A new vocation
Do I have a new vocation as an unofficial ombudsman? The jury is still out in this regard.
I had an experience yesterday that I would like to share however, because it is possible that there are new dynamics emerging in the field of online crime at present.
I received a text message from my mobile phone service provider, notifying me about my most recent bill. This happens around the same time every month.
Minutes later, another text message came in, stating that the service provider was unable to process my latest bill. “In order to avoid fees, please update your payment information” was the instruction, with a link that included the service provider’s website address.
Due to the fact that it is almost impossible to speak to an operator at present, I went ahead and filled in the details, but I felt something was amiss, so I decided to find a way to engage with an operator. I had to wait for over 30 minutes, but eventually I spoke to someone. It turned out that the message was a scam. My next move was to get my bank card cancelled, which required another 30 minutes of waiting to speak to someone at the bank.
Should the telecommunications industry be treated as non essential during this lock down season?
