My mum's been had by a telephone scam 16 December 2022 at 2:33PM in Techie Stuff 14 replies 1.2K views

clairebear1976

Afternoon all. My mum got scammed yesterday by one of the oldest tricks in the book - your computers running slow, let me help you with it and offer compensation for your inconvenience.
I'm not quite sure of the exact details of it but they claimed to be from Sky, my mum gave them access to the pc, shortly after she received an email confirmation for the purchase of a John Lewis gift card worth £200 then the email disappeared just after my mum saw it. She phoned the bank and has had her card stopped and they are going to see if they can stop the payment. I said she's been quite lucky that she saw the email and therefore realised what was going on. If she hadn't seen that email before the scammers deleted it she would have been none the wiser.
Anyhoo, I've been down this morning to clear the hard drive and reinstall windows. I've just talked her through (over the phone) setting up a new email and password/pin for the computer. I'm going to go back tomorrow to have a look through the hard drive at what programmes are on there and run a complete virus and malware sweep. We'll also change all of her passwords as she does online food shopping and her regular email password too. Is there anything else I should be doing to make sure she is secure?

diystarter7

Hi
This may assist
https://computing.which.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/206399529-What-to-do-if-you-think-you-ve-been-hacked
Good luck.

victor2

Enable 2 factor authentication wherever you/she can. Put a stop on all cards she has, not just the one she saw being used.
Keep monitoring the original email address (with a new password), even if she has a new one.
Assume they got all login details stored by her browser and will try them on other websites she may have setup at some point in the past, even if not used recently.
Consider signing up to one of the credit reporting companies, and check her credit report regularly for any unusual activity.

It was fortunate indeed that she spotted it so quickly!

New and different passwords needed for every online account she has, and consider using a password manager, such as Lastpass (others are available) so that she only has one master password to remember.

clairebear1976

Great, thanks everyone. I was tempted to have my dad's card stopped that's on the same debit card account,I think I'll get them to call the bank again for that.
I've been down today and changed the passwords on her email address and her most used websites for shopping.
I always used to use Microsoft Defender for antivirus but that doesn't seem to now have a free option so I used AVG which is one we used to use a long time ago. However the PC is running really slow and very glitchy, even since reinstalling Windows. It keeps disconnecting from the internet, it froze a couple of times earlier and just doesn't seem to be running well at all.
My mum's just rang and said she couldn't get online again and that a red box popped up from AVG saying the machine was at risk but I suspect this is just because we haven't got the paid for version and therefore full protection. I'm going to go back and have another look at it.
What anti virus software would you recommend? I've always used free versions with no problems but I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth having a paid for one....

clairebear1976

Just been having a Google and it seems it was Microsoft Security Essentials that I used to use, not Defender. I'll try and pop that on tomorrow 

debitcardmayhem

which version of Windows do they have?

clairebear1976

debitcardmayhem said:

which version of Windows do they have?

It's Windows 10

OutdoorQueen

Having dealt with similar problem with a family member, there are several call blocking options which may help reduce unwanted calls if the call was on her landline.  Unfortunately, once the criminals have got money, others calls are likely to be received. 

BT, Sky and Talk Talk have free call blocking services. Virgin and Post Office don’t have equivalent services to best of my knowledge.    Alternatively, consider a new landline phone with built in call blocking (BT make some), or a Truecall unit which can plug in to the wall and then the phone plugs in the back.  

Here’s the sky one….I’ve assumed that perhaps landline is with Sky, apologies if not:

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-talk-shield-start

Truecall units give you quite a bit of functionality and you can monitor calls via internet portal and do additional blocking.  

https://www.truecall.co.uk/

Bonhomie

clairebear1976 said:

Afternoon all. My mum got scammed yesterday by one of the oldest tricks in the book - your computers running slow, let me help you with it and offer compensation for your inconvenience.
I'm not quite sure of the exact details of it but they claimed to be from Sky, my mum gave them access to the pc, shortly after she received an email confirmation for the purchase of a John Lewis gift card worth £200 then the email disappeared just after my mum saw it. She phoned the bank and has had her card stopped and they are going to see if they can stop the payment. I said she's been quite lucky that she saw the email and therefore realised what was going on. If she hadn't seen that email before the scammers deleted it she would have been none the wiser.
Anyhoo, I've been down this morning to clear the hard drive and reinstall windows. I've just talked her through (over the phone) setting up a new email and password/pin for the computer. I'm going to go back tomorrow to have a look through the hard drive at what programmes are on there and run a complete virus and malware sweep. We'll also change all of her passwords as she does online food shopping and her regular email password too. Is there anything else I should be doing to make sure she is secure?

It seems that you are just making things worse.

Anyhoo, I've been down this morning to clear the hard drive and reinstall windows

If that was the case, then why are you writing this?

I'm going to go back tomorrow to have a look through the hard drive at what programmes are on there and run a complete virus and malware sweep

How can there be programs with virus malware if you have cleared the hard drive as you claimed? You need to do that properly.

Then of course is your installation of multiple anti-virus which will slow things down even more. Windows 10 already has Windows Security installed; https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/stay-protected-with-windows-security-2ae0363d-0ada-c064-8b56-6a39afb6a963

What is the full model description of the device?

clairebear1976

Bonhomie: I'm just being overly cautious. It's scared my mum and she relies on her computer for her food shopping as she's virtually housebound. I didn't think being extra careful was a bad thing but thanks so much for your valuable input

Bradden

@clairebear1976 I think that Bonhomie was confused as you said you'd wiped and done alean windows installation and then posted that you were going back to see what programs were installed. If you've done a fresh install then there shouldn't be anything else installed to check? I