Alleged Any Desk Application Scam

 

July 2, 2021 I get a call from 667-203-6635 (11:35 am Pacific Time). and the man at the other end of the call claims to be working for Amazon security. He asked me if I just purchased an iPhone for $729?  I replied no. That person then said that one of my electronic devices was compromised to make this purchase.  He warned me not to use my cell phone in any location where I need to use public WiFi.  He then told me that Amazon needs to gain access to my computer using a special software so they could rid my computer of the bad software being used to make these purchases.  (My wording is not exact.  I only try to convey the proper movement of the conversation.)  I am then instructed to use Safari and go to the web site “https://anydesk.com/en” and click on “download now”.  I follow the instructions which get to be a bit complicated because I have to open the Apple System Preferences and then Security & Privacy to allow their software to gain control of my computer.   A second person, a supervisor, needs to take over the phone instructions because the first person can not get “anydesk” to load properly.  I am a bit suspicious because the two men that I have conversations with have deep foreign accents.  I find the time to walk over to my wife who is at her desk and ask her to check on Amazon using the software “anydesk.com” on her computer.   She did a search and found that this software is used to scam.  She can not find that Amazon uses this method to solve issues.  I hang up and delete the anydesk software.  I then go into my bank account to see if there was any recent payment to Amazon for $729 for the alleged cell phone.  There was no Amazon payments which also proved that this was a scam.  I then filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission Fraud web page.

I keep getting return phone calls.  This is my list of phone numbers:

• #2:  855-658-6637. Date:  7/2/2021. Time:  12:31 pm Pacific Time
• #3:  279-657-6632. Date:  7/2/2021. Time:  1:04 pm Pacific Time
• #4:  805-637-7243. Date:  7/3/2021. Time:  7:51 am Pacific Time

I then ran a virus scan on my computers and then a malware scan.

• Malwarebytes = nothing found.
• Bitdefender = found two trojan agent BLKY on my iMac.

NOTE:  Any Desk is a very good legitimate software that is allegedly being used for illegal use by bad people.  Please do NOT diminish the value of this software just because it may be used for incorrect purpose.  App Store gives this a 4.7/5 score which is pretty good.

 

 

Posted July 2, 2021
Revised H1 July 11, 2022