Mum scammed by TechSage

killerkaterina

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Yes, the MBNA card is a credit card. They said nothing could be done but it might be worth pushing back using S75, except my mum just wants to put it behind her now.

As for the advice about educating them on scams, the problem is that there are always new ones, my mum has no tech confidence and my dad is in early-stage dementia, so he doesn't remember the advice. I worry this will happen again 😔

Aylesbury_Duck

You must support them to immediately change all passwords, especially any they use for banking stuff, but email, Facebook, netflix, etc as well.  

LightFlare

I would do a full system virus and malware scan asap.

It wouldnt surprise me at all if they had installed a key logger or something that will cause the issue to reappear after a certain time

Do the scan before changing any passwords 

vacheron

LightFlare said:

I would do a full system virus and malware scan asap.

It wouldnt surprise me at all if they had installed a key logger or something that will cause the issue to reappear after a certain time

Do the scan before changing any passwords 

THIS!  /|\ 

As soon as I read in your first post that "they have installed software", this is almost guaranteed to be another peice of Malware, remote viewer / control software or Keylogger which they will use to collect further information in the future which could end up costing a lot more than £289!

born_again

killerkaterina said:

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Yes, the MBNA card is a credit card. They said nothing could be done but it might be worth pushing back using S75, except my mum just wants to put it behind her now.

As for the advice about educating them on scams, the problem is that there are always new ones, my mum has no tech confidence and my dad is in early-stage dementia, so he doesn't remember the advice. I worry this will happen again 😔

Best advice. Any issues contact you before doing anything. 👍
Then tell them to watch the Beekeeper 

MattMattMattUK

LightFlare said:

I would do a full system virus and malware scan asap.

It wouldnt surprise me at all if they had installed a key logger or something that will cause the issue to reappear after a certain time

Do the scan before changing any passwords 

In fairness I would just reinstall Windows, it is the far safer option and would remove any risk of something that might be new enough to get missed by a malware scanner, or a piece of software that might be legitimate as a product but in this case could be being misused. 

killerkaterina

I don't live anywhere near my parents but I'm hoping my brother-in-law (who lives nearer and works in computers) can do all the necessary checks. 

Anthdyke

Killerkaterina

I was intrigued to read about your experiences with Tech Sage in August 2025 on the MSE Forum. Apologies for contacting you at this time. I had a similar—or possibly worse—experience with this ‘outfit’ in April 2026.

I inadvertently clicked on a website and, within minutes, was confronted with a page (with phone nos.) announcing that my computer had suffered a virus attack. Under no circumstances was I to turn off the computer.

To cut a long story short, the scammers said they couldn’t eliminate the virus and needed access to my computer. After 40 minutes, they claimed to have eliminated the virus.

Next followed the completion of an online form with a most arrogant and extremely pushy woman. I paid £400 for Trojan antivirus protection covering five years. I asked her where they are based. ‘The company is “worldwide”, but we are in Manchester,’ she said. Then she gave me the code Community Interest Company (CIC – easy for fraudsters to set up), followed by 4 digits – that one must not divulge to anyone!

Did you, by any chance, have to do a full computer recovery? I would love to hear of your experience with this truly awful outfit. ([Text removed by Forum Team])

Thanks

[Text removed by Forum Team]

lincroft1710

Firstly you should remove your name and e-mail address from your post

Secondly, KK has not logged on to MSE since Aug 2025, so you would have been unlikely to have received a reply