Local business ‘Ken Gouge’ who owns a Castle Douglas based toy shop has this week been scammed for money over the phone by a very credible and believable scam method that could catch out anyone. Ken contacted DGWGO in hope that by issuing this warning, it may save some of you the same grief that he has gone through.
Ken described the scam to us at DGWGO; He Said ” I had been having trouble with my broadband which is supplied by Talk Talk. As they were unable to provide a decent broadband speed, I was informed that they needed to get someone from Openreach to try and solve the problems. It was agreed that Openreach would contact me on Monday or Tuesday.
On Monday morning, I was phoned by someone who falsely said they were from Openreach ‘allegedly’ working on behalf of Talk Talk. He had all my details and informed me that he would get my broadband up and running. He asked me to install a piece of software that would monitor my broadband speed (which it seemed to do). He also asked me to install a piece of software that would allow him to operate my computer remotely. Big mistake on my part!! He seemed to mend the broadband and then informed me that I was entitled to compensation of £98.00 that he would pay directly into my bank account.
He gained access and through a clever use of black screens and false RBS bank pages stole a significant amount of money from my accounts.
He kept saying that he was having trouble transferring the money which gave him an excuse to phone me several times and make more transactions. In the end, I realised that something was wrong and said that I did not want the money and would he please just remove his software from my computer and terminate the phone call.
At this point, my suspicions were confirmed as he pleaded with me to give him one last chance to transfer the money as failure to do so would cost him his job.
When I refused, he became aggressive threatening to empty my bank accounts and destroy all my computer files. I put the phone down and contacted my bank. Sure enough, a significant amount of money had been removed from my accounts.
I contacted the police, Then Talk Talk who said they would look into it and get back to me in 5 days!!. ”
If you are suspicious of any possible Phone Scam that you may experience call the police on 101 and report the issue
Article and picture supplied by Ken Gouge
