from time to time i do, look you see, use this blog - for it is mine to do with as i so please - to pass comment on certain news events and stories that catch my attention. there have been, on the whole, two major stories in the last week. whilst neither are the main focus of what i write today, i shall nonetheless reference them in passing.
first, of course, the big one. Bragelina, or rather the dissolution thereof. it's not a subject that i was aware of caring about or being of relevance to me, but by virtue of every major news outlet making it their most prominent headline story i felt obliged to consider writing something in passing.
this i did, but alas i was somewhat trumped. nothing i could say on the subject would surpass the poignant gesture Adele made by dedicating what i believe was the entirety of a New York concert to the current Bragelina crisis. as nothing short of another Elton John rewrite to commemorate the event would match that, let me remain silent.
on we go, then, to the murky world of confidence tricksters of the internet.
this pop up window was a new one on me, and yet it's a variant on a well known scam. for the benefit of those unaware of what all this is, i thought i'd highlight it and shed some light.
for a number of years now con artists have taken to phoning people. they assure them that they are "calling from Windows" and are altering them to a problem that must be fixed. in order to do this, you must - as they help you on the phone - install some software that will make everything OK.
what this software does, as someone tested, is scan through all your folders looking for any sort of details that might be of value - passwords, banking details, card numbers, etc. these files are then copied over to the computer of Mr Windows on the phone, and are either sold or used.
evidently the scammers have run out of funding for phone calls, and so now plague the internet with such pop up windows in the hope of catching people. what better way to execute a con, after all, than to get the victim to phone you and ask to be scammed?
the other major news story of the week, the one that doesn't feature some sort of celebrity break up? the new fiver, or if you like the Five Pound Note in Coins of Money off of the Bank of England.
i thought something was most peculiar when a rather hefty queue for 8:20 on a Thursday was formed by a randomly selected ATM. word had got out that it had been stocked, or if you like replenished, with the new fiver, and so people were stood withdrawing £5 at a time to get them.
and, how are they? splendid, i suppose. having encountered plastic paper before it's not that much of a novelty to me, but i do appreciate the fact that it is for many. so long as i may get five pounds in goods in exchange for one of them, happy days.
some rather ingenious, would be marketing or other such PR nonsense type has managed to "trend" the idea of everyone donating the first new fiver they get to charity. nice try. the two i got, as in the ones you see here, are in the pocket money of the boys. charity begins at home, etc.
back, so to speak, to scams, then. on another trip around the internet i encountered a similar but different variant of this fake pop up, advising you to get in touch at once so that you may have your Windows problem fixed.
i'd like to give you some assurance. Microsoft, incumbent owners of Windows, do not give one single iota of f*** about you. they do not know who you, the user of a Windows system, is, and they could not care less. they do not, then, have a special division of people who monitor how your Windows system is operating and they most decidedly do not contact you on the off chance that something is wrong.
should you have seen a message like this or got a call and been concerned, don't feel bad, for they are very convincing sounding to those who would know no different.
how is it that blatant scams like this are "allowed" on the internet? there really isn't much policing of the internet, if any. normally criminals "hack" the servers on which websites are hosted, using them to spread these pop up windows and similar adverts on sites.
most splendid day is the day today that you read this and it's been of some use. and, may i say, bravo to NME for making the Adele dedication thing their toppermost headline news for two straight days. one assumes that when Mr Kim Kardashian makes his observation on the tragedy it shall be headline news for a month or so.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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