Tuesday 22 January 2013

Beware scammers about

Hmmm, more snowy weather than expected. It was funny looking at Cardiff weather websites predicting light rain, and watching snow flurries out of the window. The temperature must be just hovering around zero. It's slushy wet walking everywhere, but that's preferable to car hassles.

My sister June sent me an email as I was going out, which immediately set of alarm bells telling me that someone calling themselves an IT expert had called to warn her of a dangerous virus on her computer (which wasn't even switched on at the time). I rang immediately to warn her of a scam, but her phone was occupied for the next three hours, but which time, it was too late. I found out from the scamware database within seconds of enquiry the reputation of the company. She'd been sold software she didn't need for a non-existent problem (she runs up do date anti-virus software at my insistence). If only she'd phoned me instead of emailing. For once I was glad of the early warning of trouble from a message notification on my Blackberry. Figuring out what sort of damage has been done by this kind of fraudulent cold calling is going to take a little time. It worries me.

I went up to College lunchtime for a couple of brief meetings, and then took the bus (thankfully they're running OK) into town to tackle a small technical request to provide voice traffic data for police evidence purposes from our RadioNet database. The system is pretty solid now and we're all learning how to work it. Occasionally, procedures have to be run a couple of times to ensure we get exactly what we need, but practice makes perfect.

Because of the snow, the evening's Chi Gung class wasn't as full as usual, but I was very glad it was still running, having walked to St Mary's Hall in the snow. It was just what I needed at the end of a stressful day.

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