I just got a call from "HP Support" and it was clearly the same old Technical Support Scam script.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/take-your-sweet-time-how-i-scammed-a-tech-support-scammer-for-nearly-two-hours/

But this one was friggin' weird! They knew my name and they knew i was on an HP Laptop and even accurately read the first half of my serial number to me. It was uncanny!

But, other than the magical knowledge, she stuck to the same old script. Open EventViewer, point out errors, then direct me to download "agent.exe" where i had to cut her off.

Would what machine I'm using be available anywhere other than HP itself? I have an expired warranty with HP, maybe their servers got hacked at some point to breed these super-knowledgeable Tech Support Scammers.

2/2/2017 1:27:56 PM

happens all the time.

2/2/2017 1:35:42 PM

happens all the time.

2/2/2017 1:35:42 PM

They probably just bought all that information from one of many data brokers. These are the folks who track your activity online via super cookies and the like. They merge that data with other data,: social media, public records, etc... You data from most any company is for sale; ready to be aggregated.

You computer information (make and model) is likely collected via cookies. All those laptops probably have serial numbers that begin the same.

Welcome to the 21st century.

2/2/2017 3:51:24 PM