Computer repair shops - Sky News Investigation

FireFox

There's a great piece running on Sky News this morning about unscrupulous local computer repair shops.
They uncovered some pretty shocking behaviour...

Some computer repair shops are illegally accessing personal data on customers' hard drives - and even trying to hack their bank accounts, a Sky News investigation has found.

In one case, passwords, log-in details and holiday photographs were all copied onto a portable memory stick by a technician.

In other shops, customers were charged for non-existent work and simple faults were misdiagnosed.

The investigation was carried out using surveillance software loaded onto a brand-new laptop.

Link

So if the Techies on here can't solve your problem and you simply have to use one of these shops then make sure you remove all personal data before you hand over your computer.

I guess the moral is - assume the worst and you won't be surprised.

DatabaseError

I thought it was common sense to remove personal data before handing over a computer to a stranger?
I can't remember the details, but I'm pretty sure someone was caught with kiddieporn on their PC after it had been handed to Dixons for repair..maybe 10 years ago? I suppose that's 1 invasion of privacy we're grateful for.

Jakg

Just to point out, the PC World section is a little misleading.

PC World charge a fixed fee to repair laptops of £230, and will use up to £600 of parts in the process. The mobo being replaced was unnecessary, but he didn't have to pay any extra. They do this as laptops are very very hard to diagnose quickly over the counter.

Had the screen, inverter, CPU, mobo and CD ROM drive died PC World would of been easily the cheapest at £230, but obviously they didn't say that...

damo24

It's a bit unfair to tar ALL computer shops with the same brush, the majority are hard working, honest people trying to make a living. There will always be the odd rotten egg but as a general rule a local independent computer shop will be a LOT cheaper and much more professional than a big chain such as PC World where most of the technicians have very little experience and work on a commision basis.

Inactive

Sky are not in a position to judge other's morals, they need to check their own out first.

Jakg

damo24 wrote: »

It's a bit unfair to tar ALL computer shops with the same brush, the majority are hard working, honest people trying to make a living. There will always be the odd rotten egg but as a general rule a local independent computer shop will be a LOT cheaper and much more professional than a big chain such as PC World where most of the technicians have very little experience and work on a commision basis.

No technician at PC World works on Comission.

bat999

DatabaseError wrote: »

I can't remember the details, but I'm pretty sure someone was caught with kiddieporn on their PC after it had been handed to Dixons for repair..maybe 10 years ago?

It was Gary Glitter and it was PC World.
From Wikipedia:-

In November 1997 Glitter was arrested after child pornography images were discovered on the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop that he had taken to the Bristol Cribbs Causeway branch of PC World for repair.
...
Glitter was convicted of possession of child pornography on 12 November 1999 and formally classified as a sex offender, serving two months of a four-month sentence in Horfield Prison in Bristol.

nomoneytoday

There's a difference between a techie being a bit nosy, and what the investigator found. One technician was digging for passwords, checking bank account details etc etc.

IMHO the moral is don't leave anything personal on a pc without encrypting it, and take it to a trusted place...

CHR15

Jakg wrote: »

No technician at PC World works on Comission.

When did PC World start employing technicians?

motorguy

FireFox wrote: »

There's a great piece running on Sky News this morning about unscrupulous local computer repair shops.
They uncovered some pretty shocking behaviour...
Link

So if the Techies on here can't solve your problem and you simply have to use one of these shops then make sure you remove all personal data before you hand over your computer.

I guess the moral is - assume the worst and you won't be surprised.

I read a story on the internet once that sometimes people get struck by lightening when it rains, therefore can everyone please make sure you stay in the house and stay away from the windows when its raining.

motorguy

bat999 wrote: »

It was Gary Glitter and it was PC World.
From Wikipedia:-

Can you imagine the conversation though

Technician "in the event of needing a system rebuild, do you need us to backup any personal data?"

Glitter "Yes, there are 6000 images in the directory 'child !!!!!!' on the c:\ drive"