Hacked Computer

[dangerfish]

Sorry dude,

When you come with with outrageous statements implying that Apple sold you a lifetime support plan and that they contacted you wanting more money, that's what people are going to gravitate towards.

So what exactly is going on with the computer? Why do you think you are hacked/infected? Please be specific with what is going on.

 

[meson]

Davy,

As mentioned, Apple is not generous enough to offer free lifetime support, even phone support. AppleCare policies state clearly that phone support is free for a given period of time. After that they reserve the right to charge you if they see fit. They certainly are not going to extend this to a machine that is no longer supported, i.e. no longer gets security patches. Once they drop support for a machine, you are on your own. Unfortunately for Apple machines, this point comes far sooner than it should in my opinion.

Apple tends to advise the user to perform clean installs themselves and rarely if ever logs into a user's machine remotely to perform tasks (as far as I know). They are more likely to refer you to a local Apple Store or licensed repair shop if you are not comfortable performing the work personally. They would much rather hold your machine hostage if you cannot afford to pay for the labor than to risk performing a task and not getting paid.

Scammers have the ability to spoof phone numbers and they are capable of spoofing Apple's USA support number. I remember coming across an article about it not that long ago.

When your friend allowed Apple to work on the iMac, did he/she have to log into iCloud and generate a ticket code to share with the support staff? It's another level of security that they employ to ensure that the person they are in contact with is who they say they are.

Unfortunately the way things are going, it really sounds like your friend has been taken advantage of and needs to protect their accounts, both financial and online at this point.

Not all of the advice you have received has been intended to be condescending. They are just stating that interactions with "Apple" are setting off alarm bells because that is not how Apple operates. A number of things you have stated lead me to believe that your friend has become involved in a scam.

Please advise your friend to perform a clean install meaning that the installation is started from either the recovery partition, or the OS disc that came with the machine. Do no migrate files from a Time Machine backup or use Migration Assistant. Install a fresh copy of each application that is needed and, and only bring back necessary documents.

 

[radiologyman]

Exactly this scam was pushed on my relative who subsequently called me. I told her to hang up and restore computer from recovery partition since she already let them to remotely control the computer

 

[Fishrrman]

"My partner called Apple from his landline and he gave them the his customer Id and he asked if it was genuine and they confirmed it was Apple"

Assuming this thread isn't a troll or put-on...

Your friend has been SCAMMED -- from the very start.
My hunch is that is WAS NEVER "Apple" to begin with.

My advice:
Wipe the computer clean (boot from a bootable USB flash drive and ERASE the internal drive, and zero it out if possible).
Then install a clean copy of the OS.

I'd be wary about even reinstalling from a backup drive, UNLESS it was a backup that existed "prior to the scam".

DON'T PAY ANYBODY ANOTHER SHILLING to "fix" this.
Fix it yourself, as above.

 

[ginhb]

Exactly this scam was pushed on my relative who subsequently called me. I told her to hang up and restore computer from recovery partition since she already let them to remotely control the computer

I have an older relative who fell for it also, maybe not the same as the OP's description but a similar scam. A pop-up that she clicked initiated it. She called the number which claimed to be the "Official Tech Support" to have her computer cleaned. She gave them remote access to her computer through a link they emailed, and then she was asked to pay four thousand dollars for "Lifetime Support" by providing a checking account and routing number. Older people are very susceptible, they're often too trusting. Fortunately she became suspicious after a while and terminated the connection. They called back again and again, she didn't answer and finally blocked the number.

 

[Davycrocket825]

Ok Guy’s this is the news on my discussion yesterday on hacked computer my partner spoke to Apple UK today and it turns out he was Scammed the company based in Austin Texas under the name of Tech Qure LLC how they got into his iMac I do not know he has now spoken to his credit card company to try and get back the sum USD $2600 dollars the same company last year charged him £700 for this so called apple life care they did i the work on his iMac last year this evening apple uk tech advisor says they is nothing on his iMac now to warrant any danger but they have put icons on his task bar and he has now removed them so to the guy]s who thought I was spinning yarn it was true I was only posting this problem to see if anyone else had had this happen to them but when I spoke to Apple uk today and told the story of this the apple guy said of all the millions of apple user why did they single my mate out to call end of story feedback welcome.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'd bet real money that they're not located in the Austin Suites Hotel on Lavaca in Austin!

 

[dangerfish]

No one was saying that your story wasn’t true. We all believed that your partner did pay the money for the extra warranty and that a company did call you asking for more. What we were trying to say was that the company contacting you was NOT Apple and that you were being scammed.

They did not single out your partner. They try this millions of time hoping to get just a few people to fall for the scam. Unfortunately, your friend did.

 

[Davycrocket825]

No one was saying that your story wasn’t true. We all believed that your partner did pay the money for the extra warranty and that a company did call you asking for more. What we were trying to say was that the company contacting you was NOT Apple and that you were being scammed.

They did not single out your partner. They try this millions of time hoping to get just a few people to fall for the scam. Unfortunately, your friend did.

Yes unfortuneately but I hope he has learned his lesson we all need to be on our guard I wanted to share this in the hope they don't fall into the same trap

 

[chrfr]

Yes unfortuneately but I hope he has learned his lesson we all need to be on our guard I wanted to share this in the hope they don't fall into the same trap

Unfortunately, if the scam wasn't effective, it'd die off, but many people get caught in this, and the companies that do it make enough money to make it worth their while. I've even gotten calls from "Microsoft" and I work in the IT field for a living, so it's not a matter of any one person being singled out.

 

[meson]

Glad that your friend is back on the right course, and hopefully is able to recoup the losses.

 

[Davycrocket825]

Unfortunately, if the scam wasn't effective, it'd die off, but many people get caught in this, and the companies that do it make enough money to make it worth their while. I've even gotten calls from "Microsoft" and I work in the IT field for a living, so it's not a matter of any one person being singled out.

My mate got caught he is trying to get his money back from his credit card but the same company got £700 last year and he has lost that the question is How they get your details and convince you to part with your money.

 

[chrfr]

My mate got caught he is trying to get his money back from his credit card but the same company got £700 last year and he has lost that the question is How they get your details and convince you to part with your money.

Typically, the scammers just call telephone numbers at random and make it sound like something is urgently wrong. I posted a link back in post #12 in this thread that explains the scam in some detail. Otherwise, just search for "Tech support scam" with Google and look at some of the results you find.