A few nights ago I received a call from 760-705-8888 again which was clearly a PC virus scam; you know the one you get totally randomly from “Steve” telling you your PC is infected with all sorts of viruses and scary sounding registry fixes and offering to fix it for you? Or maybe you don’t know about this new scam, which of course is why these scams have been going on for quite some time and are still very active today.
I added an update to my blog post from last year about the 760-705-8888 scam. Then today I came across this guy in Australia who did something I wish I could do. Troy Hunt strung along one of those cold calling “Fake PC Virus” scams. He let them walk through the installation process so you can see what happens. It is fantastic to watch him busting the fake PC Virus scam.
It was a classic sting operation. Troy set up a “disposable” PC and called back one of the Fake PC Virus Scam companies, then used Camtasia and recorded the whole thing and posted it to YouTube.
It’s a bit long, there is a very long and protracted period where Troy was attempting to give the scammer his mobile number which was quite painful to sit through. You can skip through and watch the screencast for cues as to what is being discussed. I give credit to Mr. Hunt for including it in the interests of transparency.
For a synopsis of the interaction of how Troy Hunt ended up busting the fake PC virus scam he has has a blow by blow description of how he scammed the scammers on his home page.
The sad part is that there are still people out there who will fall prey to this. So what can we do to educate people about the fake PC virus scam? Talk to those you know who may not be as computer savvy as you who may fall prey to the virus scam, share this post and the video, make them aware of the risks and above all, whatever you do, do not try this at home!