We are aware of scammers targeting local residents in order to access their computers to obtain personal information, banking details and passwords.
In particular, the elderly and less ‘tech aware’ in our society are particularly vulnerable. Please help spread this advice.
How does the scam work?
The scammer will phone you and may pretend to be a staff member from a computer or internet security company or similar, such as Amazon or Microsoft. They will tell you that your computer or internet has technical problems and will request remote access to your computer to ‘find out what the problem is’.
Remote access means they will access your computer from another location. The scammer may try to talk you into buying or downloading software to ‘fix’ the computer or help them gain access to it. They may ask you for your personal details and your bank/credit card details however once they have access to your computer they can browse for passwords to accounts and install software to track your log in details the next time you use your internet banking or credit card online.
The scammer will sound professional and knowledgeable often using technical language to confuse you. However, they may become abusive and persistent if you don’t do what they ask. Be aware that if you have already been a victim of fraud then the caller may pretend to be from a fraud recovery agency!
How to protect yourself
- If you receive a phone call out of the blue about your computer and remote access is requested – hang up – even if they mention a well-known company.
- If you have already provided remote access to the caller, then disconnect your device from the internet as soon as possible. Consider taking your device to a local IT/Computer specialist to have it checked for malware before reconnecting and altering online log in details.
- Never give an unsolicited caller remote access to your computer – some banks will not cover this type of loss.
- This type of scam can occur on any type of internet enabled device so never download applications or software requested of you by the unsolicited caller.
- Never give your personal, credit card or online account details over the phone.
- Make sure your computer is protected with regularly updated anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a good firewall. Research first and only purchase software from a source that you know and trust.
- If you have fallen victim to a scam or you receive a lot of unsolicited emails and phone calls consider changing your email address and passwords.
If you think you have become a victim of a scam, in the first instance contact your bank immediately and then report to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via actionfraud.police.uk.
For further advice and support you can contact the Guernsey Police on 725111 or via fraud@guernsey.pnn.police.uk and Trading Standards via scams@gov.gg or tradingstandards@gov.gg.
