www.support.me scam

[DerekW]

The friendly and helpful chaps allegedly from a company called microsoft rang me to tell me that there is a problem with my computer that is interfering with their server.

Please go to www dot support dot me they say after trying to find out what was on my keycaps (they are so rude).

Instead I went to
"what is "support dot me" scam"

to confirm that this is a nasty scam that has caught quite a few people by corrupting their machine and requiring a ransom payment to get free.

So be warned...

[DavyG]

Re: www.support.me scam

Thanks for the information.

You may want to remove the link to the scam site though in case someone inadvertently clicks on it.

Dave

[DerekW]

Re: www.support.me scam

url neutered to prevent accidental activation

[Jim Ford]

Re: www.support.me scam

The curious could always safely visit the site by booting of a live Linux DVD such as the excellent 'Knoppix'! I might give it a try.

Jim

[Harold Gough]

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: www.support.me scam

"I was trying to reach the Royal Mail website when I mis-typed the url and arrived at???.

I also landed on a rather nasty website (porn) when visiting Royal Mail. I guess the scammers buy up domain names very similar to those of big commercial sites knowing that everyone will misspell at some point.

The autocomplete function (where matching websites are listed when only part of the URL has been entered) doesn't help. I wonder if there is a way to disable it?

[Otto]

Re: www.support.me scam

If you're using the Firefox browser go to Tools > Options > Privacy and uncheck the boxes under Location Bar. You can individually choose to include (or not) to complete locations from your History, Bookmarks or Open Tabs. I imagine other browsers have a similar option.

I was quite amused to find that Grauniad.co.uk takes you to the Guardian's web site. I guess they wanted to pre-empt anyone else using it for nefarious purposes!