This week I've has calls from two people telling me they've had a call from Microsoft. Let's get one thing abundantly clear -Microsoft DO NOT call people to tell them they have an issue with their computer or Windows. Here is the proof.

If Microsoft are aware of a Windows problem with their operating systems they release a fix for the next monthly update unless it's important then they release it immediately. They do not phone you up to tell you!

You often get the phone call shortly after you apparently report an error to Microsoft but what you have actually done is supplied the fraudsters with permission to access your computer remotely. The issue here, of course, is that now they have control of your computer, they can download all your temporary internet files in the hope that there will be pages containing your passwords and credit card details.

They will also have the ability to steal any passwords you have asked your internet browser to store for you, so don't! They will also be scanning your computer for any documents they can use for identity theft as well.

It has been going on since at least 2008 from call centres in India and the are getting more sophisticated. Here is an article published in the Guardian newspaper in 2010.

I've received quite a few of these this week, at first I thought it may have been real but on closer investigation I notice that the link I'm asked to click on to review the complaint is nothing to do with BBB but different malicious websites designed to infect your computer with some nasties.

Not only that, the BBB is based in the US and I don't have customers there so that was another give-away.

You have been warned, don't fall for this scam!

This posting isn't exactly related to my business but it might help someone out there so I'll try to keep it short.
 
I had a mate, for this story we'll call him Dave. Dave had been a mate of mine, or so I thought, for many years but little did I realise there was a much darker side to him.

Knowing I was going to sell my house he came up with a wheeze of an idea. He would get it valued, totally refurbish it from top to bottom, inside out and we would then split the profit between us. Sounds great so we agree terms and he creates the contract. There were a couple of, what appeared to be, very minor issues with the contract but he's a mate after all and we did agree everything and the contract more or less represents what we agreed.

Work completed, house valued and price duly manipulated by Dave on the basis you can always lower the price but you can't increase it. This is one of the main keys of the scam!

The house is advertised as agreed and suddenly, BANG! House prices slump as we hit the global recession. Dave now decides this is the time to start pressuring me for 'his' money out of my house but not at the verbally agreed rates, oh no!! This is why the CONtract seemed a little odd, he worded in such a way that he could rip me off at any time he so desired, and rip me off he did, BIG TIME.

As it transpires, not only was I grossly overcharged for the work Dave carried out but the quality of his workmanship is described as 'incompetent' by the builders who are now having to remedy his bodges. It seems that not only was Dave incompetent in his workmanship, he also used the wrong or insufficient materials all over the place.

As I see it, Dave knew what he was doing, he deliberately and intentionally bodged the job because it wasn't on his own property, he deliberately worded the contract to rip me off and he deliberately and knowingly made fraudulent expenses claims. Following this experience, I believe Dave would rip off his own family if he thought he could make money out of it - just to prove a point.

Due to the quality of Daves work, we now have tradesmen in remedying all his bodgery - and at cheaper rates than his! 

Moral of this story is, if you're going to 'get into bed' with anybody, including friends, on a money making scheme, make sure there's a contract in place, it represents exactly what you have agreed and the contract is prepared by a solicitor. If any form of construction work is involved, make sure it's carried out by tradesmen and not 'honest John' down the road. If they don't agree, forget the whole idea, it's not worth it!