A sinister tale of scamming

I always enjoy the visit of my window cleaner Pete. He is a cheerful man well above normal intelligence and we share many interests and views.

I happened to mention yesterday that someone from my past – no longer a friend and going through a messy divorce – had obtained my number and made in the last 48 hours 39 calls to my landline and 15 to my mobile. These I avoided but they were incessant. I worked out how to block the caller from the mobile but to do so on the landline supplied by Sky was impossible.

However this was as nothing to Pete’s tale.

He received a text purporting to be about an underpaid parcel. He activated the link as he was expecting a parcel.

Subsequently he received a call from the fraud department of his bank who were suspicious of a £92 payment to Deliveroo in Manchester.

As he was working he requested they called back at 5 pm.

The caller did so and, to be prudent, Pete checked the number which did answer as the fraud department.

They went through his banking transactions and he was told his account had to be reset with codes to be supplied. The call finished.

Some 1 hour later he received another call from the bank.  They had no record of any previous calls and all his money in current and savings accounts had been taken.

He was so careful that once he advised me to remove all addresses on packaging. However the scammers operate on a different level to rummaging bins and can access a computer easily.

They set up a mirror image of your computer on their own.

Of course the monies will be replaced but he said he felt violated and a chump for falling for it.

He also has no credit card at a time when cash is often refused. The real bank was most helpful, even sending him a hamper.

Sorry to see him so distressed I gave him a bottle of wine. I said that that the scammer made two errors: he was on the phone for so long and there was a Deliveroo address.

Readers will remember my recent post on a “ Vodafone “ text.

The answer is to delete all texts purportedly from reputable companies but how do you know if they are genuine or not?

Another measure as adopted by my colleague on the Rust is to have no online banking.