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It's not uncommon to hear about a friend or family member who's been taken by a scam every week or two or once a month at least. And you'll get emails from friends and family. And this happens. So it's becoming more prevalent. And believe me, it's going to probably get worse before it gets better before they figure out a way to thwart these attempts. So basically, there are three types of cyber scams where people are trying to get into your computer or get your information. And I'm going to tell you how to identify and avoid each one. So the first one that you want to be aware of is the phone call. So this happens more if you have a landline, but it is happening with cell phones more often. Because you're putting your cell phone on websites and stuff to for purchases. So your numbers are out there. But basically, sometimes the phone will ring and you'll answer it. And they say there's somebody from Google, or Microsoft or Apple, and they're here to help you with your problem. And you're thinking, oh my gosh, my printer hasn't been working in two weeks, Thank gosh, they called Well, actually, these guys are preying on fear. And when they call you, they will give you a scary message, hey, we noticed your computer was infected. And most people will say, Oh my gosh, thank you for calling. I'm scared, you know. So that's the fear factor that they instill in you. So at that point, you become a fish and you're hooked. And that's why they call it fishing pH I sh ing. But basically, they do this 1000 times. And if they get three people, they've won, you know. So basically, they'll say, Oh, we've got noticed a problem with your computer. And you're like, Well, yeah, I've been having problems and you think they're there to help. But then they say, well, we need to get into your computer to see what's going on. And then what they'll do is they'll try to download a program on your computer, it might be something like TeamViewer, or go to my PC, which are legitimate programs. If a family family member or you know, a computer tech is helping you. But these bad guys can also use these to get in. So once you put that can program on your computer, you'll see the mouse move around a little bit. And they'll click on a few things. And they'll say, Aha, here it is, you know, and they'll dig down into the registry files or the the directory files and show you something that has a funny name and say, Oh, you're infected, you're infected, we need to get this up immediately. And then they'll explain the cost. And they might say, Oh, this is only $100. Or it's a $250. And that covers you for a year or maybe $375. And that's for a year. And then we'll just renew it every year and we'll keep an eye on your computer and keep you safe. But believe me, whatever they showed you is a scam. And then what they may do is if you fall for this and you give them your credit card, and then let's say you decide two weeks later that you want to cancel. Well the number they called you from it's not a working number anymore. They rotate phone numbers like more than you change your socks. So basically, you'll never be able to get a hold of them. And then the only option you have is usually to cancel the credit card and start from scratch, you know, and then you have to remember where your card was on file. So it can be really scary when you're on the phone with them. But remember, they know nothing about your computer, they were just calling randomly, they call 2000 people, and you were the one of the ones that said, Okay, so remember, unless someone is sitting next to you in your home or office, and they're telling you, hey, there's something wrong with your computer. That's the only way to trust that they know what's going on, somebody from outside the room, can never see your computer, especially from 1000s of miles away with an Indian accent tha
Charlie McDermott 0:00
It's time for the Naples Mac health podcast with Apple certified support professional, Jeff core. Well welcome everyone. Welcome back to the show. I am once again Charlie McDermott, the producer, but the most important fellow of this show is Jeff poor Jeff, how you doing?
Jeff Bohr 0:18
Great this morning, Charlie. Thank you.
Charlie McDermott 0:20
Oh man, I am once again I am jazzed about this topic. It's just after Thanksgiving holiday Jessica. Thanksgiving there.
Jeff Bohr 0:30
Yeah, we did we relaxed and I had time with my in laws. We live in town. And it was a nice relaxing weekend. So thank you.
Charlie McDermott 0:37
Yeah, same here except for I cracked my forehead last night. That was the final I guess gift from Thanksgiving. So for those on video wondering why I'm Why is Charlie wearing a hat? That's why but I didn't wear you know, I tried to find my best mac colors, the Red Hat here. So it's faded a bit. But I did my best. Yeah, it looks good. So anyway, your topic today outstanding i years ago, really up until the past year or two, you see these these these phishing schemes and scams and all that and it'd be like, Come on people, you know, it's a joke, but I had been lured in a number of times now, until I eventually figured it out. But my lord, those cameras get better and better. And this is a topic that you're going to delve into today. Right?
Jeff Bohr 1:29
Exactly, I'm going to tell you how to identify the three types of scams that people are trying to get your information and possibly financial records and credit card numbers, and how to avoid each one and make sure that you're safe. And all that. So.
Charlie McDermott 1:46
Wow. Again, so pens in hand and no paper, lead. Let's begin. I feel guilty. You know, like this is this is serving me, maybe better than then your listeners, because because many of your listeners know you follow you and already doing some stuff. But man, this is all new to me. So let's begin. Well, yeah,
Jeff Bohr 2:07
well, Charlie, yeah. Okay. You know, it's not uncommon to hear about a friend or family member who's been taken by a scam every week or two or once a month at least. And you'll get emails from friends and family. And this happens. So it's becoming more prevalent. And believe me, it's going to probably get worse before it gets better before they figure out a way to thwart these attempts. So basically, there are three types of cyber scams where people are trying to get into your computer or get your information. And I'm going to tell you how to identify and avoid each one. So the first one that you want to be aware of is the phone call. So this happens more if you have a landline, but it is happening with cell phones more often. Because you're putting your cell phone on websites and stuff to for purchases. So your numbers are out there. But basically, sometimes the phone will ring and you'll answer it. And they say there's somebody from Google, or Microsoft or Apple, and they're here to help you with your problem. And you're thinking, oh my gosh, my printer hasn't been working in two weeks, Thank gosh, they called Well, actually, these guys are preying on fear. And when they call you, they will give you a scary message, hey, we noticed your computer was infected. And most people will say, Oh my gosh, thank you for calling. I'm scared, you know. So that's the fear factor that they instill in you. So at that point, you become a fish and you're hooked. And that's why they call it fishing pH I sh ing. But basically, they do this 1000 times. And if they get three people, they've won, you know. So basically, they'll say, Oh, we've got noticed a problem with your computer. And you're like, Well, yeah, I've been having problems and you think they're there to help. But then they say, well, we need to get into your computer to see what's going on. And then what they'll do is they'll try to download a program on your computer, it might be something like TeamViewer, or go to my PC, which are legitimate programs. If a family family member or you know, a computer tech is helping you. But these bad guys can also use these to get in. So once you put that can program on your computer, you'll see the mouse move around a little bit. And they'll click on a few things. And they'll say, Aha, here it is, you know, and they'll dig down into the registry files or the the directory files and show you something that has a funny name and say, Oh, you're infected, you're infected, we need to get this up immediately. And then they'll explain the cost. And they might say, Oh, this is only $100. Or it's a $250. And that covers you for a year or maybe $375. And that's for a year. And then we'll just renew it every year and we'll keep an eye on your computer and keep you safe. But believe me, whatever they showed you is a scam. And then what they may do is if you fall for this and you give them your credit card, and then let's say you decide two weeks later that you want to cancel. Well the number they called you from it's not a working number anymore. They rotate phone numbers like more than you change your socks. So basically, you'll never be able to get a hold of them. And then the only option you have is usually to cancel the credit card and start from scratch, you know, and then you have to remember where your card was on file. So it can be really scary when you're on the phone with them. But remember, they know nothing about your computer, they were just calling randomly, they call 2000 people, and you were the one of the ones that said, Okay, so remember, unless someone is sitting next to you in your home or office, and they're telling you, hey, there's something wrong with your computer. That's the only way to trust that they know what's going on, somebody from outside the room, can never see your computer, especially from 1000s of miles away with an Indian accent that knows what's going on. So just remember any phone call that they say something is going on with your computer operating system, the best thing to do is say, Oh, I don't even have a computer, and then they'll hang up on you. But it takes quick thinking to do that. But if you say that they'll hang up on you because they don't have anywhere to go, and they can't scare you anymore. So that's the first way that people try to hack you is through the phone call. And everybody's gotten these probably, and they sound legitimate. Usually they'll have a foreign accent, but sometimes they don't. And you just have to know no one outside the room can see your computer, but they're making you think that they can. So that is scam number one. So
Charlie McDermott 6:21
I had that exact thing happened to me. And it was I can't remember was a phone call or an email. But it was at a time when I was having problems with my computer. And yeah, son of a gun. You know, it helped me reel me in to a point where when they started asking for credit card information, I said, Something's not right here.
Jeff Bohr 6:45
Right. And that's usually when people start to back off a little and thank you mm hmm in the wrong place. But then another thing that you have to be careful of, especially with a Windows machine, is that if you upset these guys, and make them a little angry, because you're saying I don't want to pay you or something and they say okay, well, let me just check some more files, I'll do it for free. Well, they've been known to go through your computer and start deleting things. And then they kind of hold you for ransom. And then you have no choice but to pay them to get your files back. So be very cautious about the best thing to do. If you get suspicious, just hang up immediately, you know, and turn off your computer. And then once you turn off your computer, unplug, you know, disconnect it from the internet, that'll cut them off immediately, and they can't get back in without calling you again. So if you get a little scared and frightened, just turn the power off on the computer, shut the lid, if it's a laptop, pull the cord out of the wall. If it's a if it's a desktop, that'll immediately detach their connection. So that'll get them out of there. If you're at least the least bit concerned about what they're doing. Because if they do get in and they start deleting files, they can make the computer inoperable. And then basically they'll say, Okay, it's gonna be $500. Now, if you want me to put it back in where it was, so they can get pretty nasty pretty quick if you don't give them what they want. So be cautious about the phone call, because really no one outside the room can see your computer, although they make you think they can't.
Charlie McDermott 8:12
Wow. Okay. Good, fine.
Jeff Bohr 8:17
So that's probably one of the big scams. Okay, scam number two that I want to talk about is the website 800 Number pop up. So everybody's seen this, you're looking at sports scores, or you're shopping for a fishing rod, and a little message comes up on the screen, beep beep, your computer's infected, your computer is infected, we noticed the virus called one 800 such and such, you know, and believe me, you did nothing wrong. And what happened was, you know, there are 1000s and millions of websites out there. And you got your big ones like Amazon and CNN. But the little ones like, you know, local radio stations, local shopping sites and stuff. Those are really prey to hackers. So what the hackers do in that case is they know, you can look at Google and determine traffic for different websites. So let's say 9am on a Sunday morning, everybody's checking the Naples Daily News to look at those sports scores or something. So what they do is they they plan a little bug in the website. So that message comes up to everybody on the website for a period of time until the Naples Daily News figures it out. And they put a hole in it, you know, so basically these guys, it's another phishing attempt because they know if they show this message to 10,000 people 300 are going to call in and 30 of them are going to fall prey and given their credit cards and they go to town with it. So basically, this wasn't your fault. You could not have predicted or prevented it, but it's the website that you happen to be visiting got hacked for a few minutes. And if you call that number, what they do is the same thing that the phone scanner scammers do they'll try to download a program to your computer. They will right I'll tell you that if you don't do what they're advising, your computer is going to crash, and you'll never be able to use it again. So these are all fear tax that can scare tax, if they use scare tactics that they use. And really, just like the phone call, they have no idea what's going on with your computer. This was a random message that showed up to a certain number of people. And if you call them, you're kind of inviting them in your door, it's kind of like in the old days, you know, they would say, don't open your door for strangers. And then now, don't let strangers into your computer is the big thing to remember. You know, if it's a friend or family member, or someone you hire, that's okay. But for someone that you see a number on the screen, you're only inviting more trouble and if you let them in. So that's another big way that the scammers are, you know, separating you from your money and your sanity. So and it's not that you want to be scared of everything, but you do have to be susceptible. If you see it, you get a phone call like this or see a message like this. And there are ways, the easiest way to stop this website pop up is to quit the browser that you're in, restart the computer. And on a Mac, if you hold the Shift key when you reopen your browser, that will clear the last session. And on a PC. If you hold the Windows key when you reopen the browser, that will clear the last session. So that scary warning won't keep coming up. So remember, after any of these attempts, it's always a good idea to quit the browser and restart your computer to clear out whatever connection they had, so that they cannot get back in.
Charlie McDermott 11:38
So So will that warning, if I didn't clear the browser, would that fall me to other websites. And
Jeff Bohr 11:46
now it's only the website that got hacked for that short period of time that would happen. So if you were on CNN, and you saw scary message like this, and you shut down your computer, and you went back on, and you went on to, you know, cbs.com, the message doesn't follow you. It's stuck on that CNN website, or whatever website it was on. And then as soon as CNN figures out, somebody usually calls them and says, Hey, your website is a scary message on it. And they look and they plug the hole, and then it disappears. But it's a common thing. And it remember, it wasn't any fault of your own. It just happened to be the website you were visiting, got hacked for a few minutes and 1000s of people were exposed to this message. And again, that's where they get the term phishing, because they're they're throwing out a bunch of lines, and they reel some people in.
Charlie McDermott 12:33
Wow. Okay. All right.
Jeff Bohr 12:38
So those are the three scams. Now, the third scam is probably the most common. And that is the email scam. And this is when you get an email that looks like it's from Chase Bank, or it looks like it's from Apple, or it looks like it's from Microsoft. And they say that there's a problem with your account, they want to confirm a number, they want to confirm your account information. So you continue to using this service will trust me, again, none of these entities are ever going to contact you like this with an email. And no matter how real it looks. And if you look at these emails closely, you'll notice that a lot of times there are misspelled words, because they were written from someone whose English is not their first language. And they kind of mess some things up verbally. So if you look at him closely, and another thing you can do, and it doesn't matter if you have an iPhone and Android phone, a PC or a Mac, when you're in the email program, if you hover your cursor, you know the mouse cursor over the email address that says Apple or Google or Microsoft, and you hover over the sender's name, you'll see the real name that it came from, that will reveal the real email address because you can mask an email to look like it's from Mickey Mouse, but it's really from Vladimir Putin, you know, so you have to be careful. And if you hover over the email address of the sender, it'll actually even though it says Mickey Mouse when you hover over, it'll say Vladimir Putin at Russia dot code at UK or whatever. So you have to be careful. And that's one way to identify an email like that. Because another thing you don't want to do is unsubscribe from these emails if there's an unsubscribe link, because what they will do then is take you to a site where they say please enter your email address to unsubscribe. And then when you enter your email address, you've just verified to them that that's a working email. And they're going to bombard you with more scams. So that's a really a big rule to remember in most cases is if you ever want to unsubscribe from a website, and you click the unsubscribe button, they should know who you are already. They should say, Hey, Charlie, we're sorry to see you go. We're gonna unsubscribe you from all our solicitations. But if you go if you click on subscribe, and there's a blank space to enter your email, get out of that me immediately because all you're doing is verifying your email address, and then that's going to make the floodgates open. And you're going to get more of these types of messages. So remember, if you unsubscribe, they should always know who you are. And if you just put in your email address, you just opened up the floodgates, and then you're going to get worse because you verify that that's a working email address.
Charlie McDermott 15:21
You know, what surprises me because I get these all the time. And man. But, you know, with all these spam blockers, of how do they get through this blockers and into your inbox,
Jeff Bohr 15:37
because spam blockers are more for popups on the internet. They're not really for email messages, because they're different animals. And another popular one is, you might have gotten an email in the past probably six months that says, Hey, Charlie, do you have an Amazon account in order through Amazon? I need some help, please let me know. Signed, Jeff. So when you get these, what's happened is it comes from a friend or family member? And they're asking you Do you have an Amazon account? Well, trust me, your friend and family member did not write this. But what happened was their email got hacked. And then somebody from another entity is masquerading as that person. They sent Charlie an email saying, Do you have an Amazon account? I'm having some trouble. And then if you respond to them, the bad guy is intercepting the email? And you say, what's going on? Can I help you? And they say, Yes, can you please order a gift card and send me the serial number, my niece is graduating college and my credit card got hacked, and I can't order a gift. And really, it's never the person you think it is. It's the imposter, it's taking control of their email. And that's a popular one that's going around and I get a call on that every two weeks at least. So it's not your fault. It's the person that sent the email, they got hacked. So you need to let that person know, hey, change your password for your email account, because they're sending out solicitations on your behalf. And again, it's a phishing attempt, they send out 1000 emails to everyone in that person's address book to people are going to respond and say, Sure, I'll help you I have an Amazon account. And then what they'll do is they'll say, okay, get an Amazon gift card, and send me the number on the back. Which doesn't make any sense. You know, why would you scratch it off and give that number to someone but that's what they do and people fall for it. So just be very wary of all these attempts. Because they're nobody's going to communicate with you in these ways. Legitimately. Yeah.
Charlie McDermott 17:35
Amazing. Amazing. Wow, you know, all these creative ideas these guys come up with you think that they actually put it towards I don't know you know, solving cancer or some of these global challenges we have we we'd be all be in a better place.
Jeff Bohr 17:51
Right now. They could sell real estate and make a lot of money. You know, there's smooth talkers. They could be car salesmen anything's but it's really sad. And the biggest thing to remember is you know, if you if you get into a situation like this and you're not sure, call a family member, call a law enforcement call your IT person and say hey, Is this legit, you know, if you're just not sure, ask a third party. But make sure you always just enter the conversation, hang up the phone, turn off your computer, you know, delete the email if you're the least bit concerned because if it's that important, they're gonna knock on your door you know, and say hey, why haven't you paid your bill or something? So don't really stress about these no life and death information has ever sent in an email
Charlie McDermott 18:36
you know, the other big giveaway for me and this happened last week that's why it's fresh in my mind is you get that call and you know they're in a call center you know, there's like hundreds of voices in the background and people just you know, dial in for dollars and you just you just no no, this is not you know, whatever you know, intuit or or Apple computers this this is some scam or God knows where with 100 other scammers just making phone calls all
Jeff Bohr 19:05
right in a big room, you know, full of people just like just like a support center, but they're a bad guy, criminal center.
Charlie McDermott 19:14
Man, what a world.
Jeff Bohr 19:16
But those are the three ways and remember, the biggest thing to remember is unless someone is in the room with you, they have no idea what's going on with your computer no matter what they no matter what they tell you. You know whether it's the phone or an email or a pop up remember, they have no clue. They can't possibly see your computer from outside the room.
Charlie McDermott 19:37
Love it, love it. And hey, when in doubt, hang up. Don't engage and I give Jeff a call and he can talk you through it. Yes
Jeff Bohr 19:50
exactly. That's that's what I do. I help people navigate these these technical issues so feel free to call me anytime. Yeah. Oh, man.
Charlie McDermott 19:59
This It's been great Jeff really appreciate you covering this again took a lot of note I'd be better prepared going forward because as I shared i i get hit with this all the time and and just about everyone does so if you're on the internet or you get emails you're you're getting something guaranteed right
Jeff Bohr 20:18
the victim Yeah, exactly. And don't don't let yourself be a victim. So yeah, man.
Charlie McDermott 20:23
Awesome. Well Amen. Until the next episode you get back out there in southwest Florida and help folks and we'll see you soon.
Jeff Bohr 20:31
Thank you Charlie, have a great day.
Charlie McDermott 20:33
Thanks for listening to the Naples Mac health podcast. To learn more about Naples Mack help go to Naples, Max health.com For call 239-595-0482