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Forum Discussion
Solved
RBS20 Hack
couldn't find exact model in the drop down but it is RBK23 (in description) and RBS20 on unit.
I wanted to test out the waters of mesh wifi router and purchased a refurbished on on Amazon warehouse.
All worked fine other then my Ring doorbell connection. Several online blogs mentioned a settings change on the ORBI. A link led me to a Netgear site with instructions. while on there a chat window opens up, which I was only mildly suspicious of and questioned it. In an attempt to provide good customer service, I was convinced it was a legit chat.
Long story short, after giving them my info and phone #, i received a call from 'Netgear'. When they asked it they could remote into my laptop to change settings so Ring could work, I asked why since the ORBI was app controlled. The guy convinced me this is how it's done. Not knowing anything about Mesh routers, I let him in. He looked around and showed my that my router was being used by hundreds of foreign IP addresses which meant someone had hacked into my system. He assured me he could fix it. All was fine till he mentioned how much it would cost me..RED FLAG.
I immediately told him I thought he was scamming me. I hung up and disconnected my laptop from the wifi. I disconnected the mesh wifi and went back to my previous Netgear Nighthawk.
so do I return the ORBI, because it's now tainted or change something on it to make it safe and usable
PLEASE HELP. tyia
Resetting the Orbi back to "Factory Condition" is pretty easy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMw4ePACgc4
This is probably a good time to do a serious inspectionof the PC that this person had access to.
6 Replies
NG will never call you unless you file a support ticket with NG support and if they deem it necessary. NG will never ask for your information either.
This is NGs official trusted support site link for users:
https://www.netgear.com/support/#
Factory reset the Orbi router and setup from scratch. https://kb.netgear.com/31486/How-do-I-reset-my-Orbi-system-to-factory-default-settings
Set up a new SSID name and give a new password.
If you have setup a netgear account, I would log in to that account and change it's PW as well.
If you gave your email address, I would change the PW this email account as well to be sure.Change the PW on your PC/laptop for your user as well.
I would download and run malwarebtyes.com scanner for any malware on your PC/laptop. It's free to use for a trial period. It's trusted and works well.
wow, that was quick! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I will do what you suggested.
I did download Malwarebytes and all was fine. I had a tech friend walk me through checking out some stuff and all was fine. BUT I did not think to change the pw on my email and laptop. Thank you for that suggestion, I'm on it!!!!
I love this community concept already!
Any future help come to the forum first.
Be safe and enjoy.
Shearexpert wrote:wow, that was quick! THANK YOU SO MUCH. I will do what you suggested.
I did download Malwarebytes and all was fine. I had a tech friend walk me through checking out some stuff and all was fine. BUT I did not think to change the pw on my email and laptop. Thank you for that suggestion, I'm on it!!!!
I love this community concept already!
Thanks again, you're the best!!!
Resetting the Orbi back to "Factory Condition" is pretty easy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMw4ePACgc4
This is probably a good time to do a serious inspectionof the PC that this person had access to.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
