Joys and woes of the Personal Computer ( PC)

 

This is definitely the age of the computer, I know of just one friend who does not own one, and she celebrated her one hundredth birthday this year.

The PC is as much a part of our daily life as a cup of coffee.  It has more or less replaced the morning newspaper, which is a shame, but the pc (and ODN) gives us all the up to date news we need.  What is more we can search the net without getting newsprint on our fingers!

The problem with the pc is the idiot that uses mine.  I manage to screw up the simplest thing without seeming to touch a single key.  Items I have been working on magically disappear without trace.  It is very annoying is to have a letter that I am writing suddenly send itself to the recipient, in mid sentence.  I am sure that many of my correspondents think I am nuts when they get half a letter.  Too bad, they think, she is starting to lose it.  I sometimes have to agree with them.

The internet and email is a marvelous thing when you have your wits about you but can be a minefield of scams and devious ways to relieve you of your hard earned money.  So many of these so called businesses that want me “to update your information with us” and hint at loss of service if the request is not answered, are a scam.  A couple of days ago I got one from Telus.  It looked genuine, the logo was right and the format looked genuine but why would Telus need me to update my information?  I ignored it and thought I would call customer service to enquire about it.

Of course, I forgot but yesterday I had lunch with a friend who mentioned she had just had upgrade work done by Telus and had received the request for an update of her information. She had assumed that the request was connected to the previous days work, so had completed the questionnaire, including SIN and drivers licence.

I told her that she may have been scammed, which turned out to be correct.

She spent the rest of the day cancelling accounts and running around town talking to all the businesses that she had to notify.  She is now in the no-mans land between credit cards being cancelled and new ones being issued, whilst waiting to see if any fraud has been committed with her identity.

Of course she is really annoyed to have fallen for the scam but, seeing that she had work done the previous day, it seemed logical.  It seems that there is someone ready to jump at any opportunity to make money by fraud, we are automatically a trusting nation and find the idea that people are ready to prey on us repulsive.  However this is not the era of all people working for an honest living.

Of course there has always been people ready to cheat and rob others but in the days of old, when a bandit tried to rob the stagecoach, you knew he was a bandit and he wanted your money.  Nowadays the bandit does not carry a gun, he knocks politely on the door and offers you coffee and a blanket whilst gently picking your pocket, so much more civilized but the result is the same…

…you have been well and truly screwed!

 

Editor’s note – Me thinks she protests to much – Pat knows her cooking and her writing. She is a force to be reckoned with.