The Editor,
Recently, I was the victim of a computer scam.
Most people feel silly and don't talk about this, but I want to warn others that unscrupulous people are out there trying to catch seniors because we don't think quickly enough to get ourselves out of trouble.
Answering the telephone at 4 a.m. to be told that my computer was dangerous and could ruin other computers was not a good start to my day. I hung up on the man and tried not to worry.
A few hours later, I was waiting for a call to tell me what time to expect a delivery.
When the phone rang again, I lifted the receiver without even looking at the caller ID. The caller said he was with Microsoft and as he spoke with an Indian accent, I assumed he was from India, so I believed him, as so many calls for help are sourced to India.
He told me about my dangerous computer and that all of the people on my contact list could have their computers ruined, so I went along with his offer to fix the problem.
It did not bother me to find that he had complete charge of my computer without my permission, as he worked for Microsoft.
For a few weeks, I had been getting strange messages when I needed help to open files.
He even told me off for deleting these, as they were trying to help me and that was wrong of me.
He sent all kinds of messages, but they flashed on and off so quickly that I couldn't read the names correctly. This was confusing and after he finished, it took a little while for me to realize I had been taken in by a scam.
My first reaction was not to tell anyone because I had been so stupid. I also knew that I needed help.
I phoned a family member who advised me to contact the bank right away to stop any payment. We phoned the non-emergency number for the police as this was a case of fraud and had to be treated as such.
They assured me that I am not stupid or silly and that I would be surprised at the number of people who are caught by one scam or another.
These are very clever people who prey on others by outsmarting them. I learned too late that Microsoft never makes a call to individual computer owners.
This has led to a nightmare of changing my credit card and all of my bank passwords, as well as changing every password on my computer.
Please, fellow seniors, as we are the ones being targeted, if you get a strange message on your computer, delete it right away and don't feel guilty.
If you get a weird phone call, hang up. It's better than feeling the loss
of security and trust that I feel now.
Joyce Davies
Richmond
