THURSDAY 27th / SEPTEMBER 2018.
NEWS UPDATE:
THE BLOG WILL BE BACK ON MONDAY 1st/ OCTOBER 2018.
Last Friday lunchtime just as the banking system
was closing for the weekend my computer system came under a virus attack, we
then had a landline phone call saying it was ‘Microsoft Security ‘ – could they
help? Stupidly I fell for it and was subsequently hacked & scammed ! They
took over the computer, froze the screen & mouse and then proceeded to hack
into our ‘PayPal’ account- changing the password & later into our online Banking
Account, this went on for nearly five hours, before giving me back the system
with a starter password, controlled by them!
On Saturday morning it carried on again,
before they disappeared, I then tried over the weekend to contact ‘Help/Hotlines’
to report the attack, with no luck, we also had more phone calls(2) over the
weekend offering more support from the same ‘ Company’!
Over the weekend we also seeked the advice
of our dear friend Brian, over in England, as he works in online Fraud/Security,
for a major online Gaming company, as well as speaking to Tim & Thea up in
Mojacar!
So on Monday morning I was up very early
and shot down to Sabinillas to our Bank, to wait for it to open at 8-30 am, the
Assistant Manager, Roberto, who looks after our account, was on holiday, the
four staff on duty including the new Manager didn’t speak a word of English, as
the Bank advertises, I then threw a ‘ Wobbler’ – a Spanish lady at the cash
desk, responded and gave them a name of a Lady Lawyer, Natalia, her boss, who would translate on the phone, she then
sorted out the necessary arrangements for us, they cancelled our two Debit
Cards, issued a new Password to the online Banking, etc, after deciding not to
close the account for a new one, due to the complex standing orders/ incoming
payments etc. Our Bank Account, at that moment had not been hacked, and showed
the same balance as from Friday morning!
I then arranged to meet Natalia, at her
suggestion, at the main Guardia Civil’ Headquarters in Sabinillas to make a ‘Denunciar’
- where she gave them all the necessary details, documents, etc, to report the
problem.
Next on Tuesday morning we went across to Estepona
to see Ben, at ‘ PC Macs.es’ as he set up the new computer system three years
ago, for his advice/help, I then took the computer ‘Stack’ back across to him,
for him to clear all the virus’s , check all the systems, fix any problems and
give it a good service, at the same time changing all the Passwords as needed, I
collected it yesterday lunchtime and then installed later in the early evening,
when I then discovered that our Bank Account had been hacked by a ‘PayPay’ transfer
transaction first thing on Monday morning before we had the chance to stop the
Debit Cards, taking a large sum of money!!
I immediately ‘E-Mailed’ ‘PayPal ‘ and put
in a ‘hacked’ report, about unauthorized activity on the account, with all the
details, they responded later in the evening, saying that they were denying our
claim, as they had determined that there was no unauthorized use!
To say that we were not happy was an understatement
to say the least!!
So first thing this morning I was back down
at our Bank in Sabinillas as it opened and with Natalia’s help, on the phone
again, I signed all the statements, documents, copies etc and they E-Mailed them
to the Banks ‘Fraud’ Department in Madrid, watch this space.
The computer system is now up back and
running, with the help of Ben on the phone and Lee last night when the folks picked
up ‘Reina’ and so over the next few days I will be checking out all the
passwords etc, before re-opening the Blog on Monday.
....…
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