Hi all

Today i was going to tell you about our node project but something happened today that i felt i had to write about.

From the minute we got into crypto we have constanty strived to learn, firstly it was learning to convert fiat to crypto and we have not stopped trying to educate ourselves since then. More about that later though.

We have been big on learning about scams after the metamask warning and we have always double checked what we are clicking on before we press the button. We take measures regarding safety very seriously, but more so since we got involved in crypto. We got ouselves a ledger right at the beginning of our adventure.

Today i had a video call with my parents, my mum has had a laptop for 15 years now, she has learned a lot and has not had to call for IT help much of late, we feel quite proud of how well she has done. 5 minutes into todays chat though my face dropped with a look of horror. Mum said she clicked on a link.....she was telling us how all these pop ups appeared, the alerts that something was wrong and windows defender saying there was a problem.

I felt sick....we had literally watched a video on these scams less than 3 nights ago. I said ok hang up the video call and call the bank but my mum said oh i think its all good, the website looked good, i have documentation that looks real. So i am trying to think ok what is the worst case senario here whilst my mum is telling me that they spent 4 hours 'working' on her laptop after she gave them access with team viewer. We were told about how much the data was moving whilst they were 'fixing' the laptop.

Whilst this call was going on my partner David was trying to find out about about the company my mum had used, there was no good news there so i asked her to send me some of the paperwork she had been sent, just to check if there was a small chance it was legitimate. I don't think she realised how bad this could be as for the next hour i was anxiously waiting for an email. We get the email, the website looks good at first appearance but none of the links worked, the writing did not look right, there were a few more little things but we both new it was a scam. Again i called my mum back and this time i said have you called the bank? yes my mum had and not only was there a charge pending for £400. for the work done but also recurring charges for £1000s. 

Luckily we caught it in time and the card has been cancelled, her laptop is going to a trusted place to make sure there are no more breaches or dodgy stuff on it. This was a lucky save for my mum and i have to be gratefull that learning about crypto  and safety has saved my mum a load of money. It is easily done so be safe out there.

Thanks for reading x