One of my friend’s parents have just been scammed by someone pretending to being their ISP, they got him to download and install hotspot shield and AnyDesk before my friend heard him on the phone and pulled the plug.
I’m just trying to bend my head around what the next step would’ve been? Could they have been asking him to install hotspot shield to avoid ISP’s webfilter?
It was likely just a common tech support scam. They want you to think that there are problems with your computer or router (even though there are no problems), then they want to fix those problems for you, then they want to charge you for their “services”. Part of their process is connecting to your computer remotely (ala AnyDesk or any number of other related legitimate remote access tools). That’s it. Sometimes, but less frequently, they might also attempt to do bad things on your computer, like steal password files, lock your computer and blackmail you, etcetera.
Either it’s a FAKE version, or it’s setup to route traffic through their server so they can evesdrop.
Though it’s more likely they really want to be helpful to justify charging you that exorbitant fee.
he was looking to remote onto the computer with limited abilities to trace him if authorities got involved.
hotspot vpn doesn’t “remote” into a computer.
he was looking to remote onto the computer
Yes, that’s the MO for all computer tech support scammers.
with limited abilities to trace him if authorities got involved
No, that’s not needed. There is no reasonably practical way to trace a remote access connection back to a scammer, so there is no need for a computer tech support scammer to take any steps to try and limit the (nonexistent) ability to trace the connection back to the them. If a scammer REALLY felt the need to take extra steps to hide their IP address, then they could use an IP proxy to hide their IP address, and then they could use any free remote access software.
yeah, and anydesk cant create a VPN tunnel for an attacker to use to avoid detection or tracing. do you see your error yet or do i have to point it out?
try reading more than the title next time JR.
All right then you explain the combination of a VPN and remote software.
There is no error. Hotspot vpn cannot be used to remote in. I read the entire post.
There’s no VPN issue here. They call and tell you that there are problems with your router or with your computer. They connect to your computer so that they can show you crap to try and convince you of the problems. They install various software that you don’t need, and that they don’t really care about. They charge you ~$200 for their “services”. That’s it. It’s like one of the worlds most common scams. Of course the OP could have been a target for something different, but why postulate something different when the OP described the MO for one of the worlds most common scams.
Hotspot shield is a VPN. So that is where the VPN came into play. Did you not see that?
It’s not relevant, don’t you see that? Look, this is 99.99% likely to be the common tech support scam. Is it POSSIBLE that this is something different from the common tech support scam? Sure it’s possible. But there is NOTHING that the OP said to indicate that (even the installation of “hotspot shield”. If this is something other than the common tech support scam, then the OP should play the lottery. After all, it’s possible to win the lottery (clearly someone wins), it’s just that it’s really really really really unlikely.
How is that not relevant? Tech support scammers are hackers. It’s the same thing as I was saying- someone is trying to gain access to the computer for malicious reasons. They clearly instructed the people to install both a VPN and a remote session tool. So what are you refuting about that?
I have about 15 years of experience with tech support scammers. In the VAST majority of cases, they simply want to convince you that there are things wrong with your computer (and/or router), and then charge you a fee to fix it. If you google computer tech support scam you will find hundreds of youtube videos to review. Is it POSSIBLE that in the OP’s case the scammer actually wanted the OP to install some VPN so that they could use it for some purpose? Sure, it’s POSSIBLE, but based on what the OP said, that’s about as likely as the OP winning the lottery.
Are you the tech support scammer mad that we have revealed your trick comrade?
Dude, why don’t you look up my posting history here…