...I suspect you might be interested in something like
ScamZapper.
Thanks....will do.
[More like AOOOGAH, AOOOGAH, AOOOGAH instead of ding, ding, ding.
Ya, especially at the part about needing to take control of my machine. The alarm had already gone up several decibels at the point where he said he was contracted by Apple to conduct their support.
To the extent that it exists, ’Safe Browsing’ is a bonus, including its implementation in Safari (which ryck was using).....Safe Browsing is hardly foolproof, even in systems that are up-to-date (which his may not be). ....SB’s updates are invariably late and rarely complete, making a utility like ScamZapper a useful addition to your defenses.
Safari on my desktop, like other software on my drive, is up to date. However, this was the first level of Snow Leopard install on a laptop's new drive, so would be out of date.
However, even on a machine like my desktop (OS 10.8.5) I agree that ScamZapper should be a good additional defense to just paying attention and being particularly leery of statements that don't ring true (Like "We're contracted to do Apple support")
The message to those folks who may bump into this kind of stuff is "Don't panic". Agree to nothing and take your time to check things out. The very idea of a legitimate-looking popup, an urgent sounding voice and the statement "You have been infected......" reminds me of an old negotiating tactic - stampeding.
Once the other party is pressured into stampeding, they are no longer thinking clearly.