Access to this PC has been blocked for security reasons

ClippyBeer

Moderator
I was at a friend's house and while she was on a social media site that will remain nameless she clicked on what appeared to be news about her favorit celeb but instead got a scare.

image.png


There is absolutely NO Antivirus/Security program that will protect you from this.

The reason being that there is no virus. Just a fake error message that puts the browser in full screen and prevents you from closing the browser unless you CTRL-ALT-DELETE and open task manager to end the process (your average user has no idea how to do this). It produces several beeps initially and then there is a synthesized voice telling you to call Microsoft support to prevent data/financial loss.

The number IS NOT Microsoft support but scammers that will trick unsuspecting marks into granting remote access to their PCs so these miscreants can wreak further havoc. The majority of the time they will run bogus system scans and inform you that they've found all kinds of non-existent problems with your system and cheerfully offer to correct them once you provide your credit card number. In some instances they will plant trojans/backdoors on your PC or in worst cases, ransomware.

This is a textbook example of social engineering.

They of course prey on both the tech illiterate and gullible.

This is exacly why I am extremely cynical, have been since I was a teenager and even more so now. As I've stated before, I don't use any kind of Antivirus/security programs on any of my computers, In my opinion they offer nothing more than a false sense of security by encouraging haphazard behavior on the internet. Eternal vigilance is my antivirus/anti-email scam defense and should be yours because the internet is a free-for-all, not a shiny happy place where everyone is your friend. I despise social media, when I want to be social I turn off the computer and leave the house.

I have several of these scam websites saved - every time I encounter one I save it to my PC with HTTrack for study. This one was hosted on Amazon but will undoubtedly be removed within 24 hours. How many people do you think were scammed into handing over their credit card or other personal info during that time?
 
Wow! I haven't seen this scam in years! Then again I've calmed down my surfing in that time.
Excellent post ClippyBeer.

This is exacly why I am extremely cynical, have been since I was a teenager and even more so now. As I've stated before, I don't use any kind of Antivirus/security programs on any of my computers, In my opinion they offer nothing more than a false sense of security by encouraging haphazard behavior on the internet. Eternal vigilance is my antivirus/anti-email scam defense and should be yours because the internet is a free-for-all, not a shiny happy place where everyone is your friend. I despise social media, when I want to be social I turn off the computer and leave the house

Amen!!
 
TM.jpg


I have Task Manager always running, 'Always on Top', & as low as I can move it.
Some times the 'three finger salute' does not bring up task manager. This way, its always there. Only been doing this a few months, seems to be a few things that XP Firefox cant handle.The small portion of TM always showing at the bottom does not bother me.
 
If you use the xp steadystate addon, you can just power the system off and reboot and get back to what you were doing without worry--just don't go to that site again.

And if you need to go to that site, use the tens project or lightweight portable security live cd and boot that instead.
 
I was at a friend's house and while she was on a social media site that will remain nameless she clicked on what appeared to be news about her favorit celeb but instead got a scare.

image.png


There is absolutely NO Antivirus/Security program that will protect you from this.

The reason being that there is no virus. Just a fake error message that puts the browser in full screen and prevents you from closing the browser unless you CTRL-ALT-DELETE and open task manager to end the process (your average user has no idea how to do this). It produces several beeps initially and then there is a synthesized voice telling you to call Microsoft support to prevent data/financial loss.

The number IS NOT Microsoft support but scammers that will trick unsuspecting marks into granting remote access to their PCs so these miscreants can wreak further havoc. The majority of the time they will run bogus system scans and inform you that they've found all kinds of non-existent problems with your system and cheerfully offer to correct them once you provide your credit card number. In some instances they will plant trojans/backdoors on your PC or in worst cases, ransomware.

This is a textbook example of social engineering.

They of course prey on both the tech illiterate and gullible.

This is exacly why I am extremely cynical, have been since I was a teenager and even more so now. As I've stated before, I don't use any kind of Antivirus/security programs on any of my computers, In my opinion they offer nothing more than a false sense of security by encouraging haphazard behavior on the internet. Eternal vigilance is my antivirus/anti-email scam defense and should be yours because the internet is a free-for-all, not a shiny happy place where everyone is your friend. I despise social media, when I want to be social I turn off the computer and leave the house.

I have several of these scam websites saved - every time I encounter one I save it to my PC with HTTrack for study. This one was hosted on Amazon but will undoubtedly be removed within 24 hours. How many people do you think were scammed into handing over their credit card or other personal info during that time?
A LOT of old people on their WinXPs were scammed. I have experience with such websites. If you could send me them somehow, I could add them to my repository: https://github.com/Martingonn/MalwareWebsiteReport/
 
I feel the same ... if they want to track an autistic older man then that would be pathetic. Wasting their time on me. I mean, come pay me a visit and I'll put on a pot of coffee. LMAO........
Like its definitely not dystopian that instead of just living with a tiny .dll virus and having to remove it yourself, Microsoft suddenly tells you not to turn off your computer and contact them immediately. What bad would happen if you turned off the computer with actual malware? The main concept of this is fear and basing on someone's lack of knowledge. At least that is what I did when I coded pop-up pranks.
 
Thanks for this... Using XP & really no social media I have not had this sort of garbage happen but my Wife did about a month ago... Exact same deal... i was quite busy but she just turned off machine, removed battery, replaced, rebooted & it was all gone before I could get back to it... It was something on facebook as I recall she said...
 
Thanks for this... Using XP & really no social media I have not had this sort of garbage happen but my Wife did about a month ago... Exact same deal... i was quite busy but she just turned off machine, removed battery, replaced, rebooted & it was all gone before I could get back to it... It was something on facebook as I recall she said...
Big corpo is really bad at finding malwaretising on their own websites, it seems.
 
Back
Top