{"id":245,"date":"2018-09-26T20:30:58","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T20:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.4kcc.com\/blog\/?p=245"},"modified":"2022-09-13T09:16:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T13:16:29","slug":"are-foreigners-on-your-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.4kcc.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/26\/are-foreigners-on-your-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Foreigners On Your Computer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Those Evil Foreigners!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Are there foreigners on your computer? You’ve heard me talk about the scam artists who will tell you anything and lie through their teeth just to sell you their worthless service.\u00a0 You know if you let them onto your computer, they will do whatever they can to panic you.\u00a0 The picture above is an example.\u00a0 They will bring up this window on your computer.\u00a0 Then, they’ll point out the column heading “Foreign Address.”\u00a0 Next, they’ll point out IP addresses like those above with red arrows.\u00a0 They will tell you that there are hackers from foreign countries, like Russia, on your computer and you need to buy their service to fix everything that is wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s A Lie!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Of course, none of that is true.\u00a0 They are lying to you because they want to scare you into making a mistake in judgment.\u00a0 (This is a perfect example of Social Engineering<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.) The column heading, “Foreign Address” simply means that something outside of your computer is connected to it at the moment this window was open.\u00a0 For instance, the IP Address 52.165.171.165 is a Microsoft server to which my computer stays connected all the time because I chose the “Keep me signed in” option.\u00a0 The IP address 162.125.18.133 is DropBox (a cloud service to which I back up files).\u00a0 The third arrow is pointing to 148.66.233.37 which is another cloud service on my computer.\u00a0 Finally, an IP address without an arrow is 13.89.187.212 and again, that is a Microsoft server to which I stay attached all the time.\u00a0 The IP addresses which show on your computer would most likely be different than mine but the fact remains, they are almost always legitimate connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not fall for these scam artists<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Don’t let anyone onto your computer who calls claiming to be Microsoft or Apple; and, don’t follow any directions they give you.\u00a0 Also, remember, when you call a big company – like a printer company – the people you talk to are almost never employees of that company.\u00a0 They usually work for a third-party company and they will tell you anything in an attempt to take your money needlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just For Fun<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A few people asked me how they could get to the window I’m showing in the picture at the top. Here’s how:<\/p>\n\n\n\n