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General discussion

Need more help about scammers

Sep 12, 2015 2:49PM PDT

OPEN LETTER AND PETITION FOR HELP

Further Comments and Documentation on Webtech Craft and Chase Card
(The below are comments sent to the Federal Trade Commission and following that some further comments in a plea for assistance and help.)

Federal Trade Commission
(3:00 p.m. 08/05/2015)
# 64680971

“On 12/10/14 a Chris called and said that he was on a national secure server and that he sees viruses and Trojans on my computer (his company was soon given as Webtech Craft). He asked to be allowed on my computer to show me the viruses. I did, and he showed me nine viruses and said he would remove them. He said that they use software that was far more potent than my present service (ATT) uses. He told me they would give me added protection and that I could get a reduced "three-year plan" for $249.99. I was ignorant and fell for the scam. I gave him my Chase Freedom Credit card number and he sent me a contract to sign and return (scanned). He installed a Team-viewer portal by which I could reach them. I only used their service twice: once to try installing Skype (which he couldn't altogether) and to run one virus check. ATT is my primary tech service. They also unsuccessfully tried to install Skype. Following my membership, I started getting frequent calls from various computer companies saying they saw viruses on my computer. On 05/08/15, a "Jason" called from ATT (this was NOT ATT!) and reminded me that this person had worked with me on Skype problem (this person had NOT!). He then took me to the same phony website that "Chris" had taken me on 12/10/14 and showed me the 'same' phony file (crss.exe) that Chris used. They wanted to sell me AVG software. I refused. (They said their number was 1-877-303-2243, which does connect to ATT, but was being used by this scam company. Caller ID also showed 1-202-407-9787 [this last number 1-877 has continually shown up to date]). This scam operation has continually called here with the same techniques and even gives phony addresses. ATT told me on 05/08/15 that this company was using some kind of "voice over" numbers and probably were calling from India. ATT told me that Crss.exe was a phony website. A phony David Williams called me from "Windows Help and Support Center" on 05/21/15 under Terrence Mooney at 120-895-8998 and I told him I was going to report him. He laughed and said he was going to "**** up my computer." I contacted ATT and they did find viruses and took them off. When we tried to change my password, we were locked out. I had to go for help and reinstallation at Home Depot (Dave Dukate, 314-351-5607). I have written a 22-page diary of events, listing all the voice-over calls, and my filing a complaint to the Chase Freedom Card as well as the FCC and the FBI. I have filed with the Missouri Attorney General (Lesha Bommel: 573-751-3321). Nothing from most, so far, and the biggest disappointment was Jessica Daniels from the Chase Card; she said they will refuse to help me to investigate this company and will force me to pay. I also sent my diary to the Missouri Division of Finance, per request of the BBB. I will also mail this 22-page diary as evidence to the FTC at 600 Pennsylvania in two days. I plan on contacting the police department (15-039645, Det. Mike Hodge: 444-0100), per ATT (Whitener) request. Most disappointing is the moral ineptitude and lack of fiduciary concern on the part of Chase Freedom Card Company. It would seem that as public and moral citizens, they should be willing to help set up criminal "sting" operations to disable such criminal elements as a protection against scammers and for their clients and the public. Please help me to deter this company and get my losses back: $249.00 - WEBTECH, $220.00 - Home Depot. I am willing to work closely on aiding and instructing a sting on these people. Contact me. INDEPENDENTERDMANN@GMAIL.COM.
WebtechCraft, LLC., 98-1277 Kaahu-manu Street, Ste. 106/553, Alea, Hawaii, 96701. 1-800-961-5102, 1-800-230-6165, P.O. Box 1480, Pearl City, Hawaii, 96782, USA.”
To date, I have written 22 pages in a diary outlining the events and incidents borne out the initial contact with Webtech Craft on 12/10/14. The scenarios get depressingly narrow as each agency I contact fails to do any kind of investigative work: despite the fact that the Internet is full of websites that tell of identical scams to mine and how they have been caught in this web of criminality. ATT informs me I have been scammed (I called “Chis” [CM 3765] [210-821-4105] in Dallas, Texas) and that the constant telephone calls I am getting are from these scammers. The FBI does not respond (in fact their IC3 website did not work for me, and I mailed the diary to them instead), Scott Whitener from ATT Fraud (ph: 331-9805, cel: 614-5797) no longer responds, and calls to the ATT Fraud Department at 1-800-337-5373 (options #1 and # 2) no longer get a real operator, but only recordings for messages. I have contacted every single source that was recommended to me, including the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In the case of the CFPB, they told me on the phone that they do no investigation and were as much as only paper-shuffling-clerics who will seldom go out on the limb for victimized clients. In fact, a conversation with “Jan” on 09/03/15 (W242534) more or less confirmed this. The CFPB rather cavalierly mailed my “complete” diary to Chase Card containing very private information that should only concern an active private investigator --- at this point, Chase Card has told me they do “no” investigation and will not move actively against Webtech. This mailing-action is of no worth or value without a true investigation.
Telephone calls come into my home regularly and show up on my caller ID of all sorts and variety, some as the actual ATT tech service number (which Dallas tells me, it is ‘not’ them and they do not customarily contact their clients in this fashion), others as strange digits and codes, and when I do answer, the scammers pretend to be either some strange company or Microsoft or ATT. What is scary is that the amount of knowledge they have: a call on or about September 1, 2015 was a ‘111 unavailable’ number, and I did answer, only to be told he was ATT checking on work that tech support had done on 8/18/2015. I told this person that I knew he was not ATT, and he hung up the call.
Here is the problem: I had done legitimate computer work with the real (?) ATT on the 18th! How did the scammers know that? How did they obtain the information that I had done work with the real (?) ATT on the 18th?
It is called “Phishing”: but does that include obtaining you private information illegally? You can see that this is no mild problem and needs direct and personalized care. I am open to all suggestions and leads.
The following are a list of Websites that talk about identical scammer-problems and are listed on the Interest; how can Chase Card pretend to be ignorant of such as widespread and well-publicized problem?
(Deleted because of space; many are on the Internet.)

Discussion is locked

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Difficult to read.
Sep 12, 2015 3:55PM PDT

You need to use paragraphs. That said, it seems you fell hook line and sinker. I'm in the UK so don't know how American law works on this. However, I wish you the best of luck.
Dafydd.

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All that and I can't seem to find what help you wanted.
Sep 12, 2015 3:58PM PDT

If you want help in identifying a caller as a phisher or out to rip you off, that would be ANY call that claims they are calling about your PC.

I'm unsure how much more succinct I can be on this. If folk fall for it, they may want governments and police to go get them. Good luck with that.

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Multifacted Problem
Sep 12, 2015 5:48PM PDT

I guess I could have been more specific on this; only it seems to be coming at me from all directions: 1) the constant phone harassment, 2) Chase Card being totally cavalier about Webtech and totally non-investigatory, 3) The inability of official agencies to do anything as yet. It appears to be a multifacted problem: do you know of anyone that will take a personal interest? A inexpensive attorney? The only reason these scammers are so widespread and free, is that no one really goes after them.

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Here an attorney runs about 25K for a small issue.
Sep 13, 2015 6:52AM PDT

The reason I see scammers are so widespread is also that folk keep falling for it. This really can set a person that fell for it to go up in flames but my advice is simple. If you get a call for PC support, hang up.

Better yet, use caller ID. If you don't know the number don't answer. WHY!!!!
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=calls+that+hang+up+when+you+answer

If you are picking up the phone on every call, you are fueling your own problems.

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Still need suggestions and help.
Sep 13, 2015 8:51AM PDT

Did all that and do all that (see lengthy history). They are pretty clever on the fake numbers they use, it is interesting. What is so discouraging is that ATT and Chase Card can't get a handle on all this. ATT seems depressed, and says they (the scammers) are always one step ahead. Chase Card acts more like their personal attorney and just is not interested on doing private investigation and going after them (scammers are talked about by the dozen on the Internet, and so is Webtech): don't believe Chase as the Internet says they have been into crime themselves (birds of a feather). Sad, sad, sad state oe affairs. Still looking for help.

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Remember that you have to find help where you are.
Sep 13, 2015 9:03AM PDT

Here I can only note how to avoid such. As to the caller ID, if it's not a number you know, do not pick up. If you do, you fuel the system for more calls.

If you can't resist picking up that call, try https://www.nomorobo.com/

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we are our own worst enemy at times
Sep 13, 2015 9:40AM PDT

Not to blame the victims, but like Jesus said, you must be as wise as the serpent, so learn not to be quite so naive.

First thing you should have asked them was to tell you the name of your computer and the name of one personal file you'd saved.

Or as I do, I wait till they keep talking about windows and how my windows is infected and then I laugh and tell them I use Linux and hang up. That's when I feel like having a bit of fun, otherwise I just hangup early.

Chase Card are not the phone nor internet police. Their interest is limited to their business and what they know they can reverse charges on.

The FTC has a site for dealing with scammers.
https://www.ftc.gov/
https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint-ftc
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1

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Needs more focus on the problem as it is todate
Sep 14, 2015 6:27AM PDT
Chase Card services has quite a history of crime themselves, if one researches through the Internet, phrasing your search questions on Chase and fraud and crime: you will be surprised. Birds of a feather flock together, I say. They are in the business of making money, apparently any way they can. But what is more amazing is their ignorance and lack of knowledge about computer scams, spoofing and conning (or their pretended ignorance) of 'artists' on and to the public; for a large corporation, and their lack of moral wish and ability to crime-stop and investigate as public-law-abiding-citizens. I suppose one can't 'force' others to be moral, but a large corporation would hopefully think along those lines, especially in regards to banking and credit. Not in their letters to me, however. I find this 'thread' or 'trend' familiar throughout corporatism. ##### Did most of what you said (see my lengthy synopsis earlier). Seems my plea for help at this point still surrounds 1) Getting the 'evidence' against Webtech that Chase is requesting and 2) finding those who can be personal defenses in this matter and working with me. See my earlier synopsis and the email address for any replies (feel free to post the problem elsewhere for public assistance).
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Well this one doesn't work
Sep 15, 2015 11:45AM PDT

I'm assuming that my phone number has been sold due to the numerous retail company hacks. Lately the "I'm calling about your Windows computer" calls have really increased. I decided that I would start saying this: "Do you realize that you've called an employee of the FBI? I've captured your number and we will be following up on it." This morning the scam guy just burst into laughter when I said it. So back to just hanging right up or not answering at all on phone numbers I don't recognize, hoping I don't miss a legitimate call.

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Webtechcraft LLC Problem
Oct 4, 2015 8:50AM PDT

On 11/2/15 I was contacted by a technician representing Webtechcraft LLC
He indicated certain issues had been detected concerning my computer.
I did not accept any of his financial proposals which ranged from 100 to 500 dollars.
The reason is I understand each of the issues and will explain my concerns as they are
addressed. I just let him proceed..

He showed an event log with some 5,000 entries and indicated this was very bad.
Ans. This log is composed of routine events which in most cases present NO
problems. I fixed the one critical entry mtself.

He then showed me a series of “hacks” with the IP of 127.0.0.1…
which he indicated were serious.
Ans. These IP’s are local hosts and are iterations of my IP and are harmless.
I can find them anytime at ipconfig/all

He then indicated that many of my Microsoft services were stopped
and would cause significant problems
Ans. Of course they are stopped. They are totally unnecessary.
I can check their function under services and properties.

He then suggested that my NAP is turned off.
Ans. NAP is introduced in large corporate networks
and is not part of the 2 computers I network. It is not part
of the services described in either computer. I usually call
a Cisco certified tech to describe and introduce the NAP issued required.

He then suggested that my Avast anti-virus was for XP.
The property box was unchecked for XP and all is OK for Microsoft Home series.

I really want to know what is going on. My wife paid $200 for email protection
because WebtechCraft LLC found something wrong with her email.
What really is happening here??
Regards,
segelli

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It's A Scam.. Why Let Some Unknown Person Tell You Such?
Oct 4, 2015 9:08AM PDT

Ignore them. The only time I need tech support is when I ask for it...at a local shop where I know someone, and in my case, that's almost never. Any one else, whether on the phone, online, or at the front door, I hang-up or close the door.

Your Avast is fine for any supported operating system. It's supported on all current operating systems. As to your email program, although you haven't told us which one, it if was working fine, why let an unknown person tell you there's a problem..? If there actually is a problem, take it to someone you trust.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Concerning my call with WebTechCraft LLC
Oct 4, 2015 9:31PM PDT

Grif,
The object listening to this company was to glean enough evidence to formulate
a repose with active phone numbers to the FCC. The answers and responses
you see were not given to him but were sent the FCC to indicate the
erroneous level of his responses.
I well understand clearly and quickly the callers ridiculous references.
This company is on the BBB and FCC radar.
I assure you after 30 years in the computer business I no help to diagnose and repair
my computer problems.
A complete and factual report was sent to the FCC and is now active. WebTechCraft
is a US Company operating out of Hawaii with a very shaky history. One should be
advised that they have what appears to a legitimate web page.
Regards,
Segelli

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Sorry, my case was worst
Oct 5, 2015 7:40AM PDT

Sorry guys, but my case is worse. I have not been able to get the cooperation of Chase Card, as they insist they are not obligated to investigate their customers, even if they have a bad history. Is this true? It would seem that as legal and moral citizens, they are obligated to also trace down and enforce laws that protect the public against scammers. They are claiming they are not. Hence, no refund to me. I have reported both Chase Card and Webtech to the FTC, FCC, and the Attorney General in Missouri, as well as the BBB and the CFPB: I suggest everyone do the same so we can work together. Lastly, when I go to one of Webtech sites, it does give out a virus warning, at least for that site. Any answers, help or assistance would be appreciated: send direct, if you can, to: ###independ### enter dmann @ gm ail. co m.

(Note from moderator: Email addresses in the clear are picked up by spammers. CNET has a spam proof contact system that I use. You should too. I didn't outright remove your email but obfuscated it.)

Post was last edited on October 5, 2015 8:01 AM PDT