Hamilton Spectator
Your home is your castle.
In the days of old, you would see and likely hear your enemy coming, pull up the drawbridge and man the turrets.
Today, they attack using the telephone or the Internet to try to catch you by surprise.
Don Myers was awakened one morning by the ringing of his phone.
“I received a call at 7:33 a.m. from a “private caller” notifying me that my Microsoft Windows operating system had been corrupted,” Myers told us. “The caller spoke quickly, with a sense of urgency in his voice. I asked he call back.
“He called back two hours later and I asked his name and the name of the company he worked for. He hung up. For some reason, I question the legitimacy of this caller. Have you heard anything of this?”
Well, it’s a good thing Myers was alert.
This scam has been on the go for a couple of years and Microsoft has a warning on its own website.
“Neither Microsoft nor our partners make unsolicited phone calls (also known as cold calls) to charge you for computer security or software fixes,” Microsoft states. “Cybercriminals don’t just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software licence.”
Once they have access to your computer, they can trick you into installing software that can capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords.”
They can also take control of your computer remotely and adjust settings, request credit card information so they can bill you for phoney services, or direct you to fraudulent websites.
Reports on various fraudulent scams can be found on antifraudcentre.ca, the website for the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. (The phone number is 1-888-495-8501 or email info@antifraudcentre.ca.)
Marissa Woods, on the other hand, fell victim to a door-to-door sales agent.
“I signed an agreement to rent a water heater,” she told us. “The firm removed my old water heater, which I’d been renting from a competitor. They promised they would return my old heater.”
Well, guess what?
“Imagine my surprise when I continued to receive statements from my former company, ordering me to pay for my rental with them. I’m paying for the rental of two water heaters although I only have one in my house. I’m dealing with a high-risk pregnancy and this stress is sending me over the edge.”
We’ll investigate this further, but Woods made a crucial error by entrusting one firm with the property of another. At this moment, the old water heater appears to be missing.
We’ve written a great deal about the water heater wars, who’s suing whom and who’s being investigated by the federal Competition Bureau. Recently, the Ontario government introduced legislation that would increase the cooling-off period for door-to-door sales to 20 from 10 days. Firms will be prohibited from installing equipment until the 20-day period is over and consumers can cancel agreements within that time period. More information is available on the Ministry of Consumer Services website.
Brenda Rafter-Tadgell’s parents signed a seven-year agreement with a furnace installer. They’re 85 and 83 years old and don’t know how much longer they’ll be living in their home.
“Within 24 hours of their signing the contract, the old furnace was being removed and the new one installed,” the daughter told us.
No waiting for a cooling-off period here.
“It took weeks for the sales agent to drop off the relevant information. They do not own the unit, even after seven years of payments and must pay a penalty to get out of this deal. I feel like this company has preyed on my elderly parents.”
Sadly, I hear this all too often. Unscrupulous sales agents do take advantage of older homeowners. The Crimes Against Seniors unit of Hamilton Police Services can be contacted at 905-540-5300 or at casu@hamiltonpolice.on.ca.
If you have a consumer problem, call 905-526-4665 or email amacrury@thespec.com . Not all calls and letters can be answered.