OFCOM / Tech support scam call

After a long time without, I had a tech support scam call today.

This one started with an automated call, announcing that OFCOM needed to "upgrade the lines" and that failure to act would mean my broadband would be disconnected. I was to hold the line if I wanted to stop this happening.

Once a human answered it was pretty much the normal Indian tech scam stuff. I fired up a VM and they asked me to run the assoc command, install Teamviewer, then they connected to my VM and ran netstat. I disconnected once they opened Notepad and asked me to type my name/address etc since I had stuff to do.

So nothing new, but I haven't heard them impersonating OFCOM before.

Ofcom is running warnings on social media

I just don't get how people fall for these scams...... It's not like they are not in the media on a regular basis.

I know of someone that was sent to the post office to send cash via western union..... Their loss ran into thousands.

In reply to a post by JohnR:

I just don't get how people fall for these scams...... It's not like they are not in the media on a regular basis.

I know of someone that was sent to the post office to send cash via western union..... Their loss ran into thousands.

OFCOM would not phone anyone if they were going to "upgrade the lines" and I agree that anyone who actually takes any notice of the scam calls is asking for trouble and should not own a phone or other device.
Your statement about someone who actually went to the post office proves why the scammers do it I guess.

In reply to a post by ironman12345:

I agree that anyone who actually takes any notice of the scam calls is asking for trouble and should not own a phone or other device.

I find your comment is rather rude to elderly people and people that are not so tech savvy.

I know my parents are not that tech savvy, sure my mother is able to build a PC from scratch and she knows to just hang up on the scam calls, my father sadly is not really that tech savvy since his 3 strokes, so we have to keep an eye on him.

Due to the above a lot of stuff my parents pay for (i.e. BT, SKY, Gas, Electrics etc) have my private mobile number as the first point of contact, so I have told my parents if anyone phones stating they are the above people to just say goodbye and hang up.

And you saying people that believe the scam calls shouldn't have a phone or other device, is completely wrong to say, sure we need to explain to them the issues, but its not their fault that they grew up in the days you could leave your door unlocked, hardly anyone got stabbed etc, sadly things change and where almost everything is now all digital and that some people can pretend to be people they are not, they need to be made aware of this.

So if you get pulled over by a couple of people wearing policeman uniforms who gets out of a car with flashing blue lights.
And they then seize (steal) your car, does that mean you were stupid and shouldn't be allowed to own or be driving a car.
No, its just that some people are nasty and very good at deceiving people, sure sometimes alarm bells are ringing in your head, but this isn't always the case.

Paul

I agree with Paul

I'm sure everyone has been conned in one way or another (even by a shop salesman), its just that some are called scams.

Sadly we all get old and the world we were born into isn't the world we leave when we die.

Likewise, maybe we shouldn�t be allowed to buy ISAs.

I expect most of us here would realise something was wrong with those forecast returns, but the adverts do appear to have been very plausible.

I�m surprised this scam wasn�t picked up almost immediately by the ASA, never mind the FCA and all qualified accountants, and its and its directors and associated companies assets frozen.

There are quite a few of my elderly family members� whose only piece of technology is the phone where the hardware doesn't even have CLI capability. It is not unknown for them to receive calls from �BTs Technical Department� from which the only part of the conversation they remember is that they will be cut off in the next 24 hours. This causes considerable distress.

They would often check with 1471 to find out who called, but often the number is not genuine or the number is of some innocent subscriber. Later on, they might possibly be persuaded to use a call screening product, but there are downsides of doing so.

How this scam could be stopped in its tracks, I have no idea,

I am sorry that my post was taken that way and I did not think about elderly folk.
But I am 82 in April and being that age I should have been more age related.
But I guess I am one of the lucky ones.

As with all ages there is a broad spectrum, for example my parents late 70's and early 80's keep an eye on slightly older widow who is prone to agreeing to anything anyone who turns up at her door suggests

This is not a new thing at all, but the Internet makes the visibility of these things much broader

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

As with all ages there is a broad spectrum, for example my parents late 70's and early 80's keep an eye on slightly older widow who is prone to agreeing to anything anyone who turns up at her door suggests

This is not a new thing at all, but the Internet makes the visibility of these things much broader

I agree that it is a broad spectrum , but there is parental control for the youngsters.
The point I was making is that there should be the same for the elderly , if they are not savvy in technical matters [like the internet or phone].
If they use them and are not monitored they can be open to all scams.?
My wife is 10 years younger than me , but has had a stroke and is in a care home , luckily she is monitored by the home.

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

I find your comment is rather rude to elderly people and people that are not so tech savvy.

Let me just say that in my experience AGE is not a factor in falling for these scams.

In fact many older people are more clued up on this than younger people.

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