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Hi there,

I've read some other posts on this: trying to get rid of a pop bill coming from a company called Micro Billing Systems demanding payment for a subscription to a porn website.

Firstly, are the threats real? The bill and account pop up claims my IP address is logged (and vague legally binding statements) and that internet explorer may become disabled (as another user has suggested).

Secondly, I'll need to get rid of this software/pop up - I'm guessing like the other posts a restart in safe mode to remove software....?

Thirdly, do I have to pay? The pop up claims I do. I've looked on this company's website, and while it looks feasible, I'm reluctant to pay money over the internet to a company I hadn't realised I was subscribing to.

I've since received an email giving me a reference number and an actual name of someone who has looked at my bill. Should I be careful? Is there anyway of knowing if this is real/hoax? I haven't actually downloaded anything, although this bill seems to be attached to my desktop...

Unfortunatley it's a case of should've read the small print, and don't muck around with your mates on a PC after a night down the pub. I'm learning....
Any help greatly received. Feel free to let fly with "I told you so's". It won't happen again. Cheers. NP

Pop-Up Asking You to send money?
Scam indeed PAY NOTHING. Security team will be notified.

According to search results... Ad-Aware should remove the problem... Spybot probably would too. Both are free.

Lavasoft

The home of Spybot-S&D!

Hi ih8bills,

Are you completely sure? I have no prior experience of this, it doesn't appear threatening, but a demand for money makes me feel uneasy. Does this "company" have any legal standpoint? Because as far as I'm aware, I have unfortunately agreed to this. Although I don't actually want any software or downloads whatsoever!

I notice you advise contacting authorities, would it be worthwhile in the UK?

Many thanks indeed.

Yes -- it's a scam. Don't be fooled by appearances... when I googled the problem-- a post by one of our security specialists "Pancake" appeared from another help website from years ago. I PMed him to be certain-- and he agrees.

These things are designed to look "official". It's pure B.S.
Dont buy it. That's how they make money. Scaring people.
If you run an anti-spyware app like Spybot-- I'll bet your PC is loaded with stuff. Try it and see what it comes up with. Let it remove what it finds-- if it "can't remove" something ...post back here and we'll get you better help. Spybot is a very good program-- but there can be things it can't deal with. Please post back and let us know how it goes.

After re-reading your second post-- you say "you agreed to this"-- did you have/use a subscription ? I doubt this... but what, exactly occurred-- when ? Did you "agree" to something because of a popup appearing ?
I have never seen one of these websites (or any other type) offer "subscriber services" before receiving payment for those services-- or making automatic billing arrangements.

Plus --if you don't want or did not ask for those "services" ....why should you pay anyone ?
These places are among the biggest users of "spyware" which installs itself on your PC -- without your permission or knowledge-- and then tries to swindle you into paying for-- or signing up for -- stuff you never wanted in the 1st place.

As I said before-- please post back and let us know.

Hi there,

Thanks for your response, was unable to spare any time last night to run a program such as Spybot, but will endeavour this evening.

I haven't intentionally signed up to anything, however on closer inpection of the small print on the bill that has installed itself, it appears that a "free trial" was entered into which lasted for three days, at which point one would have to cancel, or pay. Although I didn't realise I had signed up for a trial, the bill still says that you have to pay, and has a severity warning. The bill also has a "cancel subscription" option which I have clicked, so now says "cancelled but awaiting payment" for something called 'sexxxpassport'. This does appear on my history, and isn't exactly tasteful when you visit the site.

This all occurred on the 3rd of November, unfortunately after a drunk night out with my friends, before watching a DVD on the PC. I should've been paying more attention, so I feel pretty stupid.

In theory, if I paid them, the bill pop ups would stop, but the software would still be installed. In terms of worrying about the threat of not paying, this "company" doesn't have any record except the IP address of my PC. So in theory, if I disconnected my PC they would have no way of demanding payment, or would they trace my IP address back to the service provider? Or am I jumping the gun?

I'm annoyed as I have no interest in visiting dodgy websites. I'll run the anti-spyware later and post back what happens.

Apologies for incompetence and general stupidity.

Nothing stupid about you... some people would have panicked and paid...not questioned the bill. We all start learning about the threats eventually-- as I said -- some similar incident prompted me to learn years ago.

People still fall for the "Nigerian Scam"-- woman was in the paper three months ago sent them a couple thousand US $.

Nigeria - The 419 Coalition Website

I am curious to see what your scan comes up with... if you've never run Spybot-- you may be a little startled. Don't panic.

Just let it clean it's happy way through your PC-- and then you might also run Adaware-- one will sometimes catch what the other misses.. If there's anything that neither can handle-- post back-- and we'll get more help.

After you get cleaned-- our security-team leader has put together a list of things to do for prevention.
I highly recommend it...

http://www.pchelpforum.com/hijackthi...afterwork.html