Infomation wanted PLEASE on possible dial up scam

You block premium rate phone numbers via your phone company rather than on your computer.

Regards
Steve

Oldie,

I spoke to someone just a few days ago who had precisely this problem. Luckily they only got stung for about £80 before they were able to fix it. If memory serves I believe she got onto the phone to BT and told them to block all premium line calls (as kan man says above}. Of course I should imagine you would also need to download the latest antivirus software to nuke whatever it is has been planted on your PC.

Hope that helps.

jon

The other aspect of this scam was to get the dialler to dial to a number in a foreign country that charges a premium rate.

To block calls to premium numbers you have to contact the telephone compay you dial out thru -

In the dialer of your computer you should be able to see the number being dialed - it most likely will be an 0800 or 0845 number with no 00 in front of it

Read all the stories on the Register associated with this article - follow the links to the end to get an understanding of the implications etc

Register Story

hope this helps

Derek

<< >>

I use dial up with NTL. I phoned them to block premium rate scams and was given a code to input on my phone with the caveat that they cannot guarantee that it works and they charge me a monthly fee for the privilege! The sooner we get a test case to challenge the phone line provider's right to hold us responsible rather than themselves the better.

Bob

get a mac

quote:

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Originally posted by garyi:
get a mac

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Garyi and JonR,
Just to conferm my ignorance to you and all alike [ if you would finance a hard up retired old sod to get a mac I will , but if you can't/wont I'll just have to sick with what I have ]but how would a Mac stop a rogue dialer substituting its self for the existing oficial dialer?
a confused oldie.

quote:

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Originally posted by oldie:
Garyi and JonR,
Just to conferm my ignorance to you and all alike [ if you would finance a hard up retired old sod to get a mac I will , but if you can't/wont I'll just have to sick with what I have ]but how would a Mac stop a rogue dialer substituting its self for the existing oficial dialer?
a confused oldie.

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Because Macs are so scarce nobody bothers writing viruses etc. for them


>Will add something funny when I think of it.<

quote:

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Originally posted by reductionist:

quote:

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Originally posted by oldie:
Garyi and JonR,
Just to conferm my ignorance to you and all alike [ if you would finance a hard up retired old sod to get a mac I will , but if you can't/wont I'll just have to sick with what I have ]but how would a Mac stop a rogue dialer substituting its self for the existing oficial dialer?
a confused oldie.

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Because Macs are so scarce nobody bothers writing viruses etc. for them


>Will add something funny when I think of it.<

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YOU just did

My thanks to you all,
fantastic advice again, as usual. I have just been in touch with my phone company and they will block all premium rate phone lines for me for free.It will take about 5/10 days to set up, their advice to me was, if I wished to check if it was in operation, is to phone a premium rate phone line and see if you can get through I have of course declined

Derek
that makes for some very frightning reading, couldn't stand to read it all though, my paranioa and anxiety kicked in.I was begining to think the only way forward security wise was to fill the m/c in with concrete
Once again Thanks to you all
oldie.

Oldie,
It's absolutely vital you're running up to date antivirus software AND anti spyware software such as Adaware, Spybot and Spywareblaster. CWShredder is also useful. Keep everything up to date, and check your PC on a regular basis.

You can find loads of info about these pieces of software and others by doing a Google search.

Oldie

Do not let it frighten you - just read it and take precautions - like in the old days one should practice safe computing by virus checking diskettes, now one just has a few more things to check

I realise that you are much older than me <g> but do not let this stuff put you of

best wishes from one old fart to another

Derek

<< >>

If you're running IE on the default settings I think you will have to manually 'OK' the download of the 'dialer'. So read anything carefully before pressing the button. There are very few sites that actually need you to run downloaded objects, Windows Update for example. So if you get a pop up at 'RussianWivesBareAll' it's possibly not in your best interests to OK it.

Paul

TomK,
Thanks for the info, I have, and keep up to date as far as I can Mc Afie anti virus,
Mailwasher,Adaware,and spybot all run[ and up dated if I remember] at least once a week and of course the Sp2 firewall. I haven't heard of spywareblaster and CWshredder before but I will look them up a couple of questions ,what do they do exactly and are they free

Derek, I'm the original Old Fart,as I had never touched a computer untill about 18 months ago,always had someone to do it for me, so disketts are as unknown to me as good wishes from Maggie Thatcher
But will try not to let it get the better of me, at least with the help of all you good people I should survive, just!!!
oldie.

Oldie,
It sounds as though you're well set up then and the risks of attack are minimal.
Spywareblaster differs from Adaware and Spybot in that it's more like Antivirus protection but for Spyware i.e. it runs in the background and prevents Spyware from being installed, whereas Adaware and Spybot tend to clean up after it's been installed.

CWShredder scans for specific browser hijackers that are notoriously difficult to get rid of and can be missed by the above programs. A browser hijacker takes over your home page and various search engines and is designed to 'force' you to view certain websites and adverts instead of what you want to see.
And yes, they're all free for domestic users.

It's important to get it all in perspective. Remember that many people are happy to go onto the Internet without any protection whatsoever. Generally speaking these are the folk with the horror stories to tell. Nothing's foolproof, but you look to me as though you're in the "low risk" category.

TomK,
I have, and keep up to date as far as I can,McAfie anti virus on start up, Mailwasher,Ad aware,Spybot and of course the M/S Sp2 firewall.I run a scan of these about once a week and a full scan of McAfie about once a month. I have never heard of Spywareblaster and CWShredder, are they similar in operation to Spybot or do they do extra functions?, I'm a bit unsure about loading to many antivirus programs on at the same time, as in another thread some people had problems with one program, I think it was Norton not being compatable with other antivirus programs.

Derek
As the original "Old Fart" up untill about 18 months ago I had never touched a computer as I always had my Computer Technicians to do it for me. So a Diskette is about as familar to me as would be, Maggie Thatchers good wishes. But with the help of you good people I'm just about keeping my head above the water, and it shows, I just wish that Steve and Mick would stop turning the fire hoses on me every time I come up for air .

Paul,
you know from my previous posts that I'm to far gone/old/senile to bother about RussianWivesBareAll,The only bear round here, is me when I can't get this Bl--dy thing to do what I want it to do, apart from that as Tony Benn has said, nothing can beat a good cup of tea [ actually thats one thing that I would disagree with him over,I'll stick to my pint, or two]
oldie

Derek, see what I mean, I thought I had lost that post ,so typed it all out again, only to find the Bl--dy thing has jumped up and bit me on the backside, again
oldie

BT apparently will be only too happy to block permium rate numbers for £1.50 a month.

Often the people who find these diallers on their machines do so because they don't read the small print that acompanies some pop-up on some dubious website - I'm not suggesting that makes it alright as it's still downright sneaky, but I believe on of their "getouts" is that usually the customer agreed to it.

Personally I'd stick the £6 BT would a month towards broadband if it's available in your area.

cheers,
Paul

TomK
I have now found, installed and tried[ I'm clear]both Spywareblaster and CWShredder this along with Spybot,Adaware,McAfie and Mailwasher thats not to mention Ms Firewall and the Phone company's Blocks should keep me safe.If not Wellllllllllll the concrete is beginning to seem like a good option.The only problem I can see though is I'll have to get another bigger hard drive as this one is all taken up by anti virus programs of one sort or another

Paul,
maybe sometime in the future I may change to Broadband, but at the moment ,for what I do with the computer it's a bit of a unnessary expence, plus there has also been talk of problems of access for virus unless you have a router[ I think thats what it was called in another thread] So it seems what ever you do has it's pit falls. the small print issue is a bit like getting someone to play Russian roulette but in the disclaimer in very small print write non of the chambers are vacated
oldie.

quote:

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Originally posted by oldie:
TomK
I have now found, installed and tried[ I'm clear]both Spywareblaster and CWShredder this along with Spybot,Adaware,McAfie and Mailwasher thats not to mention Ms Firewall and the Phone company's Blocks should keep me safe.If not Wellllllllllll the concrete is beginning to seem like a good option.The only problem I can see though is I'll have to get another bigger hard drive as this one is all taken up by anti virus programs of one sort or another

oldie.

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You said it! There are times I wonder what it's all about but if you want to go on the Internet you need to protect yourself. Thinking you can avoid contamination by merely being careful which sites you visit is like thinking you don't need inoculating because you're careful not to mix with infected people. Viruses tend not to advertise themselves. In fact a couple of years ago I visited the web site of John Smith, at that time one of Scotland's leading booksellers. There was a virus on the home page which thankfully was trapped by our antivirus software. Who knows how many customers were infected before I phoned their IT department and let them know.

The thing about having broadband is that while it will stop the dialler actually making the call, it does not stop it from disconnecting you from the broadband connection to start with.

oldie - once you have cleaned out your system with the various Spbybot/Adaware/HijackThis, etc, try installing Mozilla's Firefox. It's free and it's easy and it seems a lot less prone to these things than IE...

Tim

TomK
Yes you are quite correctyou can't be to careful now.This afternoon I spoke to a ,well sort of friend who has helped me out in the past, he works for a local IT type place looking after people with computer problems in the local community,and he told me that they have had several computers in for attention with rogue dial up's installed and these are from Silver Surfers, that is older bu--ers than me, so inappropriate web browsing is unlikly in these cases, so again thanks for your help
oldie.

quote:

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Originally posted by oldie:
maybe sometime in the future I may change to Broadband, but at the moment ,for what I do with the computer it's a bit of a unnessary expence, plus there has also been talk of problems of access for virus unless you have a router

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Oldie,

how much do you pay for your internet access at the moment, either your monthly flat fee, or the total cost of all your phone calls to your internet provider?

The basic / low useage ADSL packages can be had for about £17 per month. My own ISP, Pipex, offer a 150kbps (low speed, only 3x faster than dial-up) package for £16 per month, and 250kbps (5x dial-up) for £18. Setup is free, including all the hardware necessary to use the service. These can be used 24hrs a day, 365 days a year for no extra charge.

You could then un-plug your dial-up modem and never have to worry about your phone bill again.

Still, not a lot of point if your monthly internet bill is a lot less than that, and you're happy with your service.

Regarding the router - yes, some of the more expensive ADSL hardware includes a router (to connect several PCs to one ADSL connection), and a firewall. The router bit is irrelevent to the security of your machine, and the firewall bit (if it is present) is only really replicating the function that the MS firewall gives you anyway.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne (at) Dial.Pipex.com. Put "Naim" in the title.