Office Depot Pays $25 Million To Settle Deceptive Tech Support Lawsuit-Computer Repair San Antonio

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Office Depot and Support.com, Inc, a tech support software provided from California, agreed to pay $25 million and $10 million respectively for allegedly tricking their customers into paying for millions of US dollars worth of computer repair services using fake malware scans.

According to a press release issued today by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency will use the money received after the two settlements are paid to provide refunds to customers that were impacted by the allegedly deceptive tech support offered by Office Depot and Support.com.

“Consumers have a hard enough time protecting their computers from malware, viruses, and other threats,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. “This case should send a strong message to companies that they will face stiff consequences if they use deception to trick consumers into buying costly services they may not need.”

In the complaint [PDF], the FTC said that Support.com in cooperation with Office Depot allegedly sold costly computer repair services to customers using PC Health Check to persuade clients to pay for tech support services “from Office Depot and OfficeMax, Inc., which merged in 2013.”

From at least 2009 to November 2016, Office Depot, Inc. (“Office Depot”), its subsidiary OfficeMax, Inc. (“OfficeMax”) (collectively, “Office Depot Companies”), and its tech-support services vendor throughout this time period, Support.com, Inc. (“Support.com”), made misrepresentations to consumers regarding the security of their computers. Support.com provided the Office Depot Companies with the “PC Health Check Program,” a software program designed as a sales tool to convince consumers to purchase diagnostic and repair services. 

As reported by BleepingComputer back in 2016, a whistleblower told KIRO 7 reporters that Office Depot employees were forced at the time by internal procedures to use the PC Health Check PC diagnostics software to show, in most cases, a malware infection on the user’s PC.

Afterward, Office Depot’s employees would then offer to repair the “affected” computers through a procedure that would usually incur extra charges.

KIRO 7’s reporters took new computers to both Washington and Oregon Office Depot stores where four of the six laptops were found to be infected with malware and the employees offered to clean them for extra payment.

The reporters subsequently took the six computers to the IOActive security firm from Seattle to confirm the Office Depot malware results but no traces of malware were found.

PC Health Check software interface
PC Health Check software interface

FTC says in a blog post detailing this issue that “Many consumers who got false scan results bought computer diagnostic and repair services from Office Depot and OfficeMax that cost up to $300. Suppport.com completed the services and got a cut of each purchase.”

“For example, one OfficeMax employee complained to corporate management in 2012, saying ‘I cannot justify lying to a customer or being TRICKED into lying to them for our store to make a few extra dollars’,” says the FTC press release.

Also, “Despite this and other internal warnings, Office Depot continued until late 2016 to advertise and use the PC Health Check program and pushed its store managers and employees to generate sales from the program, according to the complaint.”

FTC’s investigation and the settlement could very well be a direct cause of a letter sent to the FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez by Senator Maria Cantwell’s office on November 18, 2016, asking the agency to investigate Office Depot’s alleged practices of misleading their clients into buying unneeded computer repair packages.

Computer Repair San Antonio-Watch Out For Fraudulent Tax Emails

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Scammers Portray IRS in Latest Phishing Scam

Earlier this week, the IRS issued a warning to taxpayers regarding a fraudulent email that has been impersonating the agency.  The email includes tax transcripts, in an attempt to get the users to click on the documents, which contain malware.  The biggest risk would be employees clicking on these emails on company networks.  By doing so, the malware would spread network-wide.

The scam email includes an attachment labeled “tax account transcript” or something similar, with a subject line using some variation of the phrase “tax transcript.”

According to KLFY News 10, this malware, known as Emotet, generally poses as specific financial institutions in its effort to trick people into opening infected documents.  This time, they’ve portrayed the IRS.  Cybersecurity experts have labeled Emotet one of the most costly and destructive malware variants in the wild.

Proceed with Caution

The IRS has the following suggestions if you receive this email scam:

  1. Do not open the email or attachment.
  2. Delete or forward the email to phishing@irs.gov.
  3. If an email goes to your business, notify the company’s technology professionals.

The bottom line – the IRS does not, and will not, send out unsolicited emails.  Therefore, if you receive an unsolicited email claiming to be from them– do not open it, it is a scam.

If you have been scammed by Fake Tech support follow this advice-Computer Repair San Antonio

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1.Report the scam

In the US: File a complaint (FTC) | More information about online fraud

In Canada:  Contact Law Enforcement

In the UK: Report fraud | Report cold call (cold calls are illegal in the UK)

In Australia: Report a scam | Report telemarketing abuse

 

2.Report misleading ads
“TrustInAds.org comprises a group of Internet industry leaders that have come together to work toward a common goal: Protect people from malicious online advertisements and deceptive practices.” Report misleading ads here.

 

3.Shut down their remote software account

Write down the TeamViewer ID (9-digit code) and send it to TeamViewer’s support (they can later on block people/companies with that information)

LogMeIn: Report abuse

 

4.Spread the word
You can raise awareness by letting your friends, family, and other acquaintances know what happened to you. Although this may be an embarrassing experience if you fell victim to these scams, educating the public will help someone caught in a similar situation and deter further scam attempts.

If the scammers represent themselves as working with or for Malwarebytes, please make sure to contact Malwarebytes support – we are actively working to combat these scammers. Any information you can provide about these scammers will help us prevent those scammers from targeting other people.

 

If you already paid:

Contact your financial institution/credit card company to reverse the charges and keep an eye out for future unwanted charges.

If you gave them personal information such as date of birth, Social Security Number, full address, name and maiden name you may want to consult the FTC’s website and report identity theft.

 

If you have been contacted by a company that you think may be attempting to scam you, please see the following list of confirmed scammers (please make sure to click on the “Tech Support Blacklist” link for the up-to-date list).

Credt: https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1905

SPECIAL BULLETIN

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SPECIAL BULLETIN
Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com

Dear ,

A massive ransomware attack spread across the globe today, locking up thousands of hospital, telecommunications, and utilities systems in nearly 100 countries. The attack used data stolen from the NSA to exploit vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows and deliver the WanaCrypt0r ransomware. The demand was for $300 per PC.

While the ransomware was first detected wreaking havoc in emergency rooms and doctors’ offices in the UK, the infection quickly spread worldwide, including to the US.

We’re alerting you to reassure you that if you’re currently using the premium version (or the premium trial) of Malwarebytes with real-time protection turned on, you are protected from this threat. Our premium technology blocks the WanaCrypt0r ransomware before it can encrypt your files. (The free version of Malwarebytes, however, does not protect you against WanaCrypt0r. To see which version you have, open up your Malwarebytes software and look for the version name at the top of the window.) Learn more about Malwarebytes

If you’re not currently using the premium version of Malwarebytes, we recommend that you update your Microsoft Windows software immediately. Microsoft released a patch for this vulnerability in March, but many users haven’t updated, leaving their computers open to this attack.

Here at Malwarebytes, we pledge to keep you protected and informed about the latest issues. Your peace of mind is our number one priority.

Sincerely,

The Malwarebytes team
P.S. Learn more about this threat here.

Massive Global Ransomware Attack Underway, Patch Available

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This is a public service security announcement for all users of computers running any version of Windows.

We have confirmed that a serious virulent ransomware threat known as WannaCrypt0r/WannaCry has affected Windows computers on shared networks in at least 74 countries worldwide, with 57,000 reported individual cases being affected. And according to the analysis team at Kaspersky Lab, that number is growing fast.

Once one computer on a network is affected, the malware infection easily spreads to other Windows computers on the same network, shutting down entire government agencies and national infrastructure companies. Hospitals across the UK were being forced to divert patients and ambulance routes as of Friday afternoon, and several utility companies across Europe reported infection across their computer networks according to BBC News.

What Is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a kind of malicious script or software that installs itself on your computer without your knowledge. Once it’s installed and running, it will lock down your system and won’t allow you to access any files or programs on that computer. Usually, as in this current WannaCry exploit, it will alert you to the lockdown with an impossible-to-ignore pop-up screen which informs you that your computer is being held for ransom. To unlock your system and regain access to the computer being held hostage, the lock screen informs you that you must purchase an unlock tool or decryption key from the hacker.

Where Did This Threat Originate?

In this case, Microsoft has been aware of the vulnerability since March 2017, when it published a Security Bulletin covering the potential risk. According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, early indicators seem to point to the attack originating in China, but more information is needed.

How Can You Tell If Your Computer Is Infected?

The most obvious way to tell if your computer has been affected is if you are seeing a ransomware pop-up screen when you start up your computer. But because we don’t know how long the malware sits on your computer or network, not seeing this pop-up isn’t necessarily an indication that you haven’t been infected. The bottom line: if your Windows computer has connected to a shared network, such as those found in schools, public places, cafes and businesses, and you don’t have complete control over every computer on that network and haven’t been keeping Windows up-to-date, your computer may be infected.

How to Protect Yourself From the Vulnerability

According to Microsoft a fix for this vulnerability was released on March 14th for all affected versions of Windows. If you are running Windows and have automatic updates enabled you should be okay. If you don’t and haven’t updated recently you should update to the most recently released version immediately. It is important to note that unsupported versions of Windows, like XP, did not receive this security update. Those systems should either be isolated or shut down.

Please pass this along to your friends and family. Those that are less technical may not have updates auto-enabled, and may need a helping hand updating their operating system.

Massive Ransomware attack going worldwide.

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Massive Ransomware Outbreak

We have an update on this outbreak here. The ransomware is using an NSA exploit leaked by The Shadow Brokers, and has made tens of thousands of victims worldwide, including the Russian Interior Ministry, Chinese universities, Hungarian telcos, FedEx branches, and more. Original article below.

A ransomware outbreak is wreaking havoc all over the world, but especially in Spain, where Telefonica — one of the country’s biggest telecommunications companies — has fallen victim, and its IT staff is desperately telling employees to shut down computers and VPN connections in order to limit the ransomware’s reach.

The culprit for these attacks is v2.0 of the WCry ransomware, also known as WannaCry or WanaCrypt0r ransomware. For those affected, you can discuss this ransomware and receive support in the dedicated WanaCrypt0r & Wana Decrypt0r Help & Support Topic.

WCry ransomware explodes in massive distribution wave

Version 1.0 of this ransomware was discovered by Malwarebytes researcher S!Ri on February 10 and then spotted in a brief campaign on March 25 by GData security researcher Karsten Hahn.

Version 2.0 was detected for the first time around four hours ago by independent security researcher MalwareHunter. The security researcher says the ransomware came out of nowhere and started spreading like wildfire.

In these first four hours, WCry 2.0 made more victims than Jaff, a ransomware spotted this week distributed via the Necurs botnet, the former home of the Locky ransomware. In numbers, in just four hours WCry made 1.5 times more victims than Jaff did all week.

Currently, researchers weren’t able to pinpoint the exact origin of the WCry distribution campaign. At the moment, it could be from malvertising, exploit kits, email spam, or hand-cranked RDP attacks.

Source  https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/telefonica-tells-employees-to-shut-down-computers-amid-massive-ransomware-outbreak/

Chrome and Firefox Phishing Attack Uses Domains Identical to Known Safe Sites

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Chrome and Firefox Phishing Attack Uses Domains Identical to Known Safe Sites

This entry was posted in General Security on April 14, 2017 by Mark Maunder   62 Replies

This is a Wordfence public service security announcement for all users of Chrome and Firefox web browsers: 

There is a phishing attack that is receiving much attention today in the security community.

As a reminder: A phishing attack is when an attacker sends you an email that contains a link to a malicious website. You click on the link because it appears to be trusted. Merely visiting the website may infect your computer or you may be tricked into signing into the malicious site with credentials from a site you trust. The attacker then has access to your username, password and any other sensitive information they can trick you into providing.

This variant of a phishing attack uses unicode to register domains that look identical to real domains. These fake domains can be used in phishing attacks to fool users into signing into a fake website, thereby handing over their login credentials to an attacker.

 

Read More

Chrome and Firefox Phishing Attack Uses Domains Identical to Known Safe Sites

SPAM Campaign Underway that uses Encrypted Word Docs to Install Ursnif

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A large SPAM campaign is underway where victims receive an email that pretends to be a requested invoice and contains a password for a password protected encrypted Word document attachment. These password protected word documents contain embedded VBScript files that will download and install the Ursnif keylogger.

When Word documents are password protected, they also become encrypted. Malware distributors are hoping that by sending these encrypted Word documents they will be harder to detect by security software. You can see an example of one of the malicious SPAM emails that was provided to me by Zenexer.

Read More. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/spam-campaign-underway-that-uses-encrypted-word-docs-to-install-ursnif/

 

 

Skype users hit by ransomware through in-app malicious ads

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Several users have complained that ads served through Microsoft’s Skype app are serving malicious downloads, which if opened, can trigger ransomware.

News of the issue came from a Reddit thread on Wednesday, in which the original poster said that Skype’s home screen — the first screen that shows up on consumer versions of the software — was pushing a fake, malicious ad, purporting to be a critical update for the Flash web plug-in.

According to the thread, the ad triggered a download of an HTML application, designed to look like a legitimate app. The app, when opened, would download a malicious payload, which locks the user’s computer and encrypts its files for ransom.

Many other users in the past few days have also complained of similar issues with Skype’s in-app ads, with at least two other people having the same “fake Flash” ad into Thursday.

Knowing it was malicious, the user didn’t run the app but instead deconstructed and posted the code…

Read more: Skype users hit by ransomware through in-app malicious ads | ZDNet