Travel Technology - Black hats & Skype -- a mystery

I always have the Skype client running but I very rarely use it and most every call is very short.

My wife usually only has the computer on when she's on Skype.

Recently she has been getting black-hat calls always while actually on a call. We always block/report them but they come back under another name. It's possible that the timing is chance, though.

What's going on? Her Skype handle is just her name but that's unguessable--this has to be targeted.

Her handle appears in only one person's phone book that doesn't also have mine. Could that system perhaps be compromised?

What do you mean by "Black Hat" calls? What are they trying to get from her?

What do you mean by "Black Hat" calls? What are they trying to get from her?

The identity of the caller gives it away--they have always had "system maintenance" as part of the name. We have never answered the calls, it's obvious they're going to try to talk her into compromising her machine somehow.

There's a scam at the moment in the UK where someone will call up from the Indian subcontinent and claim to be from Microsoft and claim that your PC is causing your ISP problems. They ask you to do something on your machine that appears to show a serious problem that actually isn't. They then ask for remote access and either download some malware onto your computer or scan it looking for passwords, banking details etc.

I've told them in the past that I don't have the Internet, that they had called earlier and that a Mr Balmer was due to be calling me back 'are you Mr balmer?' and where's my refund cheque, that my system shows no errors and the piece de resistance is when I casually say I can't get their instructions to work I'm Using Linux could that be why it isn't working?:D I've. Had them on the phone for ages on some calls just tying up their time, having to go and answer the door is my favorite I can spend 10 minutes doing that and talking to the 'person' who's there. Does this sound like it?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/16/tech_support_scam_calls/

I always have the Skype client running but I very rarely use it and most every call is very short.

My wife usually only has the computer on when she's on Skype.

Recently she has been getting black-hat calls always while actually on a call. We always block/report them but they come back under another name. It's possible that the timing is chance, though.

What's going on? Her Skype handle is just her name but that's unguessable--this has to be targeted.

Her handle appears in only one person's phone book that doesn't also have mine. Could that system perhaps be compromised?

Have you tried tightening "Her Skype handle" options?

There's a scam at the moment in the UK where someone will call up from the Indian subcontinent and claim to be from Microsoft and claim that your PC is causing your ISP problems. They ask you to do something on your machine that appears to show a serious problem that actually isn't. They then ask for remote access and either download some malware onto your computer or scan it looking for passwords, banking details etc.

I've told them in the past that I don't have the Internet, that they had called earlier and that a Mr Balmer was due to be calling me back 'are you Mr balmer?' and where's my refund cheque, that my system shows no errors and the piece de resistance is when I casually say I can't get their instructions to work I'm Using Linux could that be why it isn't working?:D I've. Had them on the phone for ages on some calls just tying up their time, having to go and answer the door is my favorite I can spend 10 minutes doing that and talking to the 'person' who's there. Does this sound like it?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/16/tech_support_scam_calls/Wonderful.
When you're tired of them, could you also get a really loud whistle and blow it into the microphone unexpectedly?

Change her privacy settings. Here's how it looks on my Mac (https://skitch.com/boberonicus/exu5t/privacy) and here's a screenshot from a PC (http://img.bhs4.com/bc/3/bc3e3e84473f11d81646f63d0eaffbb5f28c3f27_large.jpg ), but the PC one might not be up date. Anyway, you get the idea.

I pretend to follow their instructions, slowly and incorrectly. Then I stop talking. When they ask if I am still here ... I ask, "Who is this?". Then have them start-over, from the beginning. <g>

http://community.skype.com/t5/Security-Privacy-Trust-and/How-to-Handle-Suspicious-Calls-Messages-and-Contact-Requests/td-p/77688

http://community.skype.com/t5/General-Discussion/System-Notice-Online-Maintenance/m-p/589951#M17145

Change her privacy settings. Here's how it looks on my Mac (https://skitch.com/boberonicus/exu5t/privacy) and here's a screenshot from a PC (http://img.bhs4.com/bc/3/bc3e3e84473f11d81646f63d0eaffbb5f28c3f27_large.jpg ), but the PC one might not be up date. Anyway, you get the idea.

I thought her machine was restricted to the contact list only. Now it actually is.

There's a scam at the moment in the UK where someone will call up from the Indian subcontinent and claim to be from Microsoft and claim that your PC is causing your ISP problems. They ask you to do something on your machine that appears to show a serious problem that actually isn't. They then ask for remote access and either download some malware onto your computer or scan it looking for passwords, banking details etc.

I've told them in the past that I don't have the Internet, that they had called earlier and that a Mr Balmer was due to be calling me back 'are you Mr balmer?' and where's my refund cheque, that my system shows no errors and the piece de resistance is when I casually say I can't get their instructions to work I'm Using Linux could that be why it isn't working?:D I've. Had them on the phone for ages on some calls just tying up their time, having to go and answer the door is my favorite I can spend 10 minutes doing that and talking to the 'person' who's there. Does this sound like it?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/16/tech_support_scam_calls/

Small correction, I've had this outfit call me as well (and both my mother and grandparents too), so they operate on a much wider scale.
PS: I did have some fun messing with their heads though :D

They happened to call my mum when I was there once and she just handed the phone to me. What was funny was I knew the woman wasn't from MS so I asked which ISP had reported us as having problems? She just repeated 'your ISP' so I told her we have three on DSL and one dial up which one was it please? I said you can call me back when you have worked that out. I then hung up and spent ages explaining to my non technical mother why I had been quite so rude. She now knows to just hang up.

They happened to call my mum when I was there once and she just handed the phone to me. What was funny was I knew the woman wasn't from MS so I asked which ISP had reported us as having problems? She just repeated 'your ISP' so I told her we have three on DSL and one dial up which one was it please? I said you can call me back when you have worked that out. I then hung up and spent ages explaining to my non technical mother why I had been quite so rude. She now knows to just hang up.

I beat my personal best today when I had one of these calls and kept them talking for just over 25 minutes. I managed to make a hot drink, answered the door, wrote some emails etc. My previous best was 19 mins and the bloke on that one was I suspect getting a little annoyed with my need to repeat everything and confirm the spelling too.