A Maitland retiree who fell victim to a phone scam is now warning others in the community to be on high alert.
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The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, answered a phone call in February from a man who claimed to be from Telstra.
“He told me not to open my computer because I have a bad virus,” she said.
“He told me if you open it, your computer will crash but not to worry because they were doing everything to fix it.”
The retiree was alarmed by the possibility of a virus but was also concerned it might be a scam.
“I always hang up when people ring through like this,” she said.
“I was tired and vulnerable and I thought they were genuinely fixing my phone.”
The man then told her she would receive emails from Telstra’s bank the Western Union which she did.
He then said they could not fix the virus and would need to charge her for further work to get her computer working safely again.
“I gave them two false accounts but they yelled at me,” she said.
“By this time I had been on the phone for four hours so I gave them my card number but changed the last digit and got off the phone exhausted.”
The retiree went to bed but woke up at 4am because she knew it was a scam.
She cancelled her Telstra phone and contacted her bank.
A Western Union account had attempted to take more than $1000 from her account but the bank’s fraud protection service stopped the charges.
One week later the retiree got a different phone call from a woman who claimed to be returning her call.
Within minutes the Maitland woman knew it was a scam and raised the alarm.
The scammer hung up the phone and the line was cut off.
“I don’t know how they did it, but they disconnected my phone line,” she said.
It took several calls to Telstra and a call to the company’s fraud department to sort out the problem.
People are reminded to be on alert for scam phone calls and to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000 if they feel they have been the target of one.
Never pass on details, always ask for the caller’s name, employee number and a phone number to confirm their identity.