A CO Donegal man got his own back on internet crooks – by beating them at their own game.
Convoy dad Paul Henderson was so fed up with phone calls from people claiming he needed to upgrade his computer, he decided to string them along.
In one con – the latest on an elderly woman in Inishowen this morning – the crooks tell their victims they need to upgrade their computer.
They then ask victims to go online, eventually hoping to get debit or credit card details and ripping them off.
The callers pretend to be from a major computer company, either a manufacturer or a software company like Microsoft.
But Paul Henderson got his own back….by stringing one crook along.
“I’ve had three calls from these people,” he told Donegal Daily.
“Now I just keep them on the phone even if I’m not in front of the computer.
“I pretend that I’m doing as they ask… It really peeves them off if you waste a half hour of their time.
“I come off the phone very happy and also maybe it stopped them picking on someone that didn’t know it was a scam.”
Paul, who works on internet security, says people can keep up to speed with potential crooks.
But there is little anyone can do if they’re caught out on the phone.
“Never give your details to anyone over the phone,” he said.
“You can wind them up though. There’s a certain satisfaction in doing that.”