Blog about Melbourne In-home care services and elder care stories

Microsoft is filing proceedings against scammers. Shouldn't we take notice too?

25/12/2014

Hi and welcome to our second blog post. This one is a lot more down beat than the last one but as the percentage of scamming increases during the festive season, we thought we'd provide a final reminder to be careful. If our message helps one household we'll be happy. It's not just online fraud that is ravaging many people and households, but computer crime is probably the most evident at the moment.

Microsoft is warning customers that with the holiday season here, scammers are active and will target anyone, stating, “The holiday season is a popular time for scammers as more people engage in online activities, including shopping, donating to charity and searching for travel deals.”

TAKE NOTE OF THE BELOW PRECAUTIONS

Do not purchase any software or services from someone claiming to be from Microsoft.
Ask if there is a fee or subscription associated with the “service.” If there is, hang up.
Never give control of your computer to a third party unless you can confirm that it is a legitimate representative of a computer support team with whom you are already a customer.
Take the caller’s information down and immediately report it to your local authorities.
Never provide your credit card or financial information to someone claiming to be from Microsoft tech support.

Although the below video is talking about America, the exact same thing is happening here in Australia. My wife had a very believable 'tech support scammer' ring her a while back and it was very worrying to hear the lengths they go to.

WATCH WHAT MICROSOFT HAVE TO SAY

LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE WITNESSED A SCAM IN ACTION
Information is the enemy of scammers, so if you have heard of or worse experienced a scam, please let us know either privately or by commenting on this blog topic. The more stories that are shared the better off we all are. If you CLICK HERE or the COMMENT link at the top of this post or below my sign off or send an email to info@respitenow.com.au

We hope our customers, staff, friends and family all have a safe and happy Christmas and that 2015 is an even better year.

Stay safe on the road, on the internet and around the house and we look forward to continuing to support the seniors in our community next year.

Regards,

Jane and Greg Millard and the team at Respite Now.

11 Comments

Shaun Giles

27/12/2014 07:29:40 am

Your blog about scamming is a timely reminder of what is going on in the community that we used to feel safe in. My mother was scammed of $3,000 last xmas period. She would normally speak to me about these things but as I was away on hols at the time she didn't want to bother me. A similar scam to the 'Grandma' scam in your community pages was deployed on her whereby a very sophisticated gentleman rang claiming he was from the Australian consulate and via a series of questions identified her grand daughter was travelling overseas. It's embarrassing for mum and us but she deposited approx $3k into an account as she was led to believe that a passport mishap had meant that her grand daughter was not able to leave Holland (that was her current location). We have had the Australian Fed Police on to it but looks like there no chance of getting my mothers money back. The more this information our the better for everybody. Your efforts whilst not benefiting my family may very well be the information that foils the next scammer that rings someone else's mother. Shaun.

Greg Millard (Respite Now)

29/12/2014 02:01:03 am

Yes I guess any time is a good time if it helps someone but certainly talking about it, promoting it can make a difference. Yours is another sad story and we are sorry to hear it. Perhaps our combined efforts may keep 1 person out of harms way. Thanks for commenting and sharing your story about your mother.

Zie Ling

28/12/2014 04:23:44 pm

Good help for older people. They should here these stories, This is horrible way to treat our elder community.

Greg Millard (RESPITE NOW)

29/12/2014 02:08:42 am

Yes I agree with you Zie. The more people hear these stories, the better off the next person will be. Scammers are cruel thieves who prey on people and can literally ruin peoples lives. Thanks for your enquiry earlier, we are looking in on who we have available for this week and we will phone you to discuss by around lunchtime if this is still convenient.

D. James

2/1/2015 09:25:46 am

You know things are bad when MS (not the bad MS) start to get involved. Good info. Especially for the seniors and carers of course. Look forward to future posts, good approach

Greg Millard (RESPITE NOW)

3/1/2015 07:27:39 am

Yes the article seems to have got quite a bit of attention which is what it is all about. Thanks for commenting. I have responded via email to your request for prices. Regards, Greg M

Wendy Derby

17/1/2015 03:45:07 am

Our grandmother was ripped off by a group of labourers came knocking on door asking to do odd jobs, she trusted them and gave them money to buy materials and didn't see the you know whats again.. How can this be stopped?

Sally Brennan

20/1/2015 01:42:25 am

Thank you Greg for the very relevant information. It's very scary stuff, especially with how much information we keep of ourselves on our computers. I have sent this to all of my family and friends so they can keep their eyes and ears open too.

Amreen

3/2/2015 04:24:33 am

Can you find way to stop these happening my home is full with arful feelings in night times when thay rign us all the time. Is there somwthing can be done for us we dont ask for the caller to ring all the time. My husband is sick and he gets sicker and hot when these pepple call

Greg Millard (RESPITE NOW) link

4/2/2015 07:19:56 am

That sounds awful Amreen. We suggest you contact the Do Not Call Registry www.donotcall.gov.au OR Phone: 1300 792 958. Once you have registered your number there, these calls should reduce substantially. Certain organisations are still allowed to call and these include: charities, political parties, research organisations and educational facilities.
If the calls continue, there is a page on the above site where you can make complaints. Try and get as much information as possible about the caller; phone number, name of company or person, what they are trying to sell you, what your relationshio is with them etc so the Australian Communication & Media Authority can help you. Good luck, Greg RESPITE NOW

Alan Barring

6/3/2015 11:05:41 am

Thanks for passing this iformation on, We got stung about a year ago after stopping to help a couple who we'd thought broken down. We ended up lending them $100 (not a lot in the scheme of things) to help them get their car fixed when repair guy came. They promised they'd ring us to deposit in our account but never heard from them again.

Microsoft is filing proceedings against scammers. Shouldn't we take notice too?

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