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I was wondering if this was some tricky new scam, but after reading the notice it's probably nothing new for people on here--the infographic's first phase of th

I was wondering if this was some tricky new scam, but after reading the notice it's probably nothing new for people on here--the infographic's first phase of the scam is: "Tech Support Imposter: Pretends to be technical support; Directs you to install software on your computer to allow them remote access". I sure hope no one on here would install software requested by unsolicited tech support!

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
> I sure hope no one on here would install software requested by unsolicited tech support! All it takes is one browser 0-day that gets distributed on an ad network. A large segment of the HN crowd is still executing untrusted JS on their computers and opposed to blocking their source of income.
- derefr 3y ago
  The people who run these scams build them around evergreen money-extraction strategies; buying a 0day just to hack some people they could already socially-engineer their way into the pockets of anyway, would just be a waste of money. Especially since the 0day would only be useful for a couple of days/weeks, and they don't have the in-house technical talent to automate any of what they're doing to run it faster.
  - mschuster91 3y ago
    > buying a 0day just to hack some people they could already socially-engineer their way into the pockets of anyway, would just be a waste of money. At least back in the day when Flash was still a thing, it was a common issue for "enterprising" people to buy advertising slots, even on reputable media, and spread all kinds of malware via them.
    - derefr 3y ago
      Yes, but those are separate groups with separate capabilities and motives. Scammers are not hackers, though both can and will steal your money.
  - TylerE 3y ago
    A huge part of this is target selection. They don’t want to waste time with anyone who isn’t going to buy it whole hog.
- supriyo-biswas 3y ago
  These days I’d be worried about something like the libwebp 0-day; JS execution is well protected these days. Also, 0-days are generally hard to come by in browsers these days, the libwebp one was initially developed by NSO for example; and tech support scams are not that profitable.
k310 3y ago
My ex needed printer support. The person on the other end had her install remote access software. I forgot how she cleaned up the mess. It's too simple. People don't know who's trustworthy. And I don't make house calls hundreds of miles away. Business opportunity for a "Local Trustworthy Techs"? Heck, the Goon Guys will search your drive for illicit material, and if they don't find any, they'll install some (If I recall some horror stories correctly).
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  If your ex called the tech support number that came with the printer, that's a bit of a different matter. Still not great to install the remote access but I can see how that's practical for the printer support person. Have you ever tried to talk a non-technical person through a multi-step task on the computer when you can't even see their screen? Hopefully they uninstalled the software once the printer was working.
polalavik 3y ago
same. very confused how this made it to the front page - it sounds like just a classic run of the mill scam. nothing particularly novel here. nothing remotely more sophisticated or harder to detect.
- jamiek88 3y ago
  Just Sunday things on here. Different vibe on the weekends!

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago

> I sure hope no one on here would install software requested by unsolicited tech support! All it takes is one browser 0-day that gets distributed on an ad network. A large segment of the HN crowd is still executing untrusted JS on their computers and opposed to blocking their source of income.

derefr 3y ago
The people who run these scams build them around evergreen money-extraction strategies; buying a 0day just to hack some people they could already socially-engineer their way into the pockets of anyway, would just be a waste of money. Especially since the 0day would only be useful for a couple of days/weeks, and they don't have the in-house technical talent to automate any of what they're doing to run it faster.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > buying a 0day just to hack some people they could already socially-engineer their way into the pockets of anyway, would just be a waste of money. At least back in the day when Flash was still a thing, it was a common issue for "enterprising" people to buy advertising slots, even on reputable media, and spread all kinds of malware via them.
  - derefr 3y ago
    Yes, but those are separate groups with separate capabilities and motives. Scammers are not hackers, though both can and will steal your money.
- TylerE 3y ago
  A huge part of this is target selection. They don’t want to waste time with anyone who isn’t going to buy it whole hog.
supriyo-biswas 3y ago
These days I’d be worried about something like the libwebp 0-day; JS execution is well protected these days. Also, 0-days are generally hard to come by in browsers these days, the libwebp one was initially developed by NSO for example; and tech support scams are not that profitable.

k310 3y ago

My ex needed printer support. The person on the other end had her install remote access software. I forgot how she cleaned up the mess. It's too simple. People don't know who's trustworthy. And I don't make house calls hundreds of miles away. Business opportunity for a "Local Trustworthy Techs"? Heck, the Goon Guys will search your drive for illicit material, and if they don't find any, they'll install some (If I recall some horror stories correctly).

SoftTalker 3y ago
If your ex called the tech support number that came with the printer, that's a bit of a different matter. Still not great to install the remote access but I can see how that's practical for the printer support person. Have you ever tried to talk a non-technical person through a multi-step task on the computer when you can't even see their screen? Hopefully they uninstalled the software once the printer was working.

polalavik 3y ago

same. very confused how this made it to the front page - it sounds like just a classic run of the mill scam. nothing particularly novel here. nothing remotely more sophisticated or harder to detect.

jamiek88 3y ago
Just Sunday things on here. Different vibe on the weekends!