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Police warning over ongoing internet scam
Lothian and Borders Police are again asking the public to be on their guard following further complaints from the public concerning a recent computer scam.
Last week, a woman from Peebles received a call to her home by a company calling themselves “microsoft support (technical)”, using the phone number 01517 240611.
A man with an Indian accent asked the woman if she wanted to buy a trial version of Windows support, which would remotely maintain her laptop at a cost of £65. The woman paid for this so-called service by giving her debit card details over the phone.
However, it later transpired that no maintenance had being carried out and subsequent efforts to contact the company were unsuccessful.
Today, a member of the public called the police to say he had recently received a phone call from a similar type of company, giving a similar type story. However, the male with an Indian accent requested that the male purchase a ukash voucher in payment for the service. The Peebles resident didn’t purchase any voucher and contacted police to report the incident.
A police spokesman said: “Unfortunately, the people involved in these types of scams go to great lengths to convince people that they are purchasing an authentic item or product. These eople have various versions which they use to encourage people to part with their money, whether this be through providing credit card details, debit card details or for the inviduals to go to a local store and purchase a cash voucher.
“We would like to stress to the public that they should not pass their credit card or debit card details to people unknown to them, whether over the phone or via mail. If they do, they are likely to find themselves greatly out of pocket. As a rule, if people receve a telephone call from an unknown person offering them any form of service, we would encourage them to terminate the call immedietly.
If people believe they have been a victim of a similar scam, they should contact their bank to cancel their account and contact police immedietely.
Anyone with any information regarding this scam can contact Lothian and Borders Police on 01450 375051.
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Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
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margun
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 11:55 PMI've read about that at http:www.callercenter.com and I definitely agree with the article. It's better to be cautious and safe than sorry and a thousand dollars poorer.
margun
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 11:53 PMThank you for the heads up! This is really helpful now that scam's are on the rise again. As the authorities always remind us, be cautious. Never give out any information over the phone unless you initiated the call. Watch out for scam signs like a stranger asking for information or money. And most importantly, when you get suspicious calls, report it. Get the word out. Warn everyone else.
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