Friends...please be aware of this....

[Majik]

If you ever visit a website and a screen pops up saying that you have viruses on your computer or worms, etc. DO NOT download the security scan. This is a scam in itself! It will attack your computer and the hacker can get your important information, such as credit card #'s and bank account #'s. Make sure your security programs are legit and never download anything if you are not sure where it's really coming from. The scam looks very legit but it is not. Please be cautious of this and protect your info.!!!

[CZroe]

Yeah, everyone should know that, but you'd be surprised. When I went into work the othernight and logged into my user account on a shared computer I found broken shortcuts to "Green Antivirus." Sure enough, someone on the previous shift had installed it barely more than an hour earlier.

STUPID STUPID STUPID!

That particular one is malware/scareware that steals your money by lying to you about non-existant viruses on your system and selling you the so-called "fix." It pretends to have fixed them and continues to slow down your computer for a few months until it suddenly "finds" more and says that it can't remove them unless you upgrade.

If they don't really do what they charged you for, they are already theifs, so why don't they need to nag you again before they start making more illegitimate charges on your credit card?

Anyway, this is what people need to realize: ANY executable program file can harm your computer. If you didn't WANT in on your computer to begin with and specifically seek it out from a trusted source, realize that they will tell you anything to MAKE you want it so they can get their trash on your computer and blackmail you into paying (or worse). They can be and often are worse than traditional viruses/virii.

Microsoft hasn't done a good job making sure users know what is safe and what isn't. An executable file has an EXE, COM, or BAT filename extention, which they hide by default. Any security prompt on your PC for a browser plugin will install a different kind of executable that is every bit as dangerous. Data files like JPG/JPEG images and TXT text files are generally safe (your computer already has an executable program installed and knows to automatically open the file with it), but container/archive formats can contain executable files inside (ZIP compressed folders, CAB, MSI installers). Some data files, like DOC Word documents, can contain execuatble Macros and, thus, may contain viruses inside of a data file. There are also different kinds of script files that can do damage if you download and run them.

Of course, even knowing what to look for and avoiding all untrusted executable and data files can't always protect you. Every now and then, Windows, your email client, or your browser itself can be "exploited" by malicious websites and tricked to run executable instructions by simplying viewing or visiting a website. Keeping your computer up to date, using an alternative web browser, staying behind a router/firewall, and staying away from unscrupulous websites (or those with untrusted ad streams) is the best defense here. My sister got infected from an exploited adstream ust by visiting The Pirate Bay earlier this year (it didn't come from one of the downloads; the browser was hijacked and sent to another page where a download initiated and installed automatically). Luckily, it botched itself and caused the PC to shut down. This got the PC stuck in an infinite loop butI was able to delete all the files involved and restore it (it was pretending to be a Google program, among other things).

[sombo]

So that's how your account got broken into. Yah, I knew about that scam a long time ago along with TONS of others. I'm very cautious about that sort of thing and look over links and do research on anything that I come across that raises a flag in my mind (and a LOT of things raise flags to me lol).

One tip for you in helping you spot "phishing" scams that can do the same thing is very simple. When you get an email with a link in it, hold your curser over it and in the bottem left hand side of your browser window it will show the true address of the link. This is especially helpful when you get an email from something like a bank you have an account with or paypal asking you to verify your account or what not. Just a good tip for my fellow ninjetters to watch out for.

Also just so you know, any of those popups that say you have a virus on your computer are actually THE virus to begin with. I use Norton my computer and it works fine in blocking all that I want/need blocked.

[emt250]

Don't trust pop-ups and be really careful with what you download. Lots of nasty stuff hidden out there.

[Majik]

Well, I don't think this is how my account got broken into, though I am unsure of the exact cause at this point. I never downloaded any of those programs, but i sure have them pop up all the time. When they pop up, I can't get out of it and end up having to shut my whole system down and rebooting. I never open emails or any kind of suspicious popups. Honestly, I am not too computer savvy and I don't know how my account has been broken into. Hopefully, I will know soon as I am working with my bank on this. I just wanted to post this because some people may not be aware of this scam and think that it's legit. I'm a single mom who is struggling as it is and this has caused a world of hurt for me. I DON'T want that to happen to anyone. I hope this helps!!!

[emt250]

Do you have any sort of anti-virus software? Norton, McAfee, Nod 32 or comparable software is all fairly reliable. I wouldn't recommend Norton just from personal experience. Its pretty annoying, invasive and really hard to uninstall.

You could also start using Firefox as a browser. Its been pretty good for me as far as blocking pop-ups goes.

I would also recommend downloading and using Spybot. It isnt a substitute for a good anti-virus program but it can get rid of a fair amount of mal-ware thats hanging around on your computer.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

I'm not the most computer savvy person either. Im sure there are people on this forum who are much better with computers than me but so far just using spybot, an anti-virus program and being careful with where I go on the internet and what I download has kept me fairly virus free.

Best of luck with the bank and getting your money back!

[sombo]

First off, if that's what's happening with your computer then sorry to say but you already have viruses and malware on your computer. I trust Norton and it has won more awards then any other. Macafee on the other hand is just crap imho. My parents use it and it uses more resources, has more apps running, and is FAR more invasive and annoying with tons of updates and unneeded warnings and such then Norton. (sorry scott, dunno what personal issue you have with Norton but it's much better then the others you listed)

First thing you need to do is get the spybot and something like Norton 360 and have them both update, and then do a deep scan. I bet you when they're done they both find several things on your computer. If those pop-ups won't go away and freeze up your system then it's very possible that other viruses that can find your personal info and send it out unnoticed to you is on your computer.

For now I would suggest to either use a different computer and unplug this one from the net to prevent anything else going wrong. After that get those programs, do the scans, find and eliminate the viruses and malware. Then I would see about changing every last one of your passwords, change your account info, and contact one of those identity theft groups to find out what else you need to look into. I say this because if they got into your account and took your money they can steel your identity and set up credit cards or get loans and financing and totally ruin your credit. Do this as soon as you read this post. I would hate to hear that this got worse. Good luck and let us know how everything goes.

[g21-30]

Download Comodo's free software at: http://www.comodo.com/products/free-products.php

[HKr1]

Had to ditch norton, causing all sorts of problems. That comodo seems to be pretty nice. Been using the firewall portion for a couple years now. Also DOD gives you free use of symantec anti virus at home, so we use that. I thought symantec and norton were the same, but there is diff between them.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by sombo

So that's how your account got broken into. Yah, I knew about that scam a long time ago along with TONS of others. I'm very cautious about that sort of thing and look over links and do research on anything that I come across that raises a flag in my mind (and a LOT of things raise flags to me lol).

One tip for you in helping you spot "phishing" scams that can do the same thing is very simple. When you get an email with a link in it, hold your curser over it and in the bottem left hand side of your browser window it will show the true address of the link. This is especially helpful when you get an email from something like a bank you have an account with or paypal asking you to verify your account or what not. Just a good tip for my fellow ninjetters to watch out for.

Also just so you know, any of those popups that say you have a virus on your computer are actually THE virus to begin with. I use Norton my computer and it works fine in blocking all that I want/need blocked.

Actually, the best defense against phishing scams is to never folow the links in your email and always got to your bank's website manually (your bank's REAL emails will tell you this) regardless of what the link shows in the status bar (or even the properties). If they legitimately want to send you to a certain page or other website, they should recognize you and tell you as soon as you log in. There is no reason to do it in email.

The reason for this is that there have been several exploits that can show the proper URL in the status bar when hovering over links and can even show the proper URL in the browser's address bar. Even right-clicking the link and investigating the properties would not reveal the truth. For example, Microsoft had to remove the ability to include login credentials in an HTTP URL because scammers were making websites with "www.whatever.com" as the username and password. For example, I can log into my FTP with: ftp://myusername:mypassword@webpages.charter.net but the same once worked for secure http sites.

All they had to do was set up a phishing server, say, "scammer.com," that accepted a password like this:

http://www.paypal.com/securelogin/server_session_1a_2b_3c_4d_5e_6f_7g_8h_9i_0j/blah_blah_blah/update_user_data/whatever/account:0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz/trust_me_this_is_not_a_scam@scammer.com

Everything after the http:// and before the : is actually a made-up "username" for their scammer's site. Everything after the : is a made up password (not required, IIRC). All they have to do is make the username and/or password so long that the real URL is pushed off the screen.

Notice, it even confuses the forums software. You would never notice the "@scammer.com" part in a regular email client because it would have been forced off the screen due to the URL being intentionally too long. Internet Explorer updated to break standards by no longer supporting URL credentials. Firefox updated by prompting the user for a login and adding an elipses, "...," showing the beginning and end of the URL (they can still add crap after the end to hide the scammer.com part in the elipsis).

Anyway, I received several of those and caught them every time, but I was able to do one better when demonstrating it for someone else. ALT+0160 generates a pseudo-space that you could used instead of all that crap. It worked in HTML and every rich text email client around back then. The resulting address in the browser would look like simply "http://www.paypal.com/" with nothing to indicate that anything was wrong or suspicious.

This is why hovering over the URL or right-clicking it to investigate is not good enough. Exploits are found all the time and there have actually been more exploits like that since then. If your financial institution needs something from you, they have all the information they need to notify you by email or telephone and then continue it automatically when you log in normally by visiting the website manually. No matter what the status bar says, ALWAYS TYPE IT OUT YOURSELF! If I get a notice from my bank claiming that there was an overdraft that I suspect was caused by an unauthorized charge, I go to BofA.com (Bank of America) myself rather than clicking on any link in the email. Scammers are hoping to get you so scared and worked up that you are more concerned about the fake overdraft than the potential phishing scam. If you click anything in that email to get to "your bank," you very well might be getting a real overdraft even if it showed the proper URL!

[CZroe]

Oh, and, FWIW, Antivirus applications have never been any good at dealing with Malware (Spyware, Adware, Scareware, etc). That said, the long-respected anti-spyware applications like Spybot Search and Destroy and AdAware are generally ineffective. By all means, let Spybot remove what it can, but now you need to be using a combination of other utilities like Microsoft Antispyware / Windows Defender, MalwareBytes, and removal tools specific to your particular malware (say, VundoFix for Vundo). MalwareBytes alone has eclipsed Spybot and Adaware.

[Snake]

Thanks all for the good advice.

[Sailariel]

I am a total NOOB on a computer and run a Winbook XL with a whopping 400cpu and 128RAM. My hard drive is 6GB. The computer is 12 years old. I did upgrade to Win98SE. When I read threads as above, they are a foreign language to me. Up until recently, the Winbook was totally dedicated to navigation on our sailboat. Am a lot out of my element--but learning. Plan to take a computer course(very basic) in a few weeks.

[sombo]

Originally Posted by HKr1

Had to ditch norton, causing all sorts of problems. That comodo seems to be pretty nice. Been using the firewall portion for a couple years now. Also DOD gives you free use of symantec anti virus at home, so we use that. I thought symantec and norton were the same, but there is diff between them.

Symantec is the company that makes Norton so yes they are the same. That doesn't mean that Symantec doesn't have other products to get and use though.

[dimeified]

I love laughing at my friends who click on "WIN A BAGILLION GAZILLION DOLLARS TODAY!"

[dimeified]

I supposed i should at least bring a tip or a piece of advice to the table, not just a weak joke. Anyway, if what you were surfing on your browser wasn't important before you saw the popup, just hold the ALT key and rapidly hit the F4 key a bunch of times to kill the popup and possibly a few browser screens. If you dont do this, sometimes more popups will open when you close the one popup.

[emt250]

Originally Posted by sombo

(sorry scott, dunno what personal issue you have with Norton but it's much better then the others you listed)

Basically, it was incredibly slow and would continually lock up my computer or any programs that I was running. And when I finally got sick of it I wasn't able to uninstall it completely without the help of an additional program. When Norton actually worked for me, it was fine but the other 75% of the time it was just a headache.

[darthnip]

panicware makes a nice little free version of their pop-up stopper software. i've purposely tested this on some hardcore known pop-up infection ridden sites and it nails them every time. anyone looking for a free pop-up blocker, i highly recommend this one and it doesn't use much resources at all. here is the link http://www.panicware.com/product_psfree.html

and by no means am i saying you dont need a good AV and malwarebytes or something similar. this is just for nailing pop-ups. oh and if you are on a trusted site and click a link to view somethign in a new window, like some bank sites use for transactions, it will block those as well. you just need to hold the ctrl key while you click the link to bypass the pop-up stopper for that one time only, after that it goes right back to blocking.

edit - if anyone has trouble finding the tiny little download link on that page, here is the direct link http://www.panicware.com/downloads/PopUpStopperFree.exe

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by dimeified

I love laughing at my friends who click on "WIN A BAGILLION GAZILLION DOLLARS TODAY!"

From Aqua Teen Hunger Force Season 1 Episode 14 (sometime said to be episode 15):

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?epis...c0159c65001935

HILARIOUS!

[Majik]

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU for the great info. Unfortunately, I'm on a tight budget and don't have extra money to spend. When I say tight...I mean VERY tight! So, with that said, I appreciate the free sites mentioned! I use a wireless router at home and I heard that this is another way for someone to hack into my system and retrieve my info. I know that (ususally) you have to pay for good programs and this is why I don't have one installed on my computer ! I will be looking into the free programs mentioned above by all of you wonderful people! I appreciate the help...more than you know!

[bob706]

http://pcperformancetools.com/top-10-free-pctools.htm

[coolbreeze]

i use avg (free anti-virus)
comodo firewall (free firewall)
malwarebytes (free malware/spyware cleaner)
spybot s&d (free spyware detector)

and a list of other free programs.

I would suggest that instead of shutting down your computer when encountering these popup, just use
Task Manager shutdown the browser window. this way you never have to click on the popup, since by
clicking ‘close’ you are still activating the malware. OpenDNS is great for blocking bad sites too.

hope this helps.

[coolbreeze]

as a side not if you use avg, you can get the linkscanner (i think), which will also show warning messages that you have to click on, before you get forwarded to a questionable site.