I CANNOT REPEAT THIS ENOUGH BECAUSE SOMEONE ALWAYS MISSES IT. BIG COMPANIES AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES DO NOT E-Mail you. They send US Mail. If they call you, write down what they say, but don’t answer anything. HANG UP IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD and call the 800 number on the website, NOT the E-Mail.
The remote viewing is very worrisome because of the time involved. He may have copies of every unencrypted file on your computer which could include passwords, usernames, as well as the indicated SSNs and DOBs.
So here are some (painful) suggestions:
- With regard to the person who is looking at your computer, I would suggest discussing with him restoring it to the original factory settings and anything else he can do to clean BUT not until you have extracted all your current userids, passwords, logins etc. so you can change them all.
- I would IMMEDIATELY notify EQUIFAX, TRANS UNION, and EXPERIAN of the theft and put a FREEZE on your credit file at all three places.
- I would contact East Goshen police and see if they will accept your report of stolen credit card information. That will save you money with the credit bureaus and help with future thefts.
- IMMEDIATELY contact any credit card issuers and cancel existing cards and get new ones issued.
- Sign up for FRAUD ALERTS with all three credit bureaus. These may be free if you have a police report.
- Delete all your E-Mail accounts and sign up for new ones with strong passwords. You will lose some incoming E-Mails but it’s worth it. You can also call friends or use your new E-Mail to let them know of the change you made.
- Be very very wary of phone calls or E-mails offering help. They are not legitimate but scammers sell the names people they have scammed to other follow on scammers. Only deal with websites you know. DO NOT click on ANY links in E-mails.
- Finally, the hard part. You will have to cancel any web site IDs you have and establish new ones with your new E-Mail address and passwords.
Hope this helps but be on guard.