[Hidden-tech] iComputerCare: dangerous or the real deal?

[Robert Heller]

At Tue, 28 Oct 2014 17:03:56 -0400 "Ed Bride" <Ed at edbride-pr.com> wrote:

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> HTers,
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> Has anybody received a cold-call from a company called iComputerCare.com?
> They present themselves as calling from "the maintenance department of
> Windows," saying they are connected to all Windows computers. And my
> computer is sending error messages with indications that dangerous software
> is being downloaded, etc., etc.  When I asked what IP address was sending
> them these messages, they gave me 172.116.10.177, which I checked with
> WHOIS, to no avail.
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> I talked with them for a while, but when they asked me to sit in front of my
> computer (where do they think I was already sitting?) and start looking
> things up, I decided to ask if the call was being recorded. They said yes,
> and I reminded them that they had broken the law by not telling me up-front;
> when I said, "I'd like to record this as well. Would you please start this
> conversation over, so I can get it from the beginning," they muttered
> something in a foreign language, and hung up.
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> OK...a huge waste of time. I suppose the question is: is this a new scam, an
> old scam, or not a scam?

It is a scam. I have no clue as to whether it is new or old. I think 'new'
probably (see below). *I* think I got one of these calls. The only problem is:

1) I run Linux (not Mess-Windows) -- I don't need/want any damn 'anti-virus'
software, and none of *my* computers are 'infected' with any malware (and
certainly not the ultimate malware out of Seattle, WA.). 

2) I am on dial up and only have one phone line. I *cannot* talk on the phone
*AND* be on the Internet at the same time.  So my IP address at the time of 
the phone call was non-existent.
   
When they answered (with an *obviously* foreign accent [guessing someplace in 
India]) with some nonsense about my computer, I just hung up.  I have heard on 
our local townsfolk E-Mail list of other residents of Wendell getting this 
sort of phone call.

The reality is for *most* people in the US, it is close to impossible to get a
unique IP address for a *home* computer (or for most *small* business
computers). Most of us are connected via an ISP that is either using a NAT
router or a dynamic IP address. From the 'outside' it is impossible to map to
a particular computer. *ALL* of those TV crime shows where they 'trace the IP
address to someones computer -- pure fiction, at least for most home
computers in the US and most *small* business computers too. The only case
where a *desktop* computer has its own *public* is going only be in an
organization which has its own public IP address space, such as a *large*
corporation or a large college or university. UMass has such a block and the
desktop machines where I worked in the CS Department all had public IP
addresses. These days, the most computers with public IP address are servers
(web servers, mail servers, DNS servers, FTP servers, etc.) and many of them
are *virtual* machines. *Sometimes* a (small) business will pay the extra fee
to get one (or a few) public IP address(es) for their business, but they will
often still use a NAT router and a 'private' IP address (eg 10.0.0.0/8,
172.16.0.0/12, or [most common] 192.168.0.0/16). So, if someone calls you and
tries to tell you they know you computer's IP address, they are *lying*
(unless you are working someplace like the UMass CS Dept. or something like
that). For most of us, the *best* they can do is say that you are a customer 
of Comcast or Verizon or Crocker or some other ISP.  At *best* they have the 
address of your NAT router.

I am not *sure* how things are outside of the US. It might be possible in
places that are much more IP6 oriented and where higher end broadband Internet
service is much more available (yes, the USA is like 15th in the world in
terms Internet connectivity), it might be more likely that random 'home'
computers having public IP address (probably IP6 addresses). I repeat: the
whole TV crime show business of tracking an IP address to a *specific*
computer is fiction. Not possible for most desktop computers in the US --
maybe some corporate or academic desktop computers, but otherwise not
happening. The *best* that can be done is track to a NAT router. It is
*possible*, with the help (cooperation!) of the ISP to map a dynamic IP
address at a specific time to a particular customer, but it is going to
require a certain amount of 'legal arm twisting' (eg court orders) or *illegal*
hacking (breaking into the ISP's servers). *Sometimes* businesses get their
own public IP addresses, but mostly this still only gets you to the business's
NAT router. 


BTW: there are now many telephone scams running around.  This is because of 
some recent telephone technology, include *cheap* VOIP hardware and software 
I think mostly VOIP *software*.  It is possible to take a laptop, install some 
kind of VOIP software and park yourself at an Internet WiFi hotspot 
(literally *anywhere*) and use this software to do any/all of the following:

1) Make cold calls for various purposes, from hassling random software
consultants (I get these all of the time) into outsourcing to offering to 'put
you Google's first page'.

2) Give you a lower interest rate on your credit card, since *everyone* has a 
credit card AND has credit card debt, right? *I* don't have one (yes I am 
totally weird and totally off in left field).

3) Offer to 'professionally steam clean your carpets' (I don't have any
carpeting -- yes I am even weirder).

Some of these calls are pre-recorded (robots callers).  In this case, it is 
probable that a servers in the cloud are making the calls.

In *some cases* the caller-ID is spoofed, so if you have caller ID, the number
displayed is completely bogus. It is *sort of* legal to present a 'false'
caller ID, but it is only acceptable in the case where an organization with
lots of extensions (eg phone numbers) and wants to present the organization
'main' number and not the random cubical weenie's phone number who is actually 
making the call (on behalf of the organization) or in the case of call center 
with many clients, etc.  Not acceptable for Mr. Joe Scam Artist to present 
some hapless private citizen's home phone number for is robots caller with a 
credit card scam.  But good luck prosecuting Mr. Joe Scam Artist.

What all of this means is: scam (SPAM) phone calls are now possible, because
it is effectively 'free' to make them, just as it is effectively 'free' to
send SPAM E-Mail, with all of the features: fake return addresses/caller-IDs,
fake personalization, etc.

I've gotten to the point of not bothering to even answer the phone half the 
time.  And the other half the time, I just hang up.  There is NO POINT in 
being polite.  If the caller does not identify himself right away and if it 
not someone I know, I just hang up.  Most of the time the scammers don't 
answer right away, esp if it is from a call center -- it takes them a few 
minutes to 'get in gear' -- think the calls are semi-automated or something.
As far as *I* am concerned, telemarketers and cold callers are just a 
different kind of scammer or spammer.

> 
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> Ed
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> Edward J. Bride
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> Technology Public Relations
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> Twitter: @EdwardBride
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> LinkedIn: Ed Bride
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