Viki Lester was scammed out of $9000 but is surprised with how easy it was to believe them. Photo / Andrew Warner
Viki Lester was scammed out of $9000 but is surprised with how easy it was to believe them. Photo / Andrew Warner
A scam resulting in $9000 being taken out of a Te Puke woman's bank account left her "shattered" - but due to her quick thinking, the result wasn't as bad as first thought.
Viki Lester has blamed herself for being a "bloody idiot" after getting caught in a scam relatedto her fibre broadband connection.
Recently connecting to Ultrafast Fibre, Lester was at home, on the computer, when she had trouble connecting.
It was then her phone rung, they knew her by name and the caller said he was from Spark Security.
"He said, 'If your broadband has been interrupted, then the security part of it can fall over' and I'm thinking 'yeah maybe'."
Although her suspicions were high, the caller did not ask her for any passwords so she continued following his instructions, allowing remote access to the computer.
It was when he told Lester to "go out of the room and shut the door because there will be radiation in the room. It won't be safe for 10 minutes" she quickly realised something was not right and closed down the computer.
Lester then raced to her local IT technicians, VisionLab, and then to the bank, who blocked her account - although not before $9000 had been removed.
However, the next morning the bank informed Lester it was able to recover the money while VisionLab was able to reset her computer and ensure no one could continue to access the computer remotely.
"The whole thing just blew me away and left me shattered. The major stress that something like this causes could've led to a heart attack.
"People need to know how easy it is, especially if you are not computer savvy."
Peter Edwards from Vision Lab said the rule of thumb is don't give people remote access to the computer. Photo / Andrew Warner
The rule of thumb is to hang up straight away if someone asks for remote access to the computer, said VisionLab managing director Peter Edwards.
"These people are trained to be convincing and make you afraid of what they are saying is true.
"These days you have the ability to save all your passwords in your browser but [scammers] can grab hold of that information and still access everything, so people need to change the password to the browsers as well, to ensure the scammer is locked out."
Police were aware of scams of this nature and urged members of the public to be wary of phone scammers claiming to work for telecommunications organisations, said national prevention centre manager superintendent Eric Tibbott said.
Police's message on scams was simple – do not engage with anyone on the phone and hang up immediately if you think you are being scammed.
"We urge people to have conversations with vulnerable or elderly family members to help ensure they are aware of the tactics often used by scammers."
Anyone who believes they are a victim of a scam is advised to contact police, he said.
Service provider Ultrafast Fibre, who is responsible for fibre connections in the Tauranga area, did not respond to questions put to it by the Bay of Plenty Times.
However, the organisation's website states scam cases are taken "very seriously".
"They may ask you for personal information, want access to your computer and in some cases, ask for your bank details. Don't be fooled, this is fraud," the website stated.
Ultrafast Fibre advised victims of scams to let it know so it "can work to stop fraudsters in their tracks".
