Fun_People Archive
29 Jan
The Latest Scam?

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 97 15:24:21 -0800
To: Fun_People
Subject: The Latest Scam?

Forwarded-by: "Mary-Anne G. Wolf" <mgw@world.std.com>
Further forwards have been stolen----------------------------------------

There is a big scam going on where a person calls and says that they are
doing a computer survey from a company.  The company name that they give is
usually a big well-known software company, and they usually say that they
are doing the survey because they want to give out free software. They want
to know what would be a good time for someone to come from their company
and install the software on your PC.  They also ask questions about income,
etc.

During their questioning, they (unknowingly to you) find out what time
you're usually home, what kind of computer equipment you have and all sorts
of other valuable information.  At a company where a friend of mine works,
a co-worker of his received one of these calls, and he was robbed the very
next day (of course, when he was not home).  I received a similar call
yesterday afternoon.  Fortunately, I knew about this ahead of time, and we
didn't provide them with any information.

I want to make you all aware of the situation and the potential danger
Involved in giving out any information like this over the phone.  The people
sound very genuine, and very few people are going to question receiving free
software.  I would advise you, however, to tell the people that if they have
your phone number, they should have your address (we think they're getting
it off the internet somehow), and they can mail you any free software they
might be offering.  If you have a home computer set-up, you should be
familiar with installing  your own software.  You may even want to tell them
you don't have a home computer.  Whatever you're comfortable with.  Please
don't give out any information that you may regret later.  Pass this
information along to friends and family members, as well.  The fewer people
they are able to scam, the better.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
I got a paper questionnaire yesterday in the snail-mail.
It asked what kind of computer I had, among other things.
I don't trust it.

Mary-Anne

© 1997 Peter Langston