CARIMA DIALLER

bravedan · Post by **bravedan** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 6:39 pm

Matt,

You asked for info....................

I had the Dialler pop-up appear when accessing the site Forum last Friday, along with at least three other ads at the same time, while away from main home and therefore on my Win 98SE equipped desktop. (I'm on BB with XP Pro at main home).

This W98 computer has highly rated and up to date Anti-Virus/Firewall/ and Spyware software...I don't normally run separate anti-popup software.....I don't normally suffer at all...................

As I'd heard that these diallers do try and hide amongst the other ads to try to get the user to suffer "click on OK to get rid of it fever", the sudden appearance of several ads at once rang alarm bells................

I'd also heard that these diallers have false close box routing.................so having alt /tab window switched to find lo and behold the dialler screen hiding there, I took the machine straight down and out out by switching off the mains...................(not unusual for my W98 machine to have this done to it, usually due to MSTS!!)

On reboot everthing came up seemingly OK except IE, which would not allow access to the Internet Options menu tab, message box saying that "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions on this computer, Please contact your Systems Administrator"..

Using a Windows security manager prog found the access WAS restricted and turned it back on...settings appear normal otherwise.

However, that fact that something had "altered" even though I did not succumb to any keying on the window has meant that I'm now suspect as to what the machine is ACTUALLY dialling, so have not been online more than seconds to know it does connect since..........

I'll not be back on the machine till Mon night.........

SO, as a check, how can I see what it is ACTUALLY dialling rather than what the normal Network connection box shows, which is the normal ISP numbers?????????????????

Regards,

Dave

Post by **martinhodgson** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 9:17 pm

I'm not sure on this, but when it dials does it display the number it's dialing? Maybe phone your ISP and see if they can help, they will know the network settings you should have and the number you should dial.

Lad491 · Post by **Lad491** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 9:24 pm

Its been a while since i used W98 so this could be wrong, but i thought these dialler type programs worked by creating a new entry in your Dial Up Network settings (viewed from Control Panel i think ) and changing the default to always dial this connection rather than whatever it was set to before. You should be able to check therefore what your dial up network setting are set to and what number is being dialled by default. If the dialler program is there it should be a simple matter of deleting the settings.

bravedan · Post by **bravedan** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 5:18 am

AH, there's the rub................I know my way around W98 (Well I thought I did!!) and under properties for each connection you can see what your ISP connection telephone number is set to, but that's not proof the computer is actually dialling it is it??...............

There is no additional network info in the usual places beyond the two ISP connections I installed way back....but then I would expect the dialler to "hide" their data, and vector to it invisibly beyond what you "see"...............

I cannot discover any way so far to verify while it is connecting or while online which number is really being dialled/is connected...................

I have started a BT online account for my telephone number at this location, which should enable me to look at a list of recent numbers dialled....but they need FIVE DAYS for "security clearance"..............which is a JOKE as a while ago I made an account for my main number, and used an invalid Email contact.....and I STILL got a working account.

Back to the problem..............a modem dials and connects....but what PROVES which number to???

boeing126 · Post by **boeing126** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 5:51 am

Dave you are right in saying the number viewed is not necessarily the number dialled.About three years ago i got my B.T. phone bill and there was four premium numbers showing on there that i know i had not dialled.On contacting B.T. they gave me a number of an organisation (cant remember the name) who can check these premium numbers.It turned out that the numbers dialled were porno sites.Honest guys i do not dial porn sites.

Since upgrading to Win xp and changing to N.T.L. i have had no further problems.To give B.T.credit though they did deduct the cost of the premium calls off my next bill.

bigvern · Post by **bigvern** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 6:45 am

These things seem to be more and more pervasive! Apart from the obvious places like porn sites (where I guess caveat emptor applies) more and more innocuous places seem to be sending them out. I downloaded some desktop wallpaper a few days ago (non rail - or porn

- related) and found it had installed something called 180 Solutions. I've now got Adware 6.0 installed and make a point of running it at least once a day. The diallers are even more malicious and don't always go away with Alt-F4 either. Being on Broadband and the 56k modem not connected anymore provides some protection, but it makes you wonder why the IE and Norton Security settings are still allowing such things to get through.

qzdcg8 · Post by **qzdcg8** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:01 am

Get yoursef onto Broadband - this stops all of this premium rate dialup nonsense!

Interestingly I switched all of the PC's in my house across to Broadband about 9 months ago but still got an Â£18 charge on an 0990 number a couple of months ago - turns out, even though I'd switched all the PC's over to Broadband (via Wireless LAN), I'd left the phone lines plugged into the kid's PC's (for backup purposes) and one of my kids had clicked on one of these pesky blighters....

...a lesson learned the hard way!

buffy500 · Post by **buffy500** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:28 am

qzdcg8 wrote:Get yoursef onto Broadband - this stops all of this premium rate dialup nonsense!

Interestingly I switched all of the PC's in my house across to Broadband about 9 months ago but still got an Â£18 charge on an 0990 number a couple of months ago - turns out, even though I'd switched all the PC's over to Broadband (via Wireless LAN), I'd left the phone lines plugged into the kid's PC's (for backup purposes) and one of my kids had clicked on one of these pesky blighters....

...a lesson learned the hard way!

My modem is currently filling the local land fill site, so they don't get me that easily...
If you want to a) Find out who the number belongs to, b) complain like a stuck pig about having been stitched, then can I recommend the following url....
http://www.icstis.org.uk/icstis2002/default.asp?Node=67

These guys regulate premium rate phone services, including these dialer issues...

boeing126 · Post by **boeing126** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:29 am

Well if you have got kids Steve thats a worry in itself,The premium numbers that i got charged for never did show any visible content but i suppose it could happen.My youngest is twenty one next week so i dont need to worry about porn sites.But i do worry about those little questions like "dad can i have a car and driving lessons for my 21st birthday?"

buffy500 · Post by **buffy500** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:31 am

boeing126 wrote:My youngest is twenty one next week so i dont need to worry about porn sites.

Oh I don't think its that simple. Try

"My youngest is forty one next week so i dont need to worry about porn sites."

boeing126 · Post by **boeing126** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 7:42 am

She,s not a bad lass Dave,But i still said no to the car,Yes to the lessons and i will think about the car when you pass the test.

Then the wife pipes up with thats "not much of a present for a 21st how about a gold watch?"

thenudehamster · Post by **thenudehamster** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 3:56 pm

Apologies for reactivating this topic so late, but I'm just out of hospital after over two weeks with a nasty bacterial infection, along with a screwed up 'upgrade' to WinXP, so I've only just read the topic;
If it's any help, my telco (American, I know, but it may be possible back home) automatically restricts dialling premium (ie, high cost)numbers; it is simply not possible for me, my family or my computers, infected or not, to dial a premium number.
Perhaps you guys should enquire of your telephone service provider as to whether a similar service is available to you.

saddletank · Post by **saddletank** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:24 pm

I had a strange case this afternoon, my dialler told me my username or password were incorrect. As I hadn't changed anything since I'd used the connection in the small hours of this morning I was immediately suspicious and my AV scan found a 'keypress' dll file which it deleted. I rebooted and all was OK, seems this was somehow mucking up my dialler. I have no idea where I got this from as I have not d/l'd any files in recent days but I was sent 2 jpegs by Fodda (jokes about the England-Portugal match), maybe these were infected?

Post by **martinhodgson** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:32 pm

I had that this morning too - Suspect it was a Pipex thing, though I did run adaware just in case. Snapped out of it about 3pm.

asalmon · Post by **asalmon** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 10:11 pm

saddletank wrote:I have no idea where I got this from as I have not d/l'd any files in recent days but I was sent 2 jpegs by Fodda (jokes about the England-Portugal match), maybe these were infected?

jpg's cannout be infected (if you're sure they're jpgs. ie you've told windows not to hide extensions so you'd know if it was .jpg.exe)

Anyway I've had the same two files and they're fine.