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Internet Scam !


Wundahoo
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My friend got a call ages ago and went through the whole thing with them, pretending she was doing everything they said to her computer. She kept asking them ridculous questions like "which is the 'power' button/" eventually they hung up on her.

I received a call a few days back and hung up on them. I hate that they are taking advantage of people like this. I wish something could be done.

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This has been going on for ages, all banks have statements saying they will never ask for your passwords or other personal details. I'm surprised people are still getting tricked :(

I was at the Post Office only a year or two ago when an elderly lady was insistent she must send x amount of dollars to someone via western union. The lady behind the counter was having a hard time convincing her otherwise. The PO even had a list of scams at the counter which matched the email the elderly lady had!

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My friend got a call ages ago and went through the whole thing with them, pretending she was doing everything they said to her computer. She kept asking them ridculous questions like "which is the 'power' button/" eventually they hung up on her.

I received a call a few days back and hung up on them. I hate that they are taking advantage of people like this. I wish something could be done.

Unfortunately there is not a lot that can be done because these calls are usually from overseas and it's really hard to track down the perpetrators.

The best thing that can be done is to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of the scam and so significantly reduce the chances of them catching someone in their net. The smaller the catch the less likely they are to bother with it.

Spreading the word is the best action right now.

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this is the first I've heard of this scam, pretty despicable stuff.

are they calling landlines or mobiles or both? I haven't had a landline for a very very long time so that could explain why I've not come across it.

Landlines, its been around years. We play with them, they called twice a day for weeks but haven't heard a peep for ages. Not sure how anyone would think its ok to give bank details out to random people.

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My elderly mother got a call from these b*st*rds and she doesn't have a computer - not even a mobile phone - and they didn't believe her when she said she didn't own a computer - they were really really nasty about it so she hung up on them and then rang me in floods of tears - I had to explain it was a scam and she did well to hang up. frown.gif

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poking out their eardrums with a knitting needle

What a damn good idea!! :laugh:

Some cretin in England knocked off my debit card ... no idea how he got numbers, passwords etc. The bank told me. He spent $UK34 at a restaurant, bought quite a few things, and paid his tolls. So "snap" - I think they will get him.

Bank advised some time ago not to keep much money in the a/c, so I have another a/c which is only accessed via computer, there is no card or anything linked to it, and the money in it can only be transferred to my "general" account, which is linked to a card.

The world is full of people wanting money for nothing

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My friend got a call ages ago and went through the whole thing with them, pretending she was doing everything they said to her computer. She kept asking them ridculous questions like "which is the 'power' button/" eventually they hung up on her.

I received a call a few days back and hung up on them. I hate that they are taking advantage of people like this. I wish something could be done.

Unfortunately there is not a lot that can be done because these calls are usually from overseas and it's really hard to track down the perpetrators.

The best thing that can be done is to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of the scam and so significantly reduce the chances of them catching someone in their net. The smaller the catch the less likely they are to bother with it.

Spreading the word is the best action right now.

Another thing to consider is that what they are doing may not be illegal in their country. Unfortunately they need to be prosecuted in the country they are in at the time the law has been broken (if there is a law to break)

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Have to feel sorry for some though. Our local council has a dept. manager with a very strong indian accent. Was talking to him the other day and he was telling me how many people he rings thinks its a scam and hang up on him. Makes it hard for him to do his job.

Edited by yarracully
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For those on pensions, the Seniors magazine regularly has warning articles regarding these scams...

On another note, my mother got a call from Telstra once insisting that she change her mobile plan - they were very insistent that this "awesome deal" was only for that day, etc... she refused to make any decisions about changing her plan until after she had talked to me - and the guy on the phone was rather threatening until she hung up on him. Turned out to be a bloody legitimate call no less! she than called me and we decided that the plan she was already on was the best for her, and when they rang back again, she politely declined... to more abuse from the dick on the other end of the phone! Very professional Telstra... not!

T.

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My Nan got one of these calls too, luckily she rang me to ask. Told her it was a scam and she's lucky she didn't go ahead with anything.

ETA: She was still on dial up so couldn't be on the phone and doing their online instructions at the same time :thumbsup:

Edited by Noishe
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My friend fell for the call from Telstra advising her she had a virus and would need to follow these instructions & had to buy this anti virus programme. She got off the phone and rang me. First thing I asked was if she had given them any bank or credit card details, she said yes. I told her to get off the phone from me and to ring her bank straight away to put a stop on any withdrawals. Luckily they only got $200 before account was frozen. She was mortified that she had fallen for the scam. I told her that Telstra couldn't give a flying fig if she had a virus or not - long as she paid her account, they couldn't care less. She will be more careful in future.

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Ahh damn :( I can't stand the people that run these scams. Also a bit of a pain that people still fall for it - but I guess knowing what to do on the internet isn't as easy for the older generation than it is for us. I mean who's going to get a call then look up snopes or "microsoft scam" or anything to find out if it's real. I think it'd be handy if someone like the government or something would just run ads on TV with warnings about how to see if it's a scam or not. (Although that might also warn scammers where they need to make their plan more foolproof). Ahh... And the number of people on my friends list who still fall for the "Thanks Bunnings" thing where you're supposed to win a $200, $500, $1000 gift card (changes every time) if you share and like the page and post "thanks Bunnings" - ugh!

I think FIL did well yesterday though, he rang my husband asking about this 'survey' he was doing where they get you to fill out a bunch of details and answer some questions to win an iPod or something - no idea what website it was on - and my OH talked him out of it saying those things are usually scams. So it's good when the older generation have someone they can call to warn them about this kind of thing!

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It isn't just the older generation, Scootaloo. When I joined an organisation some years ago, the office computer was absolutely riddled with viruses because the young girls just opened up anything and everything :mad . It was cheaper to get a new one and start afresh than try to clean it up.

Probably more useful than a govt campaign would be a built in warning as the computer was turned on.

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It isn't just the older generation, Scootaloo. When I joined an organisation some years ago, the office computer was absolutely riddled with viruses because the young girls just opened up anything and everything :mad . It was cheaper to get a new one and start afresh than try to clean it up.

Probably more useful than a govt campaign would be a built in warning as the computer was turned on.

Oh wow that's surprising! What a pain icon_smile_mad.gif

Ah yeah, that's probably a better idea. thumbsup1.gif

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