Windows 10: My over 80 years old father was scammed and his computer is locked up

Hi All,

My over 80 years old father was recently scammed and gave remote access to a "Microsoft Technician" to fix his Dell Inspiron 3670 desk top computer with Windows 10. Once connected to my dad's PC the "tech" wanted $1000 to fix it and literally told my dad if he didn't pay it he would lock up his PC.


My dad told him he couldn't afford it and eventually hung up on the tech. But now the computer won't boot and we get the blue screen of death until the Dell Support Assist starts. It says there are no hardware issues and goes into SupportAssist OS Recovery where it identifies an issue as


"Error description: NO_BOOT"


It says the Partition Table is bad and repairs it and no issues detected for the Boot Files and Windows Health. Then I click the Restart button but the PC either goes back to the blue screen of death or just restarts the Dell SupportAssist with the same NO_BOOT issue.


Obviously I am in the process of contacting all the financial institutions.


Is there anything else I can do to recover his files?


Thanks

:)

 

AMD 45 Years old today!

My father and I have reduced the quantity of our old computers.
I have a few Athlon 939 CPUs in a box somewhere. One of the 939s is in a full rig from 2005 and works great. Used to have a Pentium Pro (one cpu but dual socket mobo). and an Athlon Thunderbird, got rid of them a few years ago.

We have an Everex Step with a 486 still. It still works but hasn't been run in a few years. The OS is Windows 3.1.

 

Scam phone call fron MS headquaters

In addition to the prior supplied advice/links...

Suggestion to read:

• Avoid tech support
  phone scams

• Avoid scams that use the Microsoft name fraudulently
• Understanding malware & other threats - Windows security

• Tech Support Scams – Help & Resource Page

• Tell Your Relatives: No,
  Microsoft Won’t Call You About Your Computer

• The “Tech Support”
  Scammers Called HTG (So We Had Fun with Them)
• Beware of Phony Tech Support Scams

Video from Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit:

Don't Be a Victim of Tech Support Scams

 

security scam?

Yes. That's a scam which is going on since many many years.

Suggestion to read:

• Beware of Phony Emails & Tech Support Scams

• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/support-scams

• Avoiding technical support scams
• Tech Support Scams – Help & Resource Page
• Best Practices for Safe Computing - Prevention of Malware Infection