Comantra: They’re Baaaaaack

Oh, my word … !

Comantra — or one of its successors that’s kept the name — is still going … !

Just to fill you in, briefly, a few years ago, a friend of mine — Kelly, the singer — got in touch with me to tell me about a rather worrying phone-call she’d had: boiling it down to its simplest re-telling, the caller tried to con Kelly into handing over remote control of her machine, SEEMINGLY intent of infecting it with some form of malicious software.

And then charging Kelly a small fortune to — seemingly — remove it.

Kelly, after asking me, and a few other way more computer literate friends of hers, managed to turn them down, without handing over control of her machine, OR her bank account details.

But, afterwards, let me write up a post about it.

It wasn’t long after that, that the Brentwood Gazette had an article about what sounded like the same people — Comantra — who’d been in touch with a local businessman — Jason Lovell, who, ironically, runs a computer security company — getting a call from them.

Nice to scoop the Gazette … !

But at any rate, that wasn’t THAT long after I’d written about Kelly.

»»·««

What did tickle me, though … ?

Was the fact that they’ve written ANOTHER article, this week: about widow, Kimie Markarian.

Who’d had a call from what sounds a LOT like Comantra.

Seems they’d tried the same thing on her … !

You can imagine my response, can’t you … ?

I fired off an email … !

Here …

Dear Sir,

I’ve GOT to admit, I read your article about the widow targeted by fraudsters, this week, with no real surprise.

After all, this is something that I, as a blogger, have covered: as has the Gazette, itself.

Quite some time ago, as I recall.

So hearing that the same sort of scam is still around?

Isn’t surprising.

What DOES surprise me, however … ?

Is the simple fact that the company that supply operating systems and hardware — and both Apple and Canonical, makers of Ubuntu, are as bad as Microsoft, Dell and HP in this regard — still don’t hand out basic security tips to people who purchase their products.

I’ve been using a Mac for years, which isn’t as prone to virus and malware as a Windows based PC is.

But I’m also aware of basic good practice, for the few that’s out there.

Little things: don’t download stuff from sites I don’t trust. Don’t open an email attachment that you’ve not asked for.

Now, I’ve been online for a while: so this is stuff I’ve learnt over the course of that.

But for someone like Mrs Makarian … ?

Well …

I’m positive someone unfamiliar with using a computer would’ve appreciated having some basic security tips: either in the box, in the local paper, or from the sales staff they bought the computer from.

Let’s hope that gets published … !

But, at ANY rate … ?

At any rate, I’m thinking I have a point …

Microsoft, Apple, and others … ?

Should REALLY be doing a bit more to help those of us who aren’t computer literate be a touch safer.

If nothing else, though … ?

Well …

I’ll leave you with THIS link, courtesy of former Councillor, Karen Chilvers.

And warn you now: the cheeky sod’s have got a Facebook page … !