Daniel Kulsvehagen
Assignment
2 Soc 167
In August 2013 the Norwegian online
newspaper Hardware.no taped the event of an online crime. The criminal(s) was
part of a company in India that called people while scamming them online.
A person who called herself Michelle
called and said she was from Microsoft and that Niklas Plikk's (the author of
the article) computer was infected by a virus. Michelle then said she would
help Niklas get rid of the virus by going through a few easy steps.
Niklas was to download software online
that would gain Michelle acsess to Niklas' computer. After downloading the
software, Michelle could acsess the computer and steal anything on it. They
also ask for Niklas' credit card number and other passwords they might need.
I believe this crime was motivated by
invisibility. No one knows who they are. They use Microsoft's name to hide
themselves and to make them more trustworthy. As the phone they are calling
from used a blocked number and that they never show themselves in person they
can't be found. Although they do state their names on the phone, it is likely
that these names are pseudonyms to further protect their real identity.
This article is in Norwegian, but the
actual conversation in the article's film is in English.
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