Age UK Hertfordshire’s Information & Advice Team help couple out of a scam!

*Anne, 87 years old, was very excited when she got her own computer and was able to explore the World Wide Web.

After running into a problem with her printer, she thought what better an idea than to search how she should resolve the issue that on her computer.

When she typed the printer model into google, Anne noticed a pop-up chat box, where she spoke to the ‘worker’ and advised him of her problem. The ‘worker’ advised Anne that her whole computer was corrupt and that it would need to be cleaned, which would take a minimum of two hours to complete.

After chatting for some time, the ‘worker’ also advised Anne that for a two year warranty and insurance pay out, she could receive a better deal to help fix her computer. As Anne was tired from the day and not able to gather her thoughts, she went ahead and bank transferred over a large sum of money.

When speaking to her husband, Jack, he became weary and wanted to cancel the subscription. Jack called back the same number that Anne called the previous day and asked if he could get his money back and cancel all further contact.

The ‘worker’ was not very co-operative and became very rude and swore at Jack when he asked for his money back. He was told it would take 14 days to go back into his account.

Anne contacted Age UK Hertfordshire, where she told our Information & Advice Team about what happened and what they should do now. The team suggested that they contact their bank ASAP to stop and block all payments to the computer company, and to contact Hertfordshire Trading Standards to alert them of this potential scam.

Anne said: “I felt silly after speaking to others, as I was too trusting of the person I was speaking too. I felt swept along with the speed of the conversation that I just ended up agreeing to it all.”

Jack was very grateful for the help from the team, saying: “We are very appreciative that we were able to call Age UK Hertfordshire and that they could provide the relevant advice and support that they did.

*names were changed to protect the client’s identity