Neighbour fell for nasty scam
A cautionary tale. A neighbour of mine, approaching retirement, has just lost a very significant amount of money to a telephone scam which went like this:
1) His ISP rang to tell him they'd found a virus on his computer (no alarm bells there yet??)
2) Coincidentally, he was just doing a virus scan as he felt the computer was going slow, so went along with it. He opened teamviewer and gave them access (still nothing?)
3) They blanked his screen "while they sorted the problem" (hearing aid batteries ok??)
4) While it was blanked out they moved a significant amount of money from his savings account to his current account.
5) They then told him they'd fixed the problem and were making a refund to him.....
6) Then, oh no, the refund has gone wrong, "I've refunded you too much, I'll lose my job, etc etc, please login to your account you'll see what I've done..."
7) So he duly logs on to his (newly credited account) and sees thousands of pounds just deposited. Little did he know it was his money...
8) They ask if he will refund the amount please - which being an honest and reasonable person he does. Bingo.
The significance is, the bank don't want to know as he authorised it. The police don't want to know as it's probably a bit difficult especially if they're abroad.
Anyone know a good solicitor?