A resident, Jan Haring, wants to warn the public to not fall prey to a scam whereby criminals fish for your alarm activation password.
Two Saturdays ago, on 28 April, he received a call from a person claiming to be from his security company wanting to know what his password was. Haring said he found this strange because his alarm wasn’t activated and when his security company communicated with him it was always on his mobile phone and never his land line. According to Haring, the person was rude and insisted that he disclose the password. Although suspicious, he reluctantly gave the person his password.
But the next day he acted on his suspicion and sent the security company an email wanting to know whether it was indeed them that called him. After checking, they told him no such call was made to him. He subsequently changed his password.
Also Read: Don’t fall victim to this scam
A manager of a well-known security company said criminals see what security sign is on a house’s wall and then pretend to be from that company. If they do get hold of your password, it makes it easier to break in while you are home. They can then hold you at gunpoint or tie you up and when your security company calls to find out if your alarm has been accidentally activated the criminals can give the security company your password. This will ensure that they can go about their business without having to worry about a reaction unit being sent to the house.
He also said that clients must make sure they have a counter password which the company has to give when they call, in order for you to be sure that it is indeed someone from your security company.
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