# I hate technology



## Pine Marten (Jun 1, 2018)

A day or so ago I had a dodgy looking email purporting to be from a friend, so I told him about it, and he said it could be that either his account or mine may have been hacked. He changed his password and I've just changed mine too. 

However, a few minutes ago (before changing it) I had a strange recorded phone call saying they were terminating my internet access within 48 hours as my account had been compromised in several countries, and to press 1 to hear what to do next. I didn't press 1, I put the phone down assuming it was a scam. 

Is it sufficient to just change my password? I am very non-techy and get easily confused...


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## Mark T (Jun 1, 2018)

It was a scam.  You did right to put the phone down.


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## Northerner (Jun 1, 2018)

Mark T said:


> It was a scam.  You did right to put the phone down.


I agree with Mark


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## Mark T (Jun 1, 2018)

It's a good idea to change your password.  You may or may not have been hacked, you can tell be looking at the email headers as it's relatively simple to pretend to send an email from someone else, but difficult to fake where it actually came from.   But you need to know what you are looking at to figure it out.  So probably best to assume your account was compromised to be safe.

If you had anything else sharing the same password, best to change that one too.

It's a fairly common scam that someone phones you up and tells you that there is a problem when there isn't.  They will probably claim they can fix it remotely (which they couldn't).

Its unlikely your ISP would contact you in that manner.


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## Mark Parrott (Jun 1, 2018)

I had some similar phone calls the other week from someone claiming to be from TalkTalk.  Well, we have not been with TalkTalk for years, so when they said they needed to access our internet account, I said to them, hold on a second.....hold on....right, this call is now being tracked by the police.  They slammed the phone down & haven't called since.


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## Bubbsie (Jun 5, 2018)

Mark Parrott said:


> I had some similar phone calls the other week from someone claiming to be from TalkTalk.  Well, we have not been with TalkTalk for years, so when they said they needed to access our internet account, I said to them, hold on a second.....hold on....right, this call is now being tracked by the police.  They slammed the phone down & haven't called since.


I get calls form Talk Talk all the time...they ask for me...I used to just put the phone down...now I ask them to wait...then put the phone in a draw...leave it there until I'm ready...makes me smile when I sometimes hear that disembodied voice saying hello from inside a draw


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## Robin (Jun 5, 2018)

I think the call was probably random, and not connected to the email hack. Sometimes they get lucky and spam someone who's just had a problem. Our internet was wiped out in a storm last week, and I coincidentally got a call claiming to be from BT saying our internet was compromised. If we hadn't been having such calls for weeks, (along with half the village, according to our local website) I might have wondered if it was genuine.


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## Mark T (Jun 5, 2018)

I saw an article on the news that the old trick of calling claiming you are from BT saying there is a problem with your computer is going around again.  So it's probably that.

It's a fairly old trick.
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/48253/~/security-warning---fraud-activities-or-scams
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/06/bt_call_scam/


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## Heath o (Jun 5, 2018)

When I get dodgy calls I just tell them to hang on,play some music on phone and see how long can keep em holding for before they put phone down,


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## chaoticcar (Jun 5, 2018)

I am very bad and I like winding these people up!! It is amazing how long you can keep them hanging  on for example you can spend quite a few minutes while you go looking for the computer then you ask which button to press to turn it on !!If they ask about windows tell them that they are double glazed .We could have a competition to see who could make them stay on line for longest  I had a salesman telling me that I could have a free boiler service and as we don't have a boiler I was going to book ,but my husband wouldn't let me !!!!
   Carol


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## Pine Marten (Jun 5, 2018)

I have some Latin phrases on a piece of paper by the phone, but haven't had the chance to use them yet. Thus: Quid dicis? Noli stultus esse! Etc....

I did once mightily confuse the woman who rang telling me I'd had an accident by replying brightly, _Yes! It was fatal... _Fatal...? said she. _Yes,_ said I, _I'm dead!_


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## MikeTurin (Jun 8, 2018)

Bubbsie said:


> I get calls form Talk Talk all the time...


It's such a shame.


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## Bubbsie (Jun 8, 2018)

MikeTurin said:


> It's such a shame.


Good song Mike


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## Bubbsie (Jun 8, 2018)

Pine Marten said:


> I have some Latin phrases on a piece of paper by the phone, but haven't had the chance to use them yet. Thus: Quid dicis? Noli stultus esse! Etc....
> 
> I did once mightily confuse the woman who rang telling me I'd had an accident by replying brightly, _Yes! It was fatal... _Fatal...? said she. _Yes,_ said I, _I'm dead!_


Made me laugh so much PM...I'm going to remember that one.


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## Mark Parrott (Jun 8, 2018)

MikeTurin said:


> It's such a shame.


One of my favourite 80's songs.


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## Bubbsie (Jun 8, 2018)

Mark Parrott said:


> One of my favourite 80's songs.


I've never heard it before Mark.


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## Mark Parrott (Jun 8, 2018)

Bubbsie said:


> I've never heard it before Mark.


I don't remember it from the time as it was never a hit in the UK, but I have a Best Of Talk Talk album & it's on there.  One of their most well known songs is 'It's My Life' which was covered by No Doubt.


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## MikeTurin (Jun 10, 2018)

Got a call that I was going to dismiss, but this time was actually from my ISP. 
I live in a building that was used as a test of FTTH back in the 2000s. They used Ethernet fiber, So I have a little router at home. Now finally newer GPON fiber is rolled out, so a techician will come here to change the router and thest the switchover.

Anyway what puzzles me is that robocalls ans similar are made if everyone dismiss them. They have started to call cellphones an there are well known call centers that are rented to make these calls.


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## Alister (Jun 18, 2018)

the auto message telling you your broadband will be connected is as scam, & is almost certainly unconnected withthe emails, which are also almost certainly a scam.



chaoticcar said:


> We could have a competition to see who could make them stay on line for longest


My current record - 15 Minutes
& that was telling the wally that I knew he was a scam artist & i was deliberately wasting his time to prevent hem scaming someome else & run up his phone bill.
even told him i was leaving the phone in another room but kept checking ever 5 min or so "are you still there, your an even bigger idiot that I though then"

simple rules for self protection even if it apears to be coming form a company/bank you have dealings with.

1) NEVER discuss anything with someone who calls you - take a name & tell them you will call back
2) DO NOT take a number from the caller look it up in your records.
3) Never read back a security code sent to your phone by the caller to "prove it is them", if this happens contact your bank immediately as it means they have already compromised your internet banking & are trying to set up a transfer. if you give thrm the code your bank will probably refuse to refund your loss because you gave them access.
4) call from a different phone if possible, if not call someone else first to make sure the line has been cleared (it is not difficult for a scammer to keep a line open with a fake dial-tone.


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## Martin9 (Jun 18, 2018)

Pine Marten said:


> A day or so ago I had a dodgy looking email purporting to be from a friend, so I told him about it, and he said it could be that either his account or mine may have been hacked. He changed his password and I've just changed mine too.
> 
> However, a few minutes ago (before changing it) I had a strange recorded phone call saying they were terminating my internet access within 48 hours as my account had been compromised in several countries, and to press 1 to hear what to do next. I didn't press 1, I put the phone down assuming it was a scam.
> 
> Is it sufficient to just change my password? I am very non-techy and get easily confused...


I get these calls without any strange emails, I think the 2 things unrelated ..and never press the number they ask, will link to to a premium number, which will cost megabucks


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## Ralph-YK (Jun 18, 2018)

I don't know if changing your password is enough.  Keep an eye on the account activity.  Check where your account has been accessed from.  Remember that this can be wrong though. Using the same connection, Facebook thinks I'm in a different city to Google, both of which is wrong.
Sometimes Google thinks I'm in London, even though I've not been south of Sheffield in over 20 years.


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## Ralph-YK (Jun 18, 2018)

There used to be a cool video on YouTube. A consumer sat looking at a fruit bowl, telling the 'tech' guy on the phone all he can see is an Apple.


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