I had an experience with a new kind of telephone scam this week and I thought it timely to share it with you. A person called claiming to be from NBN Co. and said they could see my internet speed was slow, so they were coming over to install a new fibre optic cable. Fortunately, I knew it was a scam from the beginning because I have fixed wireless NBN and there is no fibre optic hub within cooee of my place.
First, he wanted me to test my internet speed using the Speed Test App on a computer (not mobile) to establish my poor connection speed compared to a blistering 80mbs which he was promising. Once he had "proven" that I was missing out on blistering speeds, he methodically went through the steps to install a program called Teamviewer on my computer. He said I needed that program so he could give me the special code to help the technician fix my NBN speeds. Needless to say, at this point the scam was confirmed and the phone call terminated.
Teamviewer for those who don't know, will allow someone to remotely access your computer, but you must allow it by installing the software and putting in the access codes. Please, do not let people you do not know access to your computer by remote control!
If you have any concerns about random people ringing you up asking you to do strange things on your computer or demanding money for tax debts, please have chat with our E-Crime guru Greg Lee.
These types of scams are becoming more frequent as scammers take advantage of new technology, products and services to convince the community to provide their personal information.
The public shouldn’t allow people to remotely access their computer, especially if the person is unknown or can’t be identified and particularly if they ask to download TeamViewer, or any other remote access tool.