A HELENSBURGH woman has warned residents to beware of a possible scam after she was left “panicked” by a security warning on her personal device – followed by a suspected scam call that appeared to come from an 01436 number.
The 75-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, lives in retirement flats in the town, and received messages on her iPad in January claiming that internet security levels on her device were "weak".
That message was followed by a call appearing to come from the flats' manager – a number the woman said she had stored on her iPad.
But the manager said she had made no such call.
The woman said she had been told by her broadband provider that the security warnings were "nothing to worry about".
READ MORE: Three Helensburgh residents have fallen victim to text or WhatsApp scams, say police
But she continued to pursue the issue – and was eventually told that up to 10 people were sharing her internet connection.
The woman is urging anyone who experiences similar issues to take action.
She told the Advertiser: “My advice is to get it checked; it might be okay, but mine wasn’t.
“Persist and persist until you get it checked, because I was ignored for about three weeks and I was on the phone for about an hour at a time.”
After solving the problem with her internet connection, the woman experienced further issues with phone calls which appeared to be coming from one of her contacts.
A friend of the woman involved reported that she had missed a call from a number she did not have saved.
Having previously been contacted from the number, she recognised it as that of the house manager of the retirement flats.
When she phoned back, the house manager confirmed she did not make the call in question.
The number concerned was stored in the woman's iPad which had been showing weak security warnings, causing the victim to believe the two incidents may be connected.
The woman added: “It may just be that it was a random number, and it just so happens that I’ve been having all these security risks and it’s not related.
“Because my friend didn’t answer it, I don’t know what they would have said – but it was very strange.
“It might just be chance that they’ve picked that number, but that number was in my iPad and these people were sharing it.
“I wondered how many people here know that can happen and how many people would see that it’s a Helensburgh number and pick it up?”
Trading Standards Scotland recommends reporting suspected scams to Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000.
Scam emails can also be reported to the National Cyber Security Service through its Suspicious Email Reporting Service.
More information can be found at ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams.
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