TOWN OF NIAGARA —
Beverley Porter was taking a nap one day last week when her phone rang.
The scammer at the other end of the line had gotten lucky. After most likely making random calls to numbers in the 716 area code, he was able to catch the Town of Niagara woman when she was groggy, and slightly medicated from a minor surgical procedure earlier in the day.
He told her he was a technician from Microsoft and asked her if she could turn on her computer. Because she complied, he was able to infiltrate her system and operate it from his location.
Who knows what information he was able to obtain from the computer before her husband, hearing the conversation, called their daughter who told him her mother should hang up immediately.
The man had gone “phishing,” and Porter had been hooked. The term “phishing” is said by some online sources to originate in the 1990s when scammers would fish for information from Internet users.
People who have never been caught up in the hooks of a “phishing” scammer, might wonder why the woman didn’t just hang up.
But, like every fast talking fraud since the beginning of time, the voice was friendly and convincing.
“I had just had some outpatient surgery and laid down to rest,” explained Porter. “I thought it was someone calling to ask me how I was feeling.”
When the man with a foreign accent identified himself as a technician from Microsoft, she believed him because she saw the Seattle phone number on her caller ID and knew Microsoft was in Seattle.
After they talked for a few minutes, he told her he was going to take control of her computer remotely to deal with the problem and she let him, despite growing feelings of discomfort.
“I told him I wanted to hang up and call my daughter,” she said, “and he kept saying, ‘no, no, no, your daughter will tell you it’s OK.”
"I ended up letting him control my computer with his mouse. Stupid that I was,” she said.
Her husband, hearing the conversation, came into the room with a cell phone and called their daughter. The daughter advised her mom to hang up immediately.
As Porter warned the man she was hanging up, the last words she heard from him were “no, wait, wait ... “
Representatives from HSBC where Porter does her banking, and Time Warner, which supplies her with Internet service, both said that their websites have details to avoid such scams.
A spokesperson from HSBC said that the bank has a zero dollar liability online guarantee to protect customers from unauthorized online charges.
A Time Warner spokesperson noted there is a free security download to subscribers on their RoadRunner homepage. Both representatives encouraged customers to be vigilant against people trying to obtain personal information. In addition, Microsoft has information about avoiding such incidents on their website, www.microsoft.com.
A spokesperson from the New York State attorney general’s office said the office is not currently investigating any similar complaints but encouraged residents to use the AG’s office as a resource where they can also consider filing a formal complaint.
As for Beverly Porter, she has been logging into her online checking account twice a day to watch for any unauthorized activity, even though an HSBC staffer helped her change her password.
The lesson has been learned and she wanted to share her story to help others avoid the “phishers.”
“I just feel so stupid,” she admitted, adding that beyond embarrassment “It was scary.”
Crime
Related Photos
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Beverley Porter of the Town of Niagara received a call from someone saying they were from Microsoft Computer asking her to give them access to her computer. It appears the call was a “phishing” scam. Photo by James Neiss
Niagara woman is fooled by ‘phisher’
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