One of the things that I hadn’t been quite prepared for with working from home was the number of phone calls that I would get from random individuals. It’s actually quite ridiculous the number that feel I need help with my energy supply, PPI reclaim and so on.
However, until today, I hadn’t had one of those fabled calls from abroad telling me that I had an issue with my Windows PC and offering to remotely fix it for me.
Whenever the phone rings and the display says “International” my heart sinks but when this caller said that she was from “Windows Software Support” I was actually quite pleased as I felt I could do a little mischief.
So I decided to try and lead her on a merry old dance as I was taken through a number of steps to help me rid my machine of problems.
Firstly I wanted to establish the name of the company and I started by asking if she worked for Microsoft. “No”, she assured me, “she was from Windows Software Support.” Strangely I wasn’t assured by that in the least.
The the “support” started in earnest by having me locate the “control” button which I quickly did. Next I was to find the “key next to the control button with the Windows flag on it”. Now here I had a problem as I don’t actually run Windows but OSX and made a fatal mistake by saying “but I don’t see a key with a flag on it”. I thought that this would lead us on a merry dance across the keyboard in search of the “Windows flag key” but just elicited the response “ok you find the flag key and then I will call you back!” Click.
To me I cannot see how anyone could fall for such a scam (although I know people who have). The message didn’t seem very plausible at all and was really quite wooly but then I also have 25 years working in the industry and my bullshit sensor is quite well developed. Either way don’t be taken in – if you suspect that you have an issue with your machine find someone local to speak to.