This morning I received the following email. Please delete the email. I found the link has been redirected to an illegitimate website. Wathout for those emails from paypay@security.co.nz

Dear Customer,
PayPal Is Sending You This E-Mail To Inform Your That Our Processors Are Unable To Verify Your Account Profile.This Could Be Due To Many Reasons,For Example :

1.You Have Two Addresses Linked To Your Credit Card On Your PayPal Profile.
2.You Have Two Addresses In Your PayPal Account Profile.
3.You Have Many Rejected Payments Through Your PayPal Account.
4.You Have Tried To Log In Your PayPal Account Using Different IP Addresses.
5.You Have Changed Your Address.

According To The Reasons Listed Above,We Are Asking You To Take One Minute Of Your Time To Update & Confirm Your PayPal Account Profile Before Our Servers Start Deleting Your PayPal Account From Our System,You Can Read Our Terms And Conditions That Allow PayPal To Do This Action If You Didnt Update Your Profile Within 72 Hours From Now.

To Update Your Account Profile Please Click Here .

Note : Failure To Update Your Account Within 72 Hours Will Lead To Block Your Account And You Will Not Be Able To Use PayPal Agian.

Regards,

PayPal Billing Department

Over the weekend, I responded to a request from Radio New Zealand’s “This Way Up” programme for information on the phone calls which people have been receiving from people pretending to be Microsoft representatives and claiming that “your computer” is sending out viruses.

I was prompted to respond because I heard the request just before going out to check a PC which had been “fixed” by one of these people. The interesting thing was that the remote technician had actually cleaned up the PC (removed temporary files, etc), updated some drivers and installed MalwareBytes and Nod32 for a payment of $120. A text file downloaded to the PC stated that it had been fixed and gave a list of telephone numbers for a company called 21x7pchelp. One number was in Auckland and the client had called this, once friends alerted her to the scam, and was greeted with “PC Help”. Google indicates this is the company which has been calling from India for several years and it is probable that the phone numbers are all redirected to India. I couldn’t find any problems with this PC. It was possible that the sale of Nod32 was a scam because McAfee had previously been installed. I did find the McAfee removal tool on the PC but the client believed the McAfee icons may have disappeared from the desktop before the call.

I disabled remote access to the PC (but it was on Xtra so the IP address could change) so the only concern was the misuse of credit card information. It was several days after the event that the client became concerned and the credit card had not been used. The only problem I found was that MalwareBytes was not the latest version and had not been updated. Installing MalwareBytes may have just been to establish credibility.

I have actually only had three other experiences with this scam – one to myself when they did not accept my response that I knew who they were and what they didn’t really know about my PC – I eventually had to hang up on that call. Another client had responded and I had to clean off a false AV file. A friend called me after he received the call. He was on dial-up so they tried to persuade him to go on line and call them on his cellphone.

Colin Scarf
Computer Troubleshooters – Northwest

This morning our server received number of emails telling our Paypal account failed to process the account and ask to verify the email details. THIS IS a SCAM. Please DO NOT CLICK and DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR DETAILS. The page is intended to steal your information. Here is a sample of the email scam below.

From: Paypal [mailto:paypal@security.co.nz]
Sent: Monday, 22 November 2010 7:20
To: xxxxxx

Subject: Processors Are Unable To Verify Your Account Profile

Dear Customer,
PayPal Is Sending You This E-Mail To Inform Your That Our Processors Are Unable To Verify Your Account Profile.This Could Be Due To Many Reasons,For Example :

1.You Have Two Addresses Linked To Your Credit Card On Your PayPal Profile.
2.You Have Two Addresses In Your PayPal Account Profile.
3.You Have Many Rejected Payments Through Your PayPal Account.
4.You Have Tried To Log In Your PayPal Account Using Different IP Addresses.
5.You Have Changed Your Address.

According To The Reasons Listed Above,We Are Asking You To Take One Minute Of Your Time To Update & Confirm Your PayPal Account Profile Before Our Servers Start Deleting Your PayPal Account From Our System,You Can Read Our Terms And Conditions That Allow PayPal To Do This Action If You Didnt Update Your Profile Within 72 Hours From Now.

To Update Your Account Profile Please Click Here .

Note : Failure To Update Your Account Within 72 Hours Will Lead To Block Your Account And You Will Not Be Able To Use PayPal Agian.

Regards,

PayPal Billing Department

Recently we have seen machines that are having problems where the taskbar at the bottom of the windows desktop disappears. Also programs won’t open and installing software is an issue. If you are using McAfee this is not a virus (although some times it is). We have found this is due to McAfee deleting vital windows system files.

If you have symptoms to the above,  please call our office 09 476 0225

Beware of fake antivirus programs such as XP Antimalware. Recently we had a customer with a rogue antivirus called XP Anti-malware that displays false antivirus warnings, when in reality itself is a virus. It goes by the filename “ave.exe” It hijacks the web browser and directs the user to a website that demands payment for cleaning the ficticious viruses. It took several hours to perform backups and scans remove the customer’s virus, and then to repair damage done to the windows registry caused by the virus and to replace missing files necessary for windows to operate properly.

If you have symptoms to the above,  please call our office 09 476 0225

Hi folks,
Computer Troubleshooters was once again awarded the “Best Technology Franchise” award by Franchise Business Review. Feel free to print and display the attached certificate wherever you feel appropriate.

We also ranked 285th in AllBusiness.com’s ranking of the top 300 franchises, and I was interviewed today on the new AllBusiness radio show about CT and the award. The radio spot will be featured on AllBusiness.com for a month, and they claim 6 million unique monthly visitors so if you do get any business from this please let me know. (The radio interview should also be archived at wsradio.com shortly).

Regards,
Chip

From: Kyle Stites [mailto:kstites@franchisebusinessreview.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 9:06 AM
To: chip@comptroub.com
Subject: Franchisee Satisfaction Awards promotion

Chip, Congratulations again on being one of the top franchises for 2010! I have attached your franchise satisfaction award certificate to be proudly displayed.

A laptop is recently brought in to our office. Our customer reported that the laptop was displaying blue screen. After performing number of test, our engineer found the culprit.

A trojan virus was hidden in the window directory. After running number of virus cleaning program, we removed the virus completely and the customer was happy.

If you have similar problem, why don’t you call our office 09 4760225 and arrange for your computer or laptop to be checked.

www.computertroubles.co.nz