- My nightmare spread over eight or nine weeks. In total there were transactions
of probably £85,000-ish. - Claire fell victim to a phone scam using
remote access software. If you don't know what it is you're not alone. It's a type
of software that gives scammers access to your computer. There's a lack of
awareness for how it works and that's something fraudsters are taking
advantage of. - These recordings from two real calls show how criminals follow
similar scripts to the call Claire received, pretending to be from a
technical support team to manipulate their target.
- I was addressed by my own name by somebody who was telling me that they
were with BT, that there had been a problem with service in my area, and
asked me if I would mind checking my broadband download speed. My download
speed was horrifically low. It should have been up at about 25 or 30 and
it was 1.4. - The scammers say there's a problem with your computer and
then do everything they can to convince you there really is. - We're concerned
about the number of security alerts that have flagged up on your account and
he talked me through using some software which showed how many alerts were on my
account. - What shows up may well be completely normal and in fact harmless
to your computer. But the scammers try and twist it, so it seems like your
device is genuinely at risk. - It was a sum of something like 10,691
alerts on my account. I didn't know that that was
perhaps pretty normal, I thought this was exceptional. And then he said to me
look I think you have got a problem. I'm going to transfer you to a colleague of
mine who is in the technical department.
When I was transferred they were very clever because in the background I could
hear office noises. A second person came on the phone and introduced himself and
said I wasn't to worry, he was there to sort out my problems.
- The criminals use remote access software to gain full control of your
computer. Once they're connected to your device they can view and interact with
everything on your screen, and even manipulate what you can see. - Now this was
my big mistake. I had no idea that it actually allowed the third party not
just to see what you were doing on your screen but control your screen. - It's
important to stress that these criminals are operating sophisticated scams and
often go to great lengths to build your confidence in them. - I was a bit
apprehensive and I said this to him and he said 'Oh look don't worry! You can see
at the bottom who we are.' And on my screen it said 'BT secure server'. So I
thought this is all right, and they must need to be able to do this to
sort out the problems. And he said 'I think we ought to check your financial
situation, make sure none of your bank accounts have been compromised'. But he
said to me immediately 'You must never tell us your passwords or any of your
security details. But what I suggest we do, we look at them one at a time,
and we just check that you haven't been compromised and your money is still
there'. So I logged in to the first account and everything was fine so I
logged out again. - Covering Claire's genuine concerns the scammers lulled her
into a false sense of security, and in a further attempt to convince you it's real
they recite personal information like your address. - He said to me there were a lot
of security alerts on each of these bank accounts, but at this stage I hadn't been
compromised. They would clean up and then set up a firewall, and the whole time they
wanted to keep me on the end of the telephone. Lucky for me
I was due to go out to meet a friend and it was only at that point I think they
got greedy and they were trying to overtly move money and for the first
time it came to my attention that they were actually planning to move some
money out of my account. And then I thought I better check the other
accounts. Earlier in the day on my desktop my accounts were looking
perfectly normal. When I checked them downstairs on my laptop, they had
siphoned off money. They had moved money from savings accounts to current
accounts and then transferred from one bank to another and had removed a huge
amount of money in regular tranches and I just felt sick...
My nightmare with this scam spread over eight or nine weeks. During that time, it was
only when a researcher from Which? was prepared to help me,
was there any resolution. I will always be appreciative of the emotional and the
practical support that I received because my nightmare came to an end.
- Remote access software can be used legitimately by IT companies but they
will never contact you out of the blue. If you are unsure whether a call is
legitimate, hang up and call back on a number you trust.