Melinda (pseudonym) had no idea that he had been filmed. There was something wrong with her computer, so she went online for help.
But Melinda, who was completely hidden, was recorded in secret by the criminals. The criminals took control of her computer and turned on the webcam.
"I'm very happy with today's service," Melinda said in a video. She said these words according to the draft provided by the criminal.
Melinda was completely unaware that she had been involved in an elaborate long-range manipulation scam.
The Melinda-focused criminals have secretly recorded videos of dozens of Australians at home by enticing Australians to fake technical support websites.
The long-range criminals are reported to have coaxed victims into paying huge fees and controlling their computers by patching up non-existent technical problems.
The criminals then uploaded the videos to the video website page, which they used to prove to other victims that their services were indeed safe and reliable.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has found some of the victims.
Geoff Sussman, a professor of medicine at Monash University, was deceived of $1590 for the scam. He finally managed to get the bank to recover the money, but this time he was frustrated. "it made me very angry. There are too many frauds now. Even wise men will be deceived. "
In November 2016, when Sussman wanted to download Adobe on a new computer, he went online. He found an official page that he thought was Adobe technical support and dialed the 1800 number listed online. The phone number gave him access to an organization called Macpatchers. The website of the organization disappeared after the scam.
The Macpatchers technical support operator said there was a virus on the computer that prevented him from installing the software and asked him to download a program hoping to control his computer remotely. "they're really smart about that, saying,'We need to see why, so the only way is to control your computer remotely.
Sussman said the man had done something that appeared to be purging the virus. Finally, they asked Sussman to read the script on the screen to confirm that he was satisfied with the service. But what the culprit didn't tell Sussman was that he had turned on the camera on his computer and photographed the way he spoke.
"I feel like I'm being exploited, and these people are violating the right to privacy," Sussman said. I didn't even know I was being filmed, and I didn't know they were using me to sell themselves. "
It is reported that on Macpatchers's video website channel, a total of 69 secretly filmed Australian video. These videos often capture the victim's very secretive background, such as in their bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and study rooms.
In some of the videos, the children are in and out. Another man sat naked in front of the computer.
The victims, who spoke to the Australian company, were scared when they saw the video posted online.
The scam was discovered by David, who calls himself a scam fighter. He will look for organized crime gangs online.
David has asked not to give his full name because he has already bedeviled many enemies over the investigation of the scam.
"the business needs to find swindlers online, call and pretend to be victims, and then expose what they do. I'll record it and put the video online. "
David, who made a call to Macpatchers in November, filmed his interactions.
In the video, Macpatchers operators said: "if you have any questions, you can look at Macpatchers's comments," David said, noting that he suspected that people in the video would rarely find themselves deceived.
"as you can see, a lot of people are really satisfied with Macpatchers. They paid hundreds or even thousands of dollars, but they didn't even realize that the swindlers didn't do anything at all. "
AFC is trying to get in touch with Macpatchers.
One of the more worrisome aspects of the scam, David said, was that Macpatchers would use Australia's 1800 number to trick victims.
"I noticed that even six months later, these numbers were still being used by the same fraudsters," David said.
IDCare, a fraud victim support group, said it had noticed a surge in Australian numbers related to fraud cases.
Authorities have moved quickly to close the numbers used for fraud.