My elderly mother, who lives alone and relies on her computer for grocery orders and medications, recently fell victim to a scam. She had some trouble setting up her new desktop after her old one crashed. While trying to resolve an issue with her Gmail, she accidentally clicked a help button and ended up speaking to a man named Henry Miller with a heavy Indian accent. He had her give remote access to her computer, claiming it needed repairs that would cost $400. She quickly realized it was a scam and hung up, but not before he changed her access PIN, leaving her locked out. I'm across the country and completely unsure of how to help her. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
5 Answers
You should take the computer to a reliable IT shop. They can wipe the hard drive from the BIOS menu and start fresh. Just make sure not to connect it to the internet again before the cleanup to avoid the scammer re-accessing it.
Look for a reputable repair shop nearby and arrange for a clean installation of Windows. If you have access to her Google account, log in and check for any unusual activity, then change all passwords and inform her bank to halt any unauthorized transactions.
It's best to have someone competent come in and reinstall Windows for her. This will help ensure any potential threats are removed, and then you can set her up again.
As long as her drive isn't encrypted, you should be able to recover data from her computer even if the PIN has changed. Just get it back to a functional state first.
If her account is tied to a Microsoft account, you might be able to reset the PIN by clicking "Forgot PIN" and verifying through email. Just make sure the WiFi is off during this process to keep the scammer out. After that, transfer any important files to an external drive, and reinstall Windows to clear any possible malware.
Definitely clean it up first, then connect it after the reset.