Suspicious Windows Support site

[jonpatch 1]

A site at http://nwaha.org/ has attempted to post comments on my blog.  It looks like a Windows support site, but it's very suspicious, encouraging the user to download "fixes" to Windows problems, which are actually executables.  Whois reports the owner as a proxy, so whoever runs it is hiding.  There is no contact info on the site.   Recommend not using this site.

[Berlopez 33]

Absolutely on Jon, I recieved regularly calls from these suspicisios characters all with indian accents! I know MS uses a lot of supporters from those parts, i have nothing against them, except the facts of them trying to tell me my computer has a Windows problem! Not Microsoft, mind you!!!

 

One day I even got four callers on the roll one right after the other.

I got fed up and hung up severla times and ...Thye would call Again and Again, MY GOD WHAT PERSISTANCE :mad:

Finally took matters nto my own hands fiddled a story and the calls stopped.

 

Berlopez

[Jude Bradley 659]

You might like to read this then...

https://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam/2013/04/phone-scammers-call-the-wrong-guy-get-mad-and-trash-pc/

[Berlopez 33]

:smile: That's a good link Jude thanks

 

I told the guy he had reached a government ministery and i had copied his number which had shown in my listing and I had contacted proper authorities :Yawn:

 

berlopez

[jonpatch 1]

Ya, I was referring to the specific web site, the phone scam is a different kettle of fish.  I thought this of interest to simmers because searches for errors 1603 and 1722, which often occur on FSX installation, may lead to this site

[Jim Young 2,356]

You can check any website by clicking on the IE11 maintenance cog in the upper right hand corner of your browser, clicking on Safety, and then, clicking on Check this Site. I did that and Microsoft reported back that there was no known/reported problems with this site. You can also click on "Report Unsafe Website". There are many websites like this around the Internet who are trying to get your business to clean your registry. That's all this program does. Of course it will find registry problems and suggest to fix the problems for a small license fee. If you are going to get a registry cleaner, this is not the suggested method and it is deception and not really a Microsoft program.

 

Sometimes cleaning your system registry with a program like CCleaner (freeware) will fix program errors. A registry cleaner may fix the 1603 or 1722 errors as those are well known FSX installation errors. A lot of people have fixed these errors by removing FSX as completely as possible then running a registry cleaner to get any remnants of the program removed there too. Then they reinstall. Your registry can become corrupt and registry repair programs usually fix the problems.

 

Best regards,

[Jude Bradley 659]

I had a look at the website,and it looks very like the Windows Knowledge Based Article sites.

The one givaway is the supported OS's at the end which state

Compatible Windows XP, Vista, 7 (32/64 bit), 8 (32/64 bit)

Since Windows XP is out of support by Microsoft,it's not likely to list this in their sites.

[tf51d 284]

Also if you suspect a site is suspicious or contains malware, please do not post links to it, so others can be infected. IMHO I think AVSIM should implement a forum rule covering this, due to the risks to others. This isn't the first of these kinds of posts. I know it's with all good intentions to warn others, but providing a link only increases the danger of infection to others.

[jonpatch 1]

Thanks, Jim, for the background.

 

Your point is well taken, Tom.  I did check the site for malware on access and there was none, so didn't see a risk unless a button was pressed on the site.

 

But in general it is buyer beware, and a warning to every suspicious site would swamp the forums.

 

I have reported the site to MS via multiple avenues.