AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

Here's a first: Just got off the phone with some scammer trying to get access to my computer claiming there's a virus and "needed access to my computer to fix it." I gave them the run around for 30ish mins and after the 4th "technician," they had enough and hung up on me lol. I was googling everything the guys with horrible english were saying and found out its called the "AMMYY Scam."

Basically, they call claiming to be Microsoft Techs. and your computer is infected and have you go into DOS and type in "ftype." They say ""F" stands for "Failure" (fypte is obviously file type and just lists all the files on my com) and all the files being listed are infected" and other stuff like that to gain your trust. Then they direct you to the AMMYY site when you d/l some remote admin program and boom, they got access to everything on your com.

Man, 2011 and elaborate chintzy telephone computer scams like this are happening...

So, let your parents or anyone else that's not so computer savvy know this is going on and warn them. Or if you get it yourself and have some time to kill, have some fun with it, I guess. ;)

PS: The call was cutting in and out and when I *69 it afterwards, I got the number: 000-000-0000. Guess they were using Skype.

edit: Talked to my parents and apparently they called a few weeks ago, making this the FOURTH time they called.

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

lol :rofl: thanks for the warning :)

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

Been hearing about this one since about April here.

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

My house phone speaks the number of the caller so when I heard all 0s I just ignored it. Had I known I would have answered an had some fun

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

I thought this died down a little while ago, but I guess I was wrong. I haven't been hit with it yet, though.

The funniest thing is that I work at a company that makes security software and provides computer online protection. It's funniest when one of our staff members (especially the guys in development or QA) get called for that. They have lots of fun with these scammers.

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

Reason #513 why I never actually answer my phone anymore. Leave a message, and I'll probably return your call...or ignore you some more.

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

I had someone call the other day saying that my credit card number had been stolen. I was worried until they said they were from some security company and not from my bank. All they needed to confirm my identity was my credit card number, expiry date and security code!

Do people really fall for this stuff?

I tried to play along for a while. I asked him which card it was and he said he couldn't tell me for security reasons. I asked him to confirm the last 4 digits, and apparently that was a serious "security" risk too. Then I told him I couldn't be sure which one he was talking about, SO HE TOLD ME TO JUST GIVE HIM ALL OF THEM.

Clowns.

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

Yes.

I had two awesome situations at the bank. A few years ago when I was working at the call center, a lady called asking for her direct deposit encoding for her account. Out of curiosity I asked why, and she said she won the lottery in Spain. I asked her if she had ever been to Spain or if she bought a ticket. She said no, but that they emailed her and said she won and she had to give them her account info. I had to break her heart and tell her she was stupid. (I didn't actually say that to her :D)

There was another situation where a couple had an apartment for rent. The potential renter from London, England sent them a cheque for $3,000. A couple days later, he emailed them to tell them he had a change of plans, so for their troubles, they could keep $800 and send him the rest. Red flags: 1) Why was a guy from London paying them with an RBC cheque? 2) Why did he request them send the money back to him through Western Union? The couple had their suspicions, but did it anyway. Needless to say, after they sent them the money, the cheque bounced, and they were short part of their mortgage payment.

I haven't had one of these computer calls yet, but I hope I do. I need a good laugh this week.

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

When he told you to give you all of them, you should've just followed up with the statement (especially with all the stuff that happened beforehand): "Oh wait, now that I think of it, I don't actually own any credit cards."

Re: AMMYY Telephone Scam
 

I had not heard about this scam before. Time to pass on the warning.

On a similar note: A few years ago, we were moving to a new house and selling off a bunch of stuff on kijiji. I got so many responses from people offering to buy items and overpay for shipping. I was then going to have to send the back the difference. One "cheque" I received was for $5000 for a couple hundred dollar purchase. It was my mission to collect as many of these cheques as possible (I think I got 5 or so). I had no intention of ever cashing any of them, but it was fun to go through the motions with them.

I eventually tried contacting one of those fraud hotlines (fraudbusters?... I can't remember the name) with all of the info I had collected and basically told there was nothing they would do.

Some of these fraudsters are pretty good at what they do. I have to give them credit for that. I do find it sad that people do fall for their tricks though.

If it is too good to be true...