What a week this has been so far. I’ve had calls from HMRC advising me that I’m about to be arrested for tax fraud, the fraud department of my bank called to say there had been illegal activity in my account, BT has threatened to shut down my internet connection due to ‘suspicious activity’ and now there’s a problem with my Microsoft windows. How unlucky have I been? Happily, I was able to resolve the issues very quickly by giving all the companies my bank details and passwords so hopefully things will run smoothly from now on. Phew!
Obviously, I did no such thing because although I am probably not the sharpest tool in the box, I know a scam when I see and hear one. The giveaway signs of a scam are when I am threatened with my BT account being shut down when I don’t have one and my Microsoft WIndows problems because I don’t use Microsoft either. And let’s not even go down the road of my ‘tax fraud’ or a call from my bank when it doesn’t even say which one it is. I’m not fooled by any of these calls, but presumably some people must be otherwise they wouldn’t keep trying.
My social networks often show me warnings of the latest scam that’s doing the rounds. There are loads of them. One I saw the other day was allegedly call from the NHS track and trace system saying they needed a COVID-19 test and they had to send a shed load of money to get one. Instantly, I knew this was a scam because NHS track and trace could not find its collective arse in a paper bag, never mind contact people who may have been in contact with other people who have been tested positive. The whole suggestion is absurd. However, on balance, I like the idea of shared warnings about scams because some people will believe anything.
Take the confected row about the ‘banning’ of the words of Rule Britannia at the Proms. It was absolutely a non story, put out there in all probability by Boris Johnson’s organ grinder Dominic Cummings to distract from other stories and at the same time have a dig at the BBC. And sure enough, people lost their shit, accusing the BBC of being ‘woke’, of caving in to ‘political correctness’ (presumably gone mad?) and then threatening to never again pay their TV licences. A non story, dear reader, in the sense that it was made up. If people can believe that nonsense, they can believe anything.
Admittedly, we do live in a world where we have to navigate our way through today’s Sturm and Drang of information to work out for ourselves to work out what’s true and what isn’t. It’s not easy when there are Very Important People out there whose jobs seem to involving lying to us and getting us to believe things that aren’t true. This is how Dominic Cummings worked his way up to be the most powerful person in the land. But if we try hard enough, we can quickly work out that these calls are all bogus, that there is no such thing as a free lunch (or a free mobile home) and there are a lot of people trying to fuck us over.
My advice to anyone who thinks a telephone call may be a scam is to treat it as if it was one. If the caller is genuine, they’ll get back to you another way. If you see something on social networks, then Google to see whether it’s true or visit the excellent Snopes or Hoax Slayer sites to see for yourself. Because, I repeat, just because something is on the internet it isn’t always true. If someone is ringing you up asking for your details, he or she is probably a wrong ‘un. And you rarely get something for nothing.
If someone as poorly educated as me can work this out, surely, my loyal reader, you can work it out too?
