Erikka Askeland: A recipe for alarm

I PROBABLY could have worded it a bit better – adding in some breezy chat, an update on my lazy Saturday, perhaps. But it was a last-minute thought before bedtime and it had suddenly occurred to me, I had no idea where my dough-stained recipe for pancakes was.

And I was due to have Babs around in the morning for a cheering, just-lost-her-job-so-what-better-than-pancakes-and-maple-syrup breakfast, so I needed it in, fast.

An e-mail went out to Mum and Sis headlined: Emergency recipe! No wonder Mum was alarmed. But it wasn’t until the next day that I realised quite how disturbing this was to her. I had got a response from Sis that came in over night – dear, trustworthy sister – with exactly the recipe I had in mind. But no word from Mum.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“She worried that it was an e-mail scam,” said Sis later. “It was so strangely worded.”

I pondered this. Although what sort of nefarious designs a shady network of Nigerian e-mail scammers would have for the proper proportion of flour, milk, egg, sugar, baking powder and salt, I couldn’t guess.

But, poor Mum, her misgivings were at least understandable. Not long ago, we both received an e-mail from a dear old friend telling us that she was in Spain and had run into some trouble and needed 4,000 euros immediately. I had looked at the e-mail and had instantly realised that her e-mail had been hacked, which a quick telephone call confirmed. Luckily, most of her friends were concerned but immediately sceptical that a 72-year-old woman with a recent hip operation would somehow have got herself in a tight spot in Spain, particularly as she had made no mention of plans to go abroad at the WI meeting. That, and the poor spelling.

But another friend got caught up in the same scam – one of his friends did send the cash and was then almost immediately asked for more. Doug was understandably mortified. But with any luck he could at least console himself that he had friends who clearly cared for him enough to want to bail him out.

Luckily, I have never fallen for one of these dodgy approaches. But I have had to toughen my resolve against invitations to click on this e-mail card, or some other innocent-sounding appeal.

Having kept the same free Hotmail address since I first signed up sometime in the mid-1990s, I thought I had seen them all. I long ago upped my e-mail security settings so only those with addresses I know could send me messages, with the rest going into the “junk” folder. Occasionally, I fish out a misdirected e-mail, but the sheer amount of dross and potential scams in there just demonstrates how pervasive and pernicious the scamming is.

Just checking now, there are a few warning me that my Halifax account has been suspended (I don’t bank there). There’s another with a “notification of refund” from Paypal (I don’t think so). And then something from the United Bank of Africa telling me my ATM card – worth $11.7m! Oh, boy! – is ready. This one actually is rather sweet in its attempt to get me to pass over my bank details – surely no-one falls for the one about the dodgy African who actually wants to give you millions any more, do they?

Actually, they do. And it tends to be those of my Mum’s age or older who are not wary enough because their instincts aren’t honed by regular use of the technology. And the scammers are clever, adapting their pitches and indeed improving their grammar sufficiently to catch people out. The Spanish scam was even more devious, in that it seemed to come from someone we knew.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There have always been tricksters who have exploited communication technology – scam letters, scam phone calls, scam faxes – and before that it was wherever people gathered that attracted con men and women. But never has it been so global and yet so personal. The trick is to adapt to this brave new world that allows criminal gangs from all over the world into your home through the PC. Until those clever criminals figure out the next level that catches you out.

Related topics: