A computer customer support company rang an 80-year-old grandfather to tell him there was a virus on his PC and then tried to charged him £185 to remove it.
The Nerd Support spent two hours on the phone with the man, walking him through the process of downloading and installing a remote desktop application to find the supposed fault.
"He had never contacted them previously, nor had he ever been on their website," said his grandson. "I had only just taught him how to switch the computer on and get into Google, he did not even have email at this point."
This week I was discussing this with a techy friend and explained I couldn't understand they knew the man even had a computer. Easy, he said, databases are everywhere and for sale to the highest bidder. He may have innocently mentioned it to someone because he was delighted with being 'modern'. Unfortunately his grandson didn't explain the pitfalls and dangers of technology. Maybe that's something we all out to mention to others more often.
Very recently I experienced a phone scam. A very plausible chap called saying he was from Sky TV and as they were doing an audit they needed to confirm my details. Fortunately I was suspicious at the start and said I'd prefer if he put his request in writing. Even then he didn't give up saying they'd written to me several times and it was now a matter of some urgency. When I mentioned he had my name and phone number so what more did he really want, guess the answer... my account password. Immediately I said the call was being traced and the line went dead.
Now I have friends who are far more trusting than myself and they wouldn't have questioned a 'nice' young man phoning from Sky. None is ignorant, poorly educated or lacking in common sense but they still live in the world in which we were brought up; a world where trust was precious and treated with respect. In today's world trust is a superficial word. Is it because it's overused by politicians?
You can't be too careful in the mysterious world of computers and modern technology.
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10 comments:
Shush - you're blowing my gig..
i never give any details at all and always hang up me phone....also any person who says they are called 'Angus' with an almost unintelligible Indian accent gets a sarky Yeah! right and phone slam...
I says i am security conscious when dealing with people over the phone or on the INTERNET....Me wife says its me just being ignorant as usual
When somebody phones me up with that horse-shit I immediatly tell them to fuck off and then I hang up the phone in a huffy sort of action...
Well done killer
Me brother once said (shouted actually) over the phone to someone who said they would call round....
You do and i will F#cking kill you
you will be fu#king dead...fu#king dead
don't come round my fu#king house you fu#king c#nt..........phone slam Bang!
Whats that all about then i asks(laughing me head off)
Uh! double glazing he says..worked nobody called round..
I used to work for Moneygram and later, Western Union. The number of scam artists attracted to those two is amazing and so a lot of time is spent training the clients.
Part of this is emphasising, in no uncertain terms, that they should NEVER reveal the password. I would tell them until I was blue in the face that if someone asks for the password, it's a scam!!!!
Standard procedure was for my office to phone the client about a month after they started trading and to ask for the password.
Over 50% handed it over.
Oooops BTS, you're not telling me you're Jason are you? I think, when I asked, the bloke said he was Jason.
Niko, you know I always side with your wife. :)
I wasn't huffy Killer, just furious because he persevered.
I see you have the more pleasant nature in your family Niko.
Now that is interesting frances. Just goes to show some folks don't take advice doesn't it.
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