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Police scam

I was talking to a friend the other day and he revealed that his elderly parents had been targetted in the so-called police scam.

We’ve had this. If you don’t know, someone rings at random, identifies himself as officer (eg) Jonathan Brown at (eg) Highgate Police Station, and there was some problem with your cards/bank accounts/finances, something, and they need more details and so on.

Of course, your initial reaction is to panic. Don’t.

As we have said before, assume anyone ringing is a scammer until they prove otherwise. A voice on a phone saying they are police is not proof.

Don’t give out any information. A good tactic is to say you need to check something (eg your bank account) and you will ring back and what’s the number. They won’t give you a number, and the police station does not exist.

Ring off. Do check your accounts. Then ring 101 and report it.

Then, have a nice day.

We’ve had several of another call recently. In a thick Indian accent: “Hello, this is Jonathan Brown from The Microsoft, how are you today? I am calling about your compuder”

There are so many things wrong, from the number they are calling from, what they say, how they say it, even the fact that Microsoft would never call you. They don’t even know your name. Just hang up.

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Radio silence

I did something you may think a bit silly the other day. I bought a radio. No, not an Internet radio, not even DAB but a good old-fashioned, sort of, portable radio.

I’ve always loved tuning into things, in the 60s looking for continental stuff and the pirates. The main bands were Medium Wave and Long Wave. FM came a bit later really. Then I got into shortwave.

LW had a few stations, including the BBC, and the sound quality was poor but the signals could be strong. MW was always packed, so much so that stations interfered with each other.

Being in London now makes finding things difficult. LW is pretty dead now that the BBC has gone. But this radio does FM (including stereo on headphones), AM, shortwave and air bands so I can sit and tune in frequencies and pretend it’s 60 years ago.

This is the radio.

While shortwave is gradually vanishing over here, it is still popular in countries like China and so it’s not surprising to see most radios built there. There are some very expensive and fancy ones available, but this is rather basic but suits my needs. It was under £50.

There are plenty of videos out there about this set and it’s versions with different names on, but what is surprising is how small it is and lightweight. It’s smaller than a large box of matches.

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