NOTES ON A SMALL CITY

Richard Wyatt: Notes on a small city

Columnist Richard Wyatt has been the victim of an online scam, but can’t get through to his bank, and his stress levels are rising... In better news, he’s found footage of Robin Cousins skating

To successfully navigate social media platforms you have to be aware of two new and potentially alarming words of warning regarding how others –with evil intent –may seek to disrupt and capitalise on your online presence. The words are ‘hacked’ and ‘scammed’. The first used to refer, say, to a badly trimmed hedge where branches were cut with rough or heavy blows. These days it also means someone gaining unauthorised access to your computer. It’s the second of these two dishonest activities that I recently fell victim to.

Just recently, up popped a text message telling me that ‘Simon attempted to deliver your parcel today but no one was at home. To reschedule a new delivery date...’ and then it asked me to visit a website which, when clicked on, opened a very convincing Post Office ‘reschedule your post’ page. It said there would be a charge of under two pounds, but that would not be taken out of my account until after the parcel had been delivered.

I had supplied name, telephone number, address AND paid the small amount by Visa Debit. When my husband heard of this, he immediately told me I had been scammed –the victim of a fraudulent scheme that could open the doors to emptying my bank account.

Up to the point when I rang my bank’s fraud department, no money had been taken out of my account. Getting through to this department was not easy, however, and added to the anxiety I was already feeling by being duped. I had been taken in because I WAS expecting a parcel and the ‘Post Office website’ did look convincing.

When I did get through, I had to listen to a recorded voice asking me to state my concern. ‘Fraud!’ I shouted. The voice then asked me if I had said ‘Fraud’ and I had to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. At this point the first attempt to get through to a real human being failed as the line dropped out. You can imagine my stress levels were rising quicker than a soufflé in a hot oven. Several more attempts were made to shout names and yes/no responses to this mechanical and unemotional recording. At one point I was tempted to replace ‘Fraud’ with ‘sausages’ –a throw-back to Esther Rantzen’s That’s Life programme of the 1970s and Prince the talking dog!

Eventually I let my cool-headed husband navigate the prerecorded hurdles that led him, and then me, to a real person.

Richard Wyatt with Robin Cousins in 1978

When I did get through, I had to listen to a recorded voice asking me to state my concern. ‘Fraud!’ I shouted ❝

My thanks to the bank for the immediate cancellation of my card and for sending out a replacement in a matter of days.

You can put my lack of judgement down to rapidly becoming a doddery old fool, but I think, whatever your age, most would agree that these people who are after your money are becoming more and more sophisticated in how real they make the ‘bait’ they place online. A couple of days after this attempt to hoodwink me came another ‘attack’ from elsewhere, this time flying the flag of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. I was being tempted with a tax refund. Let this columnist gently warn his readers of the dangers that lurk online.

Sailing now into calmer internet waters, I have to say a big thank you to one Facebook group I belong to, made up of fans of the ITV regional station for the West of England and which covers the history of HTV West and its forerunner TWW. During the recent Winter Olympics in China, I happened to catch former champion ice-skater and Bristol boy Robin Cousins fulfilling a different role as commentator.

Two years before Robin struck figure-skating gold at the 1980 Olympic Games, I had made a documentary with him at the Bristol Ice Rink. Our cameraman had rigged up a tiny sledge attached to one of his skating boot blades on which to mount a camera and get a shot of him skating at ice-rink level. This was an amazing shot taken years before the advent of miniature action camera devices. I couldn’t find the documentary anywhere and then noticed that the Friends of HTV West had uploaded an off-air recording by Ed Hearn of a programme celebrating the 30th anniversary of the channel. A ‘special’ fronted by me and featuring the very shot I was looking for. The recording is available on YouTube via bit.ly/38e3ID3 and that IS a genuine web address! n

Richard Wyatt runs the Bath Newseum: bathnewseum.com

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