You can tell Christmas is coming closer because we’ve already had the first blizzards of the season – no, not snow, but scammers.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve been subjected to an avalanche of cold calls about that accident I was in or my phone contract being up for renewal.
I am now wary of anything and everything, mainly because I was very nearly fooled recently into giving details that would have handed one of these low-lives access to my bank accounts.
And a mate –one of the most tech-savvy and security-conscious people I know –had an online account hacked just last month.
There’s the rub. These heartless thieves are so sophisticated you have to keep your guard up at all times and not only for yourself.
You not only have to instil scam awareness in your kids, but also in any loved ones or friends who might be vulnerable through age or infirmity.
Remind them that you can’t take anything at face value, and drive home basics about not giving anyone passwords, PINs or financial details.
The best advice is not to answer a call from a number you don’t recognise – sage counsel I have to ignore because I use my own phone for professional reasons, so I do answer unknown callers.
It usually takes 10 seconds to spot the scammer – that quick-fire barely comprehensible gabble about your SIM card needing a payment is a bit of a giveaway.
The best way to treat scammers is to hang up
The correct response is to hang up, but I recently decided to toy with a scammer pitching the old SIM trick. I set myself the challenge of making him hang up on me.
Telling him he wasn’t from 02 made him insist he was and why did I think he wasn’t? That he wasn’t calling from any recognised 02 number simply got me a “let me explain to you who I am”.
Let’s up the ante.
It told him I knew exactly who he was – a low-life lying thief and an odious human being.
He harrumphed back that he was trying to help me and I must listen.
Let’s double down.
“Does your mother know you are stealing from old and vulnerable people? Is she proud of you?”
Loud protestations of how dare I and more attempts to make me believe he was legit.
Let’s go for broke.
“Do you believe in God? What will your God say when you stand before him?”
Click…. Brrrrr. I win.
(BTW, I checked the number he was calling from – a renowned scam line)
But these shoe-scrapings aren’t there to be played with – even though every second on the phone with you is a second less with someone vulnerable.
They are to be despised and dismissed – preferably by a judge sending them down for a long stretch.
So, in the season of the scammer, keep your wits about you and your loved ones safe.
Scott Begbie is a journalist and editor, as well as PR and comms manager for Aberdeen Inspired.
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