Kind of an odd question and not really the forum to ask on but thought??? (rental, house)

[1freespirit]

are there any computer techs out there that could answer this. I know not the forum to ask in but it is Hawaii related somewhat.

I know there are virus the will hijack your computer and/or browser with various messages like from a tech support place saying something like.. this and locks up your computer

Is there any viruses out there that will insert your internet providers name on the screen such as below?

My computer is now locked up with a message from Hawaiian telecomm that there is an issue with my computer and windows 7. It provided a support number to call It says not to turn off the computer or I could loss data or damage the operating system.

I have never seen or heard where your internet providers name can be inserted. Thought I would ask just to be sure as it seems I have a problem tenant that has been coming up with various excuses to break her lease and just wondered it this was another attempt since she does work remotely from our rental home. So she does need computer and the internet.

I'm pretty techny and have worked on customers computers etc for many years but I do not know of any hijack virus tor maleware hat could insert your providers name direct. Things may have changed and maybe not unusual now.

Thank you,

[mikereilly]

It's likely just a popup. I bet the number they provide isn't a Hawaiian Tel support number. I'd install and run malwarebytes to see if that gets rid of it. There is malware that will encrypt your drive and hold it for ransom, so hopefully that's not what this is. You could always check with Hawaiian Tel to make sure this is fake, but 99% chance it is. I mean, how can an internet provider be incompatible with an OS?

[1freespirit]

No I realize it is a popup and probably malware..or virus.

I just did not know malware and viruses could insert the actual name of your internet provider in the popup. such as "Hawaiian Telcomm"

There is no way Hawaiian Telcomm could send I message like this to any computer or any internet provider for that matter as a pop up it is technically impossible that I do know.

[whtviper1]

Did you try to google the phone number?

That will tell you right away what you are potentially looking at.

Malware can easily tell who the service provider is and insert the name.

Regardless - whether you have malware or not - turn off your computer - do not connect to the internet - and restart.

[1freespirit]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Malware can easily tell who the service provider is and insert the name.

OK thanks that is what I was wondering as I have never seen one where they insert the name. Most are generic and just says your internet provider but does not actually give the name.

I search on the internet in geek forums etc and no one else has seen one where the name is inserted. so was just asking.

[dimfeld]

Haven't heard of it before, but you don't necessarily have to be infected for this to happen. It's pretty easy to figure out which internet provider you're with from your IP address, in a similar process to how those scammy ads for dating sites can advertise tons of matches in your city without you ever saying which city you're in.

Whatever the source, I can guarantee that the message isn't legitimate. But your computer is likely ok. That said, it's probably worth doing some malware scanning just in case.

[dimfeld]

Oh, and for a legitimate example of filling in your ISP's name, check out https://www.whatismyip.com/

[1freespirit]

Its not my computer.. it is our tenant that is renting our Hawaii house. We think she wants to break the lease and is claiming things to try and get out of the lease.

She moves in the 28th.. we stay on island a week before we fly back to our mainland home This way plenty of time for her to questions or if she has any concerns. She moves in we have a check list go through every room every appliance every plumbing fixture.. test everything even TV etc. (as its furnished) We check off each box.. she signs initials.. everything good. Two days AFTER we fly off island then she says both toilets are plugged and she cannot use them. We immediately call a plumber he comes out next day early AM. Snakes all the lines in the house says cesspool seems fine found a small blockage in one of the pipes he was not sure what it was really he said like palm leaves or something. Gives the all clear..

She then calls 2 days after plumber leaves and says one of the toilets seem a bit sluggish in draining. I contact the plumber and ask did he run a check on the lines when he was done as tenant is saying toilet having an issue. He says yes he did ran full test with all showers, sinks flowing, flushes toilets etc ran through about 10 minutes waterto ensure all clear. And if we have him come out again he will charge again as the job was done and lines were clear when he left.

We the had our island contact go over their to test the toilets he said they seem to be fine the master bath toilet is the older kind that take longer to go down because its the older style but he said it flushes like it should.

So I let her know we got the all clear again and maybe she just needs to plunge or something once in a while. You can't really talk about bathroom practices so you have to be careful what you say rather how you say it.

She still complains about the toilet and makes the comment.. and says I contacted the waste engineer and explained what is going on and they said it could be cesspool failure. I cannot live like this it is unsanitary and unhealthy. I am afraid to wash a load of laundry in case it backs up into the shower basins.

Never ever in the last 8 years of owning the place had any type of plumbing issue not even a slow drain and within a week she claims full back up issues, we send a plumber out he gives all clear, our friend says all clear and we still hear from her about one of the two toilets in the house being a bit sluggish so now brings up cesspool failure??

I just said no need not have anyone inspect we will be out their in a couple days to see what is going on.

She replies no need to come really just one of the toilets is a bit sluggish. I can have your friend (island contact) come look at it again and work with him. I said no your talking cesspool failure and that things being unhealthy unsanitary to live in. We will be on flight in a couple days.

Tomorrow hubby flying back out to island to see for himself what is going on. Now she says well the toilet is sluggish sometimes and should get corrected in case I have guests over we do not want to have to be concerned with toilet use.

After that is when she mention the message on her computer.. about the internet and she might lose data on her computer.
So now is she saying the internet is bad also?

Our cottage in Hawaii is well maintained always has been - we rent it out each summer when we fly back to mainland to our Idaho home not one time has any tenant said anything negative about our home or had issues.

So I guess best to check it out our self... to see what and if anything is actually going on.

Very frustrating to say the least.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by 1freespirit

Its not my computer.. it is our tenant that is renting our Hawaii house. We think she wants to break the lease and is claiming things to try and get out of the lease.

Doesn't sound like she is worth the hassle - If it were me I'd let her out of the lease and get a new tenant.

[terracore]

As a former server admin.... It's called "scare-ware" and is designed to make you think that if you don't call the number (and pay their fees to "fix it") something horrible will happen. It's a type of malware. Even a computer with good anti-virus and internet firewalls can get it. You usually get it from visiting unsavory web sites (porn, illegal movie or TV downloads, etc) because "legitimate" web sites don't allow the type of scripts that cause this to happen. Sometimes, even a legitimate web site can deliver the scareware package usually via an advertiser with buggy code that gets hijacked by hackers. Since advertisements are served based by analyzing your cookies, history, etc, some people visiting the websites will get that unlucky advertiser and others won't.

You can download free anti-malware apps (I suggest looking at CNET) that can "usually" clear this type of thing up. One time I got a scareware infection from a buggy Flash ad on a major mainstream news website (Flash was banned for these types of failures) and fixed it by logging into Windows in Safe mode and purging the program from the startup list. The specific program had a file name that was randomly generated. Once it was de-selected from being started, I was able to uninstall it via the windows uninstall feature in control panel. The program was hijacking the ability to uninstall it until after I did the safe mode / don't start trick. For some reason my particular malware infection wasn't able to be cleansed by anti-malware apps, that is why I had to do it manually. It might have been too new to be detected.

Good luck. And as others have mentioned, it's easy for the scareware to know who your ISP is, their ruse isn't really effective without it looking at least somewhat believable.