just got a call today from a guy (he had a rather thick Indian accent), claiming he worked for Microsoft and that there was a high chance that if a computer was used in the last two months that it had a virus. He requested that I search for .inf files, claiming that they stood for, "infection." A .inf file is a file used for setup information, used in the installing of windows programs and the like. Ultimately, he tried to get me to download a program AA_v3.exe. As I'm sure you've guessed, this is a scam, referred to as the AMMYY scam.

EDIT: Number and Caller ID as seen on our phone: 1-(801)-225-4320, White Clayton
Google says the 801 area code is for Salt Lake City.

Skyblade · May 19, 2015, 10:04:00 PM

Thank you for letting us know! I also got a call from a stranger. It could have been him.

Rainshadow · May 19, 2015, 10:07:54 PM

I actually got a call from some random number today, too. The caller didn't leave a message. Wonder if that person was one of the scammers, too...

Anyway, thanks for letting us know! Can't be too careful when it comes to scamming, viruses, and the like.

Luftwaffles · May 19, 2015, 10:29:55 PM

Wow, that's the first time I heard of such thing (scams like that are normally seen in Emails and the like).

Thanks for letting us know, man (I wonder if they are going to try something like that here).

The Skarzs · May 19, 2015, 10:31:02 PM

Yes, we've gotten those more than once.
One guy in Australia has recorded his ordeal with one of them, and he set up a dummy computer specifically to show that they were illegitimate. (Another person actually managed to download a virus onto THEIR computer: "You make my computer no work! You make my computer no work!!")

Rainshadow · May 19, 2015, 10:52:01 PM

I have a friend who got called by a scammer one time and figured out immediately that the person on the phone was just trying to scam him (the guy said he was from Microsoft, where my friend's dad works, and that there was a virus on his computer that needed to be fixed immediately), but he didn't hang up on the guy. No, he went downstairs to the computer, sat down, and just stared at it while "following" the scammer's instructions. The guy would tell him to do something and he'd go, "Uh huh... 'kay, what next?" while not even doing anything. It threw the scammer off because he was trying to get my friend to download some sort of TeamViewer program so that he could take control of the computer, but it wasn't working because my friend wasn't actually installing it.

After maybe a half an hour of the guy struggling to get my friend to install TeamViewer (or whatever program it was), my friend went, "Huh, well, y'know what? My dad works for Microsoft, so maybe he'll be able to fix it when he gets home." The scammer hung up on him.

Banya · May 20, 2015, 12:21:42 AM

^Brilliant!

This is not a good thing to do, but when I get a call from an Indian telemarketer, I mimic their accents and pretend I don't understand English very well. I do that now because once I got a call from what I thought was a recording, until I yelled at it at the top of my lungs, and the voice stopped. I felt badly, so now I just play with them. I guess that's not much better, but they're wasting my time, so I waste theirs too, and I don't feel badly about that.

@Sierra: I doubt this is something you will have to worry about it. Telemarketing calls from India are common in the U.S. (American corporations hire Indian call centers to do their menial customer service work - the calls are often looking for information or product feedback), so it creates a solid platform for scammers to pretend to be employees of any certain business and obtain personal information or money. There have been some large ones in the last few years about donating money (via phone or email) to aid a Nigerian prince or bail a relative out of jail in Mexico. I don't mean this in a debasing way: a group of scammers is less likely to target Argentina than America. If you've never heard of these scams, when calls of this nature are public knowledge in the U.S., then it's not likely something that will impact you.

Hickory · May 20, 2015, 12:31:07 AM

Quote from: Banya on May 20, 2015, 12:21:42 AM
^Brilliant!

This is not a good thing to do, but when I get a call from an Indian telemarketer, I mimic their accents and pretend I don't understand English very well. I do that now because once I got a call from what I thought was a recording, until I yelled at it at the top of my lungs, and the voice stopped. I felt badly, so now I just play with them. I guess that's not much better, but they're wasting my time, so I waste theirs too, and I don't feel badly about that.

@Sierra: I doubt this is something you will have to worry about it. Telemarketing calls from India are common in the U.S. (American corporations hire Indian call centers to do their menial customer service work - the calls are often looking for information or product feedback), so it creates a solid platform for scammers to pretend to be employees of any certain business and obtain personal information or money. There have been some large ones in the last few years about donating money (via phone or email) to aid a Nigerian prince or bail a relative out of jail in Mexico. I don't mean this in a debasing way: a group of scammers is less likely to target Argentina than America. If you've never heard of these scams, when calls of this nature are public knowledge in the U.S., then it's not likely something that will impact you.

I do that sometimes. This telemarketer, and I'm really annoyed to I use a sterotypical Chinese accent and say, "He-lo? How can Ah help you?" something along those lines.

Skyblade · May 20, 2015, 12:32:13 AM

*sees Dan's edited first post*

Wait, what. The call I got was from Michigan. Another stranger, then $:-\$

Banya · May 20, 2015, 12:38:02 AM

It was me.
Kidding. What was the area code, Sky?

Skyblade · May 20, 2015, 12:39:13 AM

The area code was 616 and it literally said in my recents that it was from MI, USA.

Banya · May 20, 2015, 12:43:28 AM

Oh, that really did make me laugh. Of course it's the 616. Those people cause so much trouble. (Most of my friends live in the 616.) Anyway, that covers the central/southern/western part of the state, so the only possible large cities the call could have come from are Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo. Interesting. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

The Skarzs · May 20, 2015, 12:43:58 AM

I want to creep one of them out some time.

"Hello, you have problem with computer; we can-"
*Loud shaky nose breathing.* "Ooohhhhh, I ssstill remember how you ssmell. . ."
". . . W . . . What, sir?"
"Mm, don't say anything. . . I'll at your home tonight." *Click.*

Lady Ashenwyte · May 20, 2015, 12:48:53 AM

Quote from: The Skarzs on May 20, 2015, 12:43:58 AM
I want to creep one of them out some time.

"Hello, you have problem with computer; we can-"
*Loud shaky nose breathing.* "Ooohhhhh, I ssstill remember how you ssmell. . ."
". . . W . . . What, sir?"
"Mm, don't say anything. . . I'll at your home tonight." *Click.*

I want to do that now.

Hickory · May 20, 2015, 12:50:47 AM

That makes me think of a certain horror movie with a certain jigsaw bad guy...
Police investigator: Uh, detective? The victim seems to have been dragged to the water. By the photos taken by a very scared but very smart pet Dachsund, we seem to have deduced that the victimw as taken by a troll.
Detective: TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!!!! (or maybe) They have a cave troll.

News:

:AMMYY SCAM: Safety Notification