Here is a warning folks!
I received this information from a constituent, it is not only personal, its very close to home! Its not something dreamed up in a newspaper to fill a column. This is what my constituent informed me.“
I wondered if it was possible for you post something on your page about this attempted crime please?
On Wednesday my dad took a call from supposedly Talk Talk; claiming that that there was internet connection problems in his street (there is!); and they asked for him to log onto his laptop so they could help; which he did.
They then proceeded to access his laptop remotely without his knowledge. they then said that they had paid 3k in error into his bank account and that he had to pay it back. He logged onto his bank account and indeed there was a 3k transaction; unbeknown to my dad that they were accessing his computer.
They then told him he needed to go to the bank get the 3k cash out and go to the post office and send it electronically. By this time they had been on the phone for nearly 2.5 hours, to the point my dad was so convinced he had written all the details down.
Now I know as you read this, how could anyone be so silly, just as I did when I found out, and even more so as I write it. They were extremely convincing, my dad is a very clever person, but somewhat naive to this type of scam; now I know that in your line of work you hear of these things day in day out, for us as a family it was devastating to see my father near to breakdown when he realized what was going on.
Fortunately I was able to get in contact with all banks and shut down all of his online facilities and get all bank cards cancelled, including my mom’s. My dad sensibly had called the police who arrived at their home not long after me, as you know there is nothing that can be done, but he was extremely supportive of my dad, and could see how much distress he dad was in to the point he wanted to call an ambulance as we all thought he was actually having a heart attack.
On talking to the bank I found out that they had somehow managed to hack into his savings (ISA) account and transfer 3k into his current account; to this day the bank does not know how this was done. Luckily for my dad no money was lost, but again for a very intelligent guy he has very much taken in by this scam.
As you can imagine it has left my parents extremely shook up to the point they refuse to have their laptop in their home. I have managed to sort out call barring, number display etc, to try and reduce the number of unsolicited calls. Sorry if I appear to be rambling, but I am really worried that if they can take my dad in what chance has an older person got. Thanks for listening Phil.”
Now for my readers! Please warn anyone you know about this crime. It is dangerous. I have advised that the Police are again contacted as I am sure that there is something that can be done. I will raise this with them on my next briefing session. There are also issues for the Bank! Reputation Is all important for our trust. Please read and make your family aware…..
