Welcome to longdon.org, serving the village parish of Longdon, Upper Longdon, Longdon Green and the wider multiverse

From time to time we're asked to help out fellow Longdoners with their computer problems. (*If you a fellow Longdoner in need of help with a troublesome computer, ask Eva or Barry in the post office who they and many others would recommend for unsurpassed trustworthy local PC support). As a result, one of our assignments was to assist a local villager who'd been the unfortunate victim of an elaborate cold call computer service scam.

The scam started when an elderly local resident received a phone call from someone proclaiming to be associated with Microsoft or 'The Windows Support Team'. Initially he told them he was busy, but then they kept calling. Eventually, after relentless phone calls and affirming their impressive sounding credentials they finally convinced the gentleman that his PC had problems which they were aware of and needed to fix.

Unfortunately none of these assertions were remotely true. They were nothing to do with Microsoft (or any reputable organisation), they had no prior knowledge of this gentleman's computer, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it (prior to THEIR involvement)!

Once gaining the gentleman's cooperation through their convincing but dishonest (and no-doubt well practiced) spiel, they were able to remotely access (take over) his computer for several hours whilst they provided their superfluous and sham services. The upshot of this was:

1. They successfully demanded and obtained a substantial amount of money for their sham services via a service named "Alert Pay".

2. They left the gentleman's previously working computer in a terrible state.

3. There were serious concerns as to what sensitive information these unscrupulous people may have acquired during the process (with possible criminal intent).

So please be warned. If you receive an unexpected phone call from ANYONE suggesting that your computer has problems or needs an upgrade, simply hang up. Don't give them ANY information and don't do ANYTHING they ask! (Though before hanging up, you may wish to offer them some colourful advice).

A positive outcome: Fortunately we were ultimately able to restore the gentleman's computer back to it's original working condition (as it was before the scam). With our help he was also able to successfully claim his money back via his card company, as ultimately they acknowledged that he had been scammed by these terrible people.

Just in case it helps anyone Google their way to this page, some of the names bandied about during this terrible confidence scam were "Windows Support Team", "Support Hub" and "Alert Pay".

For more info here’s an external link with further references to this disgraceful scam and it's many variations.

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Fake 'Charity' Doorstep Appeals & Collections

Clatter... Hey it's another charity appeal flyer. Or is it? (Cue evil music!)

We see a lot of supposed charity appeal flyers / leaflets / collection bags through our letter box here in Longdon, requesting donations of clothing, electrical goods, makeup, CD's or perfumes etc. At first glance these often look like honest collections by deserving charities. Sadly though, that's just not always the case.

Instead many of these appeals originate from unscrupulous private companies or dubious individuals intent on making money through the use of deceptive branding and wording, all carefully designed to give the false impression that they are worthy and official 'charity collections'.

Real charities lose out: Sadly these kind of misleading operations represent a widely growing form of deception estimated to be costing genuine charities over 2 million pounds in lost revenue each year (figure from The Association of Charity Shops).

Please don't be fooled; If you receive a charity collection flyer or bag, look for some of the tell-tail signs:

Some have fairly obvious elements of poor spulling, typo's and poor Engrish, but not all...
Some of these collections refer to providing work for poor individuals and families in Eastern European or third world countries.
Some only have mobile phone numbers, or display dubious foreign website / email addresses.
Most importantly, look for a registered charity number. If there is only a registered COMPANY number then it's NOT a charity collection. If you DO see a CHARITY registration number then click below to check it's authenticity:

[ Registered Charity Number Verification ]

*Using the link above you can also decide for yourself just how 'worthy' you may feel any particular charity really is by checking their public accounts. For example, one appeal that landed on our doorstep was for a so called children's charity. They had a valid charity number, however, through looking up their account summaries it was clear to see that despite receiving over £100,000 in donations for the year, they had only actually paid out the grand sum of around £2000 to total of two "needy children". Instead the majority of funds had gone to the far more needy directors... Perhaps they were taking the phrase "charity begins at home" a little too literally?

*It's also worth noting that even if the appeal does seem to be linked with a "genuine charity", it still may be a fake collection.

*Here's what Midlands Air Ambulance have to say about bogus collections claiming to be associated with them.

So in summary, if you really want to be sure that your generosity is reaching those who deserve it, just pop your unwanted items down to a local legitimate charity shop. They will be grateful.

You can find more useful info about this issue on the Charity Commission's website by cliking here and also here.

You can also report a fraud directly to the National Fraud Office.

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The infamous 'Belize Parcel Delivery Scam' ?

We've recently (Oct 2011) seen unconfirmed 3rd party reports of a postal scam apparently originating from Balize. The story goes that a card is posted through your door claiming to be from a parcel delivery service, stating that they were unable to deliver a parcel. Of course there is no parcel and they provide an enquiry number to call, which turns out to be an extortionate premium rate phone number...

However, as with many so many forwarded scam stories, this actually appears to be a hoax / urban myth. There was a scam of this nature back in 2005, but there is no evidence to suggest that it has reemerged.

So unless you know different, we're going to go out on a limb and class this one as a false report.

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