SEC says shuts cloud computing scam targeting Asians, Hispanics

 

 

(Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said it has shut down a worldwide pyramid scheme that falsely promised fast gains to tens of thousands of Asian-American, Hispanic and foreign investors from cloud computing services.

A federal judge on Thursday granted the regulator’s request for an asset freeze over entities operating as WCM and WCM777, which are based near Los Angeles and in Hong Kong and run by Ming Xu of Temple City, California.

WCM and WCM777 allegedly raised more than $65 million since March 2013 by promising people they could double their money in 100 days by investing between $399 and $1,999 in cloud services such as website hosting, data storage and software support.

According to the SEC, investors were told they could parlay “points” they got for making investments or enrolling other investors into stakes in initial public offerings of 300 high-tech companies that the WCM entities were incubating.

The SEC said the defendants were also creating a “secondary market” where about $890 million of points had been traded, and even sought to allay concerns by writing on WCM777’s website: “We are not a Ponzi game company.”

But instead, according to the SEC, Xu and the WCM entities would use some new money to pay older investors, and spent other funds on two California golf courses and other properties, and to play the stock market. Xu is also known as Phil Ming Xu.

“They were operating a pyramid scheme that preyed on investors in particular ethnic communities, leaving them with nothing left to show for their investment,” Michele Wein Layne, director of the SEC’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement.

Wellman & Warren, a Laguna Hills, California-based law firm representing the defendants, had no immediate comment U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder in Los Angeles imposed the asset freeze and ordered a temporary receiver over the defendants’ assets. The SEC is also seeking to recoup illegal gains and impose civil penalties.

 

Source from:(http://ca.reuters.com/)

 

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Tech-support scam’ can breach PC privacy

Beware of any unknown caller who poses as a friendly, concerned techie, offering to help with viruses on the household PC.

That’s the word from state and federal fraud fighters, who say the caller is likely a scammer trying to gain access to credit card, banking and other information.

“We started getting complaints at the end of 2011 and it’s gradually increased,” said David Fox, consumer protection specialist with the state Department of Justice. “And that usually indicates to us that it’s successful.”

The scammer typically begins by asking for the potential victim to sign in and give the caller remote access to the victim’s computer. The false premise is that the victim’s computer has dangerous viruses that should be removed, even though the caller is only pointing out routine information that any computer might display.

“They’ll tell you that that means you have a virus on your computer,” Fox said.

In fraud-speak, this scam is called “scareware,” according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Last fall, the FTC announced a major international crackdown on tech support scams on these remote-access thefts.

At the commission’s request, a U.S. District Court Judge ordered a halt to six alleged tech-support scams and froze their assets. Criminal enterprises were targeted in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.

“The FTC has been aggressive – and successful – in its pursuit of tech support scams,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. “And the tech support scam artists we are talking about have taken scareware to a whole other level of virtual mayhem.”

Instead of helping the consumer, the scammer can be installing malware, or dangerous software; obtaining pin numbers or other private information; or setting up a monthly payment to an illegal business. The total charge can be as much as $500, with a monthly payment of about $30 a month.

“They don’t have to be successful very often,” given the high volume of calls placed daily, DOJ spokeswoman Noelle Talley said.

The North Carolina Department of Justice has tracked at least 150 complaints about the tech scam, indicating a much higher number of people who either rejected the scammer’s advances or perhaps got caught, Fox said.

In some cases, the scam artist will even threaten to come to the house of someone who doesn’t agree to go along, citing a specific time that he will arrive. Such a threat can cause real alarm and concern to an older person, Fox said.

The state’s Senior Consumer Fraud Task Force has a webpage of information of telephone scams. The justice department and other agencies have staffers make appearances at events geared to older people.

“Whether it’s this or any other type of scam, we usually spend our time educating people,” Fox said.

Read more here: ( ttp://www.newsobserver.com)

 

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New Twist on Scam Tech Support Calls Installs Viruses on Victims’ Computers

It’s classic scam: a fake tech support caller claims he needs access to your computer to fix a non-existent bug. But a new twist involves the caller actually installing a virus on victims’ computers.

How the Scam Works:

You get a telephone call from someone claiming to be with tech support from a well-known software company. Microsoft is a popular choice. The callers often have strong accents but use common names such as “Adam” or “Bill.” The scammers may know your name and other personal information, which they get from publicly available phone directories. They might even guess what computer operating system you’re using.

The caller tells you that your computer is sending error messages, and they’ve detected a virus on it. He says only a tech support employee can remove the virus, but first you need to grant him access to your machine. If you give the OK, the caller will run a scan of your files and actually point out how the virus has infected the computer. The scammers then offer to remove the virus…. for a fee. Of course, they need your credit card details first.

Here’s the twist. Those who allowed the caller remote access to their computers, whether they paid for the virus to be removed or not, reported difficulties with their computer afterwards, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Some said their computers would not turn on or certain programs/files were inaccessible. Some victims even reported taking their computers for repair, and the technicians confirmed software had been installed.

What to do if “Tech Support” Calls?   

• Never give control of your computer to a third party unless you can confirm that it is a legitimate representative of a computer support team with whom you are already a customer.
• Never provide your credit card or financial information to someone claiming to be from tech support.
• Take the caller’s information down and report it to your local authorities or the FTC.
• If you did allow a caller to access your computer:
  • Change the passwords for your computer, email and online banking/credit card accounts.
  • Be sure to run a virus scan
  • Consider placing a fraud alert on your credit report if you shared personal and banking information with the scammer.

 

Source From:< http://www.bbb.org&gt;

 

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Tech Support Scams are baaaaack!

 

A tech support scam may go as follows: You receive a call from someone informing you that your computer is infected with a really bad virus and needs prompt attention. The crook tells you he needs remote access to your computer, then proceeds to “fix” a problem that never existed, and you get charged a fee for it. Worse, when they are logged into your device, they install spyware so they can see everything you do on the PC all day long.
There’s a new type of this scam out now, where you get a call and they tell you you’ll get a refund if you’ve previously paid for tech support services. This scam has several variations, but here is the way it unfolds:

• They ask if you were happy with the service. If you say no, they’ll then claim they can get your money back.
• Another claim is that the company is going belly up, and as a result, they’re giving out refunds to individuals who already paid.
• When enough of these phone calls are made, a certain percentage of the recipients will respond exactly the way the fraudsters want them to: The victims will give out their credit card number or bank account information after being told that this is necessary to process the refund.
• The scammer may tell you to create a Western Union account in order to receive the refund. Gee, they may even offer to assist you in filling out the forms (how nice of them!) if you hand over remote access to your computer. But they won’t be putting money in your account; they’ll be taking money from it.

Solutions

•    Get a complaint filed at ftc.gov/complaint.
•   If you used a credit card, contact your credit card company and request that they reverse the charge.
•  Hang up on anyone who offers a refund if you provide your credit card or bank information or Western Union account number.
•  Better yet, why bother even answering a call in the first place if you don’t recognize the caller’s number? And if the caller’s number appears to be from “your” bank or credit card company or from Microsoft or anyone you already know and trust, still don’t answer; if it’s legitimate, they’ll leave a message. Even still, don’t call back the number they give you. If they leave a message, contact the institution via the number that’s on your statements to find out if the caller was legitimate.

 

 

Source from:  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com)

 

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Journalists, media under attack from hackers: Google researchers

 

 

(Reuters) – Twenty-one of the world’s top-25 news organizations have been the target of likely state-sponsored hacking attacks, according to research by two Google security engineers.

While many internet users face attacks via email designed to steal personal data, journalists were “massively over-represented” among such targets, said Shane Huntley, a securitysoftware engineer at Google.

The attacks were launched by hackers either working for or in support of a government, and were specifically targeting journalists, Huntley and co-author Morgan Marquis-Boire said in interviews. Their paper was presented at a Black Hat hackers conference in Singapore on Friday.

“If you’re a journalist or a journalistic organization we will see state-sponsored targeting and we see it happening regardless of region, we see it from all over the world both from where the targets are and where the targets are from,” Huntley told Reuters.

Both researchers declined to go into detail about how Google monitors such attacks, but said it “tracks the state actors that attack our users.” Recipients of such emails in Google’s Gmail service typically receive a warning message.

Security researcher Ashkan Soltani said in an earlier Twitter post that nine of the top-25 news websites use Google for hosted email services. The list is based on traffic volumes measured by Alexa, a web information firm owned by Amazon.com Inc.

California-headquartered Google also owns VirusTotal, a website that analyses files and websites to check for malicious content.

“TIP OF THE ICEBERG”

Several U.S. news organizations have said they have been hacked in the past year, and Forbes, the Financial Times and the New York Times have all succumbed to attacks by the Syrian Electronic Army, a group of pro-government hackers.

Huntley said Chinese hackers recently gained access to a major Western news organization, which he declined to identify, via a fake questionnaire emailed to staff. Most such attacks involve carefully crafted emails carrying malware or directing users to a website crafted to trick them into giving up credentials.

Marquis-Boire said that while such attacks were nothing new, their research showed that the number of attacks on media organizations and journalists that went unreported was significantly higher than those made public.

“This is the tip of the iceberg,” he said, noting a year-long spate of attacks on journalists and others interested in human rights in Vietnam, including an Associated Press reporter. The attacks usually involved sending the target an infected email attachment masquerading as a human rights document.

While many of the world’s biggest media players have been targeted in these attacks, small news organizations, citizen journalists and bloggers were also targeted, Huntley said, noting hacking attacks on journalists in Morocco and Ethiopia.

The problem, Marquis-Boire said, was that news organizations have been slower than other businesses in recognizing the threat and taking action. “A lot of news organizations are just waking up to this,” he said.

Many journalists are now taking individual action to protect their computers and email accounts, he said. “We’re seeing a definite upswing of individual journalists who recognize this is important.”

 

 

Source From: (http://www.reuters.com)

 

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