Fraudulent call from SB3 INC

[stanley edwards]

I was a victim of the trickery of this company, not only that I had a loss on trusting this SB3 INC.
Some so called fraudulent call came from SB3 INC one fine morning saying they are the Microsoft Techies . My 15 year son picked up the phone and they convinced him to take our computer in their remote access. My son is a game enthusiast and for few days the computer was running slow. So the call for him was a God call. Anyhow they showed with their so called Microsoft tool (which the SB3 guy claimed to be)that our computer was running slow and it required immediate cleaning which they will do, showed different plans and I paid them the amount.
It was fine upto this. I was convinced by his sweet support scam call. But what was painful after completing my trouble shooting within few hours when I started my PC I saw my newly installed Kaspersky Antivirus was removed. I called them in their inbound number. But they somehow escaped from it and tried to convince me that they didn’t find any Antivirus in my system and if I want then they would install Avast. As I got angry they started screaming on me. I hanged up my phone, called a local technician and then again I purchased a new Kaspersky Antivirus and installed in my PC. What I came to know from my local technician that these type of companies are basically scammers operating from India and we , who are layman are going to be prey of them. Instantly I contacted my Bank and got a chargeback of my paid amount from the SB3 INC.
At the end what i want to say that every body must hung up the phone whenever they receive such type of calls.

 

[rgd1101]

problem one, you and your son believed someone from a cold call.

 

[ssddx]

phone scams are becoming quite commonplace nowdays.

honestly i dont care if they claim to be the irs, police, government or your bank... never give them any information when they call you. if you know the institution, call them back at the official number and get transferred wherever you need to go.

as far as tech support is concerned i would suggest that you either do it yourself with the advice of experts from forums like this and others (of course we always suggest you verify anything we tell you) or take your computer to a brick and mortar pc repair shop. while the rates they charge are scams in and of themselves (which is why i suggest the prior solution) at least you know where to go if you have any issues (instead of trying to deal with a foreign scam company)

 

[USAFRet]

I sooooo wish they would call me one day.

It would be so much fun watching them trying to get through my Linux firewall. And then when I let them through, watching them connect to a Linux or heavily customized XP VM

 

[ssddx]

@usaf

how exactly do you have the linux firewall setup.

is it a seperate computer tower with linux that all of your data passes through or what?

i would like to set something like this up one day...

 

[USAFRet]

@usaf

how exactly do you have the linux firewall setup.

is it a seperate computer tower with linux that all of your data passes through or what?

i would like to set something like this up one day...

Precisely. A $50 craigslist buy (Compaq AMD Sempron 3400+), currently running untangle. In the past I've used ipCop as well.

Modem/Router -> firewall box -> switch -> devices.
I could do away with the router and let the firewall do the DHCP assignment, but the FiOS ActionTec is all in one box. And I have a couple of devices that I don't want to go through the firewall (work VPN laptop), so having the Verizon router still there helps.

But everything else flows through the firewall. Very adjustable security settings (allow this, but not that), reports by IP address and traffic type, etc, etc, etc.

AV, firewall, monitoring, filtering, phishing prevention, spyware prevention..all in one cheap box.

 

[ssddx]

a few more questions.... hey gotta ask so i know

you mention that you have an antivirus running on the firewall box... do you only have it on the box or is it on every single pc as well (seems like it wouldnt be safe unless it was on every pc as well to me)

do you need to allow/deny every single thing or is it automated for the most part with just the ability to pick and choose?

i've got an old amd64 3500+... my guess is that this can do the job as well?

how much better is running a firewall box than just using windows/kaspersky firewall?

do you still even use kaspersky/windows firewall on connected devices?

 

[USAFRet]

a few more questions.... hey gotta ask so i know

you mention that you have an antivirus running on the firewall box... do you only have it on the box or is it on every single pc as well (seems like it wouldnt be safe unless it was on every pc as well to me)

do you need to allow/deny every single thing or is it automated for the most part with just the ability to pick and choose?

i've got an old amd64 3500+... my guess is that this can do the job as well?

how much better is running a firewall box than just using windows/kaspersky firewall?

do you still even use kaspersky/windows firewall on connected devices?

AV on the PC's - yes. Regular MS security essentials, or Defender (Windows 8)
Your AMD64 will do it just fine
I did it mainly for fun, but looking through the logs, it catches a LOT of stuff.
For instance:

969 attack attempts/hour. Just for yesterday!
987 blocked Spyware activities, again, just for yesterday!

In use, it is absolutely transparent. Unless you go to a suspicious site. It then asks..."Are you really sure you want to do this? Unblock for now Y/N"

Allow/deny is by category. A couple are 'deny' by default, but easy to uncheck.

But if you have kids, you can restrict by IP address. No porn for you. Or no 'shopping' for Grandma.

It is 'necessary'? No. But it is one more, very inexpensive, layer of protection.

 

[ssddx]

LOL...if you have kids...

hmm.... sounds like an interesting hobby for when i have time to set one up.

how easy is it to setup one of those linux distros? i havent messed around with linux for years (back when ubuntu was new... perhaps 8+ years ago) and i confess i'm a windows person.

how well does running through such a box go for games? does it cause any strange activity? i know some network configurations cause some game clients to not work properly. i would be hooking up with a fios router as well (i love fios.. what did i ever do before it... oh wait.. i was under a rock...)

 

[USAFRet]

Setup is literally one afternoon. Just need a PC with 2 or more ethernet ports.

I'm not a heavy gamer, but I've not noticed any impact. Then again, I'm not the kind of person that would obsess over 82fps vs 81fps. But Steam stuff seems to flow through transparently.

Here is a list from a couple of years ago for various firewall distros:
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/7-of-the-best-linux-firewalls-697177

 

[basukaushik]

I was a victim of the trickery of this company, not only that I had a loss on trusting this SB3 INC.
Some so called fraudulent call came from SB3 INC one fine morning saying they are the Microsoft Techies . My 15 year son picked up the phone and they convinced him to take our computer in their remote access. My son is a game enthusiast and for few days the computer was running slow. So the call for him was a God call. Anyhow they showed with their so called Microsoft tool (which the SB3 guy claimed to be)that our computer was running slow and it required immediate cleaning which they will do, showed different plans and I paid them the amount.
It was fine upto this. I was convinced by his sweet support scam call. But what was painful after completing my trouble shooting within few hours when I started my PC I saw my newly installed Kaspersky Antivirus was removed. I called them in their inbound number. But they somehow escaped from it and tried to convince me that they didn’t find any Antivirus in my system and if I want then they would install Avast. As I got angry they started screaming on me. I hanged up my phone, called a local technician and then again I purchased a new Kaspersky Antivirus and installed in my PC. What I came to know from my local technician that these type of companies are basically scammers operating from India and we , who are layman are going to be prey of them. Instantly I contacted my Bank and got a chargeback of my paid amount from the SB3 INC.
At the end what i want to say that every body must hung up the phone whenever they receive such type of calls.

 

[basukaushik]

Dear Mr. Edwards,
Sorry to hear that you became a victim of this racket that is going on in the name of "Tech-Support"..Actually there can be many reasons to slow down machines can be from the hardware side as well as software side.. The games that are available in the market uses their own graphic card settings for optimal performance..The number of games installed, equals to the the number of graphics settings in the computer.. Which is required to be cleaned up at regular intervals.. Because not all the games you are using all the time.. So regular machine clean-up is required for a stable performance.. De-fragmentation of the hard-disk has to be done between intervals,, Because after removing any software it generates fragmented unused blank spaces on the disk surface ,and that also slows down the performance.. De-fragmentation separates and accumulates the free space and the filled-up space..Some good registry cleaner should be used at intervals.. Computer should be clean from any malware / virus/ spyware etc. So the antivirus is needed to be up-to date with all latest virus informations..and last but not the least is proper ventilation of your system..Your machine should give out the exhaust properly without any obstruction.. It produces enough heat to burn your finger..Above is a small prescription from my 20 years expertise in the IT industry.. Lastly you are correct they hire non-technical people for technical jobs from India without any proper knowledge.Their motto is to just sell their plans and wash-up hands..Thanks & regards, Stay well, Kaushik Basu India, basuk1972@gmail.com