Dear Coordinators,
Please find below an email I have received from a Homewatch colleague . I am passing it on to warn you of this type of possible scam.
Please find below an email I have received from a Homewatch colleague . I am passing it on to warn you of this type of possible scam.
Dear Jane,
I have just fallen victim to a scam. I did not lose any money but I am going to have to spend a long time securing my computer.
I had been using my computer on the internet when it froze so I left it for a few minutes to see if it would clear.( This probably had nothing to do with the scam but is the reason why I fell for it). I received a phone call , the gist of it was that they were ringing on behalf of Microsoft because Internet Explorer had been giving lots of errors and they told me how to check. It did seem odd that they could not tell me which version of Windows they were using.
I kept being passed onto someone 'more senior'. I was told to type in various things and tell what the results were. I was also told that my security was out of warranty. Then I was told to type something to download a program to let me talk to their expert who would sort things out. I only did this as it was a secure website. I was then given a number to type to activate the service. Eventually I was directed to a website giving various payment options. and the hard sell started. By this time I was getting suspicious and to cut a long story short I told him in no uncertain terms that I was not going to part with any money. He then became quite threatening and said that by typing in the number I had accepted the service which would cost his firm money and that if I did not pay they would take action to recover their costs. With that I told him to do that and hung up. My subsequent attempt to terminate the program was frustrated as it would not let me control the mouse so I had to press the reset button.
Subsequent investigation showed the web site I was directed to was www. techon support.com and an internet search showed it is part of a scam which the operators are very good at. Apparently Staffordshire police are investigating this company.
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Jane Thirsk
Watch Officer
Office: 01244 612725
Wilmslow Neighbourhood Policing Team 0845 458 6374
Knutsford Neighbourhood Policing Team 0845 458 6380
Macclesfield Neighbourhood Policing Team 0845 458 6371