AMMYY Scam (TalkTalk)

A question about : AMMYY Scam (TalkTalk)

Had a call saying they were from TalkTalk support. They had my account number and personal details correct and said I had a virus on computer and after a long 'diagnosis' said that I should go to AMMYY.com so they could see my computer.

If you do a search on MSE forum you will see that this is a common scam, usually saying they are from Microsoft.

When I said I would call them back on the TalkTalk support number they got angry. I hung up.

Don't ever go to a website as directed by a cold call. Don't give them access to your computer.

TalkTalk said they would never call anyone about a computer virus.

Best answers:

• They had your details and correct account number? This would worry me that I already had a virus or that talktalk have been hacked. What details exactly did they know about you?
• They knew my Name, Address, Phone No and TalkTalk Customer Number.
  But to tell you the truth, my suspicions were alerted when the guy with a very strong Asian accent said his name was Rachael!
  BTW, I am always very careful about shredding bills and giving out my details. I don't know how they got the information about my TalkTalk account. Maybe they hacked it from somewhere. Makes a change from saying they are from Microsoft.
  Always just hang up on these people. The utilities never call you up - they just send you junk mail.
• It could actually be a virus to be totally honest... You may have a kelogger on your system which is recording data and sending it to these people. Generally happens if you download something from a less than scrupulous source. But it might be from talktalk's side too, but I'd wager that talktalk was more secure with your data than you are so it is less likely...
  It is surprisingly easy to get information on people 25+ on the internet with minimal data, you've just gotta dig around a bit.
  Aside from that, have a word with talktalk too and see what they say
• I had this last week. They ask you to look at event viewer on your PC, which inevitably shows up some errors. "Susan" then asked me to go to the ammyy.com site to download something to cure the problems, at which point I told her to fook off. Spent about 40 minutes stringing her along. I think you are OK unless you downloaded the program from the ammyy site. She certainly knew my name.
• Picked up a similar call today.
  Was at my father's, he was 100 years old 2 months ago and doesn't own a computer.
  HE was asked for by name.
  They were "persistent" in calling - I/We don't usually answer the phone until it has rang 12 or more times.
  You'd be surprised how many of the cold calling and/or "withheld" numbers stop between 6 and 8 rings.
  Anyway, close friends and family know this and will let it ring for many more. It was somewhere between 12 and 15 when I picked up and I was surprised when it wasn't a family member.
  Didn't catch the mumbled name or company mostly due HER heavily accented rather poor English and quite a bit to the very loud "call centre" background noise.
  Decided to play along and managed to keep them on the phone for over HALF AN HOUR
  My keyboard didn't have the "Windows" key she wanted me to find.
  "START" button didn't produce the results she was hoping for.
  She wanted me to "run" EVENTVWR - I said it came up with a "NOT FOUND" error box.
  Was rather confused when I explained that I was running Windows NT4 Workstation (A 20 year old PC that I do actually own and use occasionally)
  Wanted me to go to www.ammyy.com (who are NOT repeat NOT to blame - they just supply PC remote access software) so they could examine my machine (after I had downloaded the ammyy program) and show me the serious "infection" problems that they knew I had due to the error reports my PC had logged with Microsoft.
  I queried the whys and wherefores of what exactly was wrong and
  what they were going to do, and said "I didn't know MICROSOFT would call me at home to sort out my PC like this"
  She said "No, we are NOT Microsoft - just approved/accredited/licenced BY THEM to do this
  Claimed company name (got her to spell it) was AZURE
  Anyway by this time I was finding it difficult to keep a straight face, not burst into laughter at her total PC/Windows ignorance and her stupidity in persisting with the conversation that was obviously not going anywhere.
  So I made my excuses - needed to Google / check with Microsoft about ammyy, the eventvwr command etc. ignoring her pleas (I had put her on hold for 2 to 3 minutes more than once ) to carry on / try again.
  Surprisingly a 1471 returned a phone number
  002614882019
  Don't get caught out
  DO NOT DOWNLOAD ammyy sorftware (or similar remote access programs) on someone else's instructions requesting access
  
• This is them https://www.azurepcsolutions.com/
• Hello, I also just got a call claiming to be from talk talk, I could hardly understand what she was saying.
  After telling me my name address and account number she proceeded by asking me to turn on my computer and that she would wait, my computer was already on so she asked me to hit control + windows key then to hit windows key + R I then tried to explain that would only work in windows and that I was on a Linux machine.
  She just ignored me and kept trying to get me to open the run command box and I kept explaining in different ways that I'm running Linux. After about 10 minuets of this I said it's not a Microsoft operating system, she clearly didn't know what Linux was so she asked me to hold the line and went away to talk to someone about it when she came back she said is it a mac? I said no it's a PC running Linux so she hung up.
  I did go to the talk talk web site and report the number as a scam as it came up on my caller display as a 00121.... number.
  I think it is possible that talk talk must have been hacked and customers details have leaked out I doubt very much that they will ever admit that.
• Just had a scam call from somebody claiming to work for Talk Talk.
  She had a very strong Indian accent and claimed her name was Rachel Smith. She told me that she was based in the UK, so I pushed to find out where and she told me that she was in Florida.
  I played along for a bit, she did the usual trick of getting me to view the events log (which looks worrying but isn't) but she tried getting me to go to a website where she could take control of my desktop, at this point I told her I knew she was lying and ended the call.
  The worrying thing was she had all of my Talk Talk details correct (account number, name, postcode). Be warned I suspect Talk Talk have been hacked.
  From the other messages on this thread I am guessing Talk Talk have recently misplaced a lot of customer information that someone else is trying to exploit.
  While talking with 'Rachel Smith' I could hear a lot of other ladies with Indian accents reading off the same script...presumably all of them in Florida.
• This is one of the pitfalls of out-sourcing customer services to overseas locations ... data security cannot be guaranteed.
• This scam (theft) is still ongoing.
  Talktalk customer data has been copied and given to the outsourced Indian's as I to have been called by "TalkTalk". They knew my name. The population in my area mainly consists of people aged over 70 who believe anything anybody tells them over the phone. So they are ideal victims for these Indian thieves - theft it is, not scaming.
  India is full of corruption! How on earth did the idiot managers at TalkTalk think it was a good idea to outsource any services to India?!!!
  Idiot managers with there head stuck up there own body parts strike again.
  It does not take much effort to copy all of the relevant customer data onto a small USB stick. Even Credit Suisse, the large Swiss bank, can not guarantee that their data can not be copied. If you work in a company then it is easy to copy data. Hopefully they have not allowed the outsourcers to have bank detail data.
  Reputation can not be bought. A lesson for TalkTalk.
• I am wondering whether Talk Talk main site has been hacked? Had the dodgy Chinese email yesterday which I deleted, followed by phishing scam today which quoted the exact balance due and my account number. Talk Talk website says ignore the email, but fails to acknowledge how my personal details got out, this looks serious.