Annoying Phone Calls

I'm sitting at home, either writing or attempting to write, or I'm reading or watching television. The telephone rings. As it is, we don't get many telephone calls. I go to answer it. Sometimes there's nobody on the end of the line. I say 'hello' or 'yes' when I answer, but when it's just nothing, or if it is anything, it's just a strange electrical 'burr' noise or a sort of humming sound. What is the point? If it's a cold call, for P.P.I. (payment protection insurance. They will say you could be owed thousands of pounds. But that's another story.) Or they say that your Windows computer is at risk. It needs up-dating or something. Which is crazy as this is a Macintosh. They will speak in an incoherent foreign accent and say they're from the Microsoft something-or-other. Which I know full well is a lie. It's a scam. I do watch television consumer programmes which often mention such scams. They think you'll hand over your bank details and believe every word they say. I'm not that stupid, thanks all the same.

The other week I got a telephone call telling me I could claim thousands of pounds for an injury I received after our car accident. I tell them I haven't had a car accident. They say we put in an insurance claim for the damage that was done to the car when we ran into a pot-hole almost exactly a year ago. I say that was correct. I just don't like this and ask how on earth they got our details. It must have been passed on to another 'body' who are little more than sort of ambulance-chasers. I wasn't injured in the incident with the pot-hole. It set off an alarm in the car which had something to do with the E.S.P. (Electronic Stability Programme) and we didn't get repaired for a long time because it was going to cost £350 for the excess on the insurance. Anyway, they said to me that I could claim quite a hefty amount, well in excess of £1000. As I was a passenger in the car. I told them I didn't receive any sort of injury. Perhaps it was rather a nasty jolt, but I wasn't hurt in any way. Did I need any sort of treatment? Did I take paracetamol or any other medication for my injury? Up to six weeks or more after the accident? I told them, no, I didn't. I wasn't convinced that this was real, I was concerned that the whole thing was a scam, so they said they'd ring back to confirm this. They continued to attempt to get me to virtually lie so I could claim the compensation I was owed. But I wasn't convinced. I had most definitely had not been injured during the incident (I wouldn't call it an 'accident' as no other vehicle was involved. The car was damaged and we eventually got the thing repaired, which was back in November.) I wouldn't lie to get any sort of compensation as I wasn't injured. So I wound up the conversation and ended the call. I am now more than ever convinced that they wanted me to tell a lie and get the money so that someone got a cut of the insurance claim, possibly a solicitor or other legal institution. If that is really the case, it's disgraceful that there are people 'out there' who are quite happy to let people lie for them just so they can line their own pockets. In the end all it is doing is putting the cost of insurance premiums up quite considerably.

On a slightly different subject, the MacBook Air has decided to open. Why on earth it has been playing silly games with me I have no idea. I think it may be something to do with the battery, but I'm not sure. It does seem to get quite hot as it charges. This means that I can get on with transferring my writing to word processing. I have learnt to keep saving what I've written onto the external hard drive which I have. I'm not going to loose all that work because of some sort of technical glitch.

Telephone Scam

I've probably mentioned the 'silent' telephone calls I receive. How many other people have got them? You are expecting an important call, so every time the telephone rings you rush to pick the thing up. I'm talking about landline phones more than mobiles, although I sometimes get these on my mobile, although, to be honest, it doesn't get used very much. It spends most of it's life on the bedside table, as it's set to alarm and to go off to make sure we don't oversleep in the morning. Anyway, to silent calls. You go to pick the thing up, just to get . . . nothing. No voice asks anything, doesn't attempt to sell you anything. Just  . . . silence. I have had one, though, where you get given a number or a rather snooty female voice (obviously recorded) which says something totally inane such as 'sorry, no answer' or something else equally pointless. What is going on here? Why waste people's time and effort on ringing like this? At last have a human at the other end of the line. If it's a cold-calling telemarketing callcentre or whatever you want to call it, all very well (we all get these from time to time and I'd very good at avading their tactics. I'm good at getting them 'off script.')

With the scam (well, it must be.) you get a call and this gentleman with an oriental accent (sorry, not trying to be racist here) asks how is your computer? They generally get my surname pronounced wrong 'Mr Murdotch' which alerts me to something fishy. They may say something like 'you're having some problems with your computer' or 'this is the Windows customer service department' or something else. I say 'there's absolutely nothing wrong with my computer' and sometimes 'how on earth do you know?' also 'but I don't have a Windows computer. Which alerts me to something fishy about all this.

I did watch the B.B.C  television show 'Watchdog' where they were alerting people to this scam. These calls are to get your email address and then send a virus that infects  by hacking into your computer and this means they can get into your files and even find your bank details, so if you read this and you get these types of calls, don't give out any details. You have been warned.

Frankly, I can't believe people fall for these sorts of scam. Who in their right mind would give personal details over the telephone? I've had endless emails which read something like 'you've been left £10 million in a bank account in Brazil or Nigeria. It was left by your great uncle Cuthbert who worked for Shell Oil and died in a terrible plane crash in the Amazon jungle and all you have to do is send us your bank details by return and we'll transfer the cash over into your account.' And why would my uncle Cuthbert leave me all the cash as I've got other brothers who'd also like to have some of this cash? Oh, and at the end of the email it's bound to say 'and don't tell anyone about this as it's a secret and nobody must know.' Be warned. It's just a way of getting into your account and syphoning off your hard-earned money and will probably be used by terrorist organisations or drug cartels or smugglers of arms for some illicit organisation.