I recently fell for a Discord scam where someone pretended to be my friend who is into game design. After running a shady game, my Discord crashed and when I logged back in, I found the scammer had messaged me, showing my Gmail inbox and demanding $300. I told them off, downloaded Malwarebytes, and disconnected my laptop from the internet. I then changed all my important passwords and enabled 2FA where needed. Thankfully, none of my accounts were locked, but my Discord account is now disabled, and Discord support wasn't helpful. Now I'm planning to reinstall Windows 11, but I have a couple of questions: 1) Is it better to factory reset my laptop or use a USB to install Windows 11? 2) What else should I do besides monitoring my accounts?
4 Answers
A factory reset can clean up Windows, but it might not get rid of all malware. I recommend using a USB to reinstall Windows 11 and make sure to format your primary disk completely to ensure you start fresh. Good on you for taking this seriously!
Thanks for sharing your experience! I’m glad I didn’t fall for that scam either!
Haha, I wouldn’t blame you for trusting a friend. It happens to the best of us!
Just a heads up, be careful with BIOS or disk setup changes since they could lead to data loss. Always back up first!
Thank you for the advice! I’ll make sure to be thorough since I've dealt with similar issues before.