ONLINE SCAM

sheramber

lesley.cann said:

Thank you for all your comments.  Yes, the scammer completely took over my laptop and the number I phoned said they were Microsoft.  Fortunately Santander got the money back for me and hopefully I have learnt my lesson. However, at the age of 78 it is quite difficult to keep on top of the endless scams my husband and I seem to be prone to on the landline and mobile phones, as well as laptops.  Modern life, eh? 

I do not answer any calls that I do not recognise. If it is important they will leave a message.

Previously. I had call guardian on my BT phone.

Only listed numbers of friends and family , dentist, GP etc  , were  allowed through.

Any others were asked to say who they were. The call would then come through telling me XXX was calling . I could accept it or I could refuse it.

Scammers did not say who they were, but hung up.

We explained to anyone who had occasion to phone us that we used that system and  would have to state who they were. Most knew about the system.

oldagetraveller1

"I do not answer any calls that I do not recognise. "

I do, and having too much time to waste, string them along until they realise I am extracting the urine, and hang up on me.

jimjames

lesley.cann said:

 Modern life, eh? 

For safety assume everything on Facebook is a scam and don't click on any links on it. The number of scams shown there is huge. If you can delete Facebook it would be much safer for you.

DiamondLil

sheramber said:

lesley.cann said:

Thank you for all your comments.  Yes, the scammer completely took over my laptop and the number I phoned said they were Microsoft.  Fortunately Santander got the money back for me and hopefully I have learnt my lesson. However, at the age of 78 it is quite difficult to keep on top of the endless scams my husband and I seem to be prone to on the landline and mobile phones, as well as laptops.  Modern life, eh? 

I do not answer any calls that I do not recognise. If it is important they will leave a message.

Previously. I had call guardian on my BT phone.

Only listed numbers of friends and family , dentist, GP etc  , were  allowed through.

Any others were asked to say who they were. The call would then come through telling me XXX was calling . I could accept it or I could refuse it.

Scammers did not say who they were, but hung up.

We explained to anyone who had occasion to phone us that we used that system and  would have to state who they were. Most knew about the system.

This ^

We also have Call Guardian; we've gone from several unknown numbers calling all times of the day and night to blissful silence. We have unknown numbers blocked on the mobiles as well.

Op - watch the Scam Interceptors programmes on the Beeb. Lots of tips there.

Eyeful

lesley.cann:                                               
                                                                   Some simple tips.
1. Do not use Facebook.
2 If you must use Facebook, never click on the links you find there.
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/facebook-account-hacking-warning-what-you-need-to-know-aclY93g3zrJB?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=Supporters&utm_content=Scam+alert+040724+-+Facebook+hacking+scam
3. Do not click on links in Emails. Ask your son to show you how to safely check Email links.
4. When you pick up the phone do not say anything. Let the caller speak fist.
5. If you are with BT then use their "Call Protect".  This will reduce the number of scam calls to a trickle.
https://www.bt.com/help/landline/calling-features-and-security/bt-call-protect----how-to-----guide
6. Make sure your computers operating system is up to date. Use anti malware software & a firewall (ask your son).
7. Think of using some type of sandbox program. If you have a new computer Windows 11 should have its own version. If an old computer try this one.
 Ask your son:-
https://sandboxie-plus.com/

Petriix

People need to understand that viruses don't tend to flash on the screen telling you that you're infected, they sit silently in the background gathering your data and allowing malicious software to be installed on your computer. Anything that flashes up with a warning is just a spammy advert trying to persuade you to voluntarily give away your money or access to your computer. It's the same with scammy emails: simply ignore them and no harm will come. 

soolin

I use facebook a lot for mainly selling and buying private groups and when I log in this morning I could probably find 10 obvious scams within 5 minutes on my home page.

The obvious and big ones at the moment are Taylor Swift tickets (now coming to and end) , Mattresses being sold from a failed  business, bait and scam carpet and furniture cleaning 'begging' posts, Haven fans offering free holidays and Carvery/Harvester etc also offering free meals for anyone who fills in forms with lots of personal details. That's before you get to all the dodgy bait and switch clothing, footwear etc 'shops' .

I sit and watch dozens of people happily interacting with these scammers, asking how to make payment, or whether it's OK to send all this personal data across. My issue , and the point of this post, is that Facebook don't seem to care. I have reported these over and over again, the Taylor Swift ones are removed, but the others all come back with ' we have reviewed your report and don't believe it goes against community standards'. I have even had 2 messages now from FB about malicious/nuisance  reporting  and suggesting I read their policies on scams and reporting to keep myself safe. 

I have reported the Haven one to the real haven who say it's nothing to do with them and they can't get involved. the Harvester one to Harvester who have yet to bother replying. The only way to stay safe is to educate people, age doesn't come into it (I'm older myself) and use some common sense. 

soolin

There is now a headline warning on the news page here on MSE , but the people who read it won't unfortunately be the people who are likely to be scammed.

Warning: The top 20 celebs used by scammers (moneysavingexpert.com)