One of Microsoft's Gold Partners has had its relationship with the software giant unceremoniously terminated, after being revealed to be orchestrating a telephone support scam.
Comantra, based in India, are said to have cold-called computer users in the UK, Australia, Canada and elsewhere, claiming to offer assistance in cleaning up virus infections.
The bogus support calls came from Comantra employees who claimed to be representing Microsoft, and used scare tactics to talk users into opening the Event Viewer on Windows, where a seemingly dangerous list of errors would be seen.
Once terrified by what appears to be a worrying collection of warning messages, and believing this was evidence of a malware infection, users would be tricked into allowing Comantra technicians to gain remote access to their computer, and hand over their credit card details to fix any "problems".
Comantra, based in India, are said to have cold-called computer users in the UK, Australia, Canada and elsewhere, claiming to offer assistance in cleaning up virus infections.
The bogus support calls came from Comantra employees who claimed to be representing Microsoft, and used scare tactics to talk users into opening the Event Viewer on Windows, where a seemingly dangerous list of errors would be seen.
Once terrified by what appears to be a worrying collection of warning messages, and believing this was evidence of a malware infection, users would be tricked into allowing Comantra technicians to gain remote access to their computer, and hand over their credit card details to fix any "problems".
Read more ...
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/09/21/microsoft-dumps-partner-telephone-support-scam/
References
Microsoft Support Scam (again)
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=10912
Info: Telephone scammers still coming to a phone near you!
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2011/03/info-telephone-scammers-still-coming-to.html
Support Scams: Even More Personal
http://blog.eset.com/2010/12/16/support-scams-even-more-personal
Fake Support: the War Drags On
http://blog.eset.com/2010/11/18/fake-support-the-war-drags-on
Marketing Misusing ESET’s Name
http://blog.eset.com/2010/06/23/marketing-misusing-esets-name
techonsupport.com, click4rescue.com, pcrescueworld.com: SupportOnClick revisited
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/12/techonsupportcom-click4rescuecom.html
SupportOnClick: Phoned by Malwarebytes? BigPond? Anyone else?
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/07/supportonclick-phoned-by-malwarebytes.html
SupportOnClick Update
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/04/supportonclick-update.html
supportonclick.com scamming you by telephone!
http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/03/supportonclickcom-scamming-you-by.html
Fake tech support call scam - prefetch virus logmein123.com
http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/fake-tech-support-call-scam-prefetch-virus-logmein123com
New scam - They call you by phone!
http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=11156
Staffordshire Council - Telephone computer support warning (PDF)
http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6997DBB0-E31E-4AFB-A886-C9DDEE114204/90090/TelephoneComputerSupportWarning.pdf
Cold call scam warns of virus infection
http://www.h-online.com/security/Cold-call-scam-warns-of-virus-infection--/news/112893
Scareware scammers adopt cold call tactics
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/10/supportonclick_scareware_scam
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