Telephone scam update
The ongoing “this is BT / TalkTalk / Microsoft – there is a problem with your router” scam has taken a new twist this week.
Some of the banks are now – finally – becoming aware of this, and are logging transactions (especially those over £10,000) as potentially suspicious. Once the flag is raised at the bank, they will try to contact you to find out if the transaction is genuine. As the person being scammed is usually on the phone to the thieves, the next point of contact is via a mobile.
The robbers are now aware of this too, and their “advice” is to please switch off your mobile phone as it is causing interference to your router. This is a nasty twist, as not only can the victim then not be contacted, they also can’t ring a third party if they are suspicious.
Please continue to tell anyone you know, especially older people or those who wouldn’t be too confident using any sort of online device that no-one will ever, ever ring them to say that there is a problem with any of their hardware.