I don't usually look at Facebook — let alone click anything on my feed. But on May 15, I fell for a tantalizing headline. I thought it was a reputable news source, but I was wrong.
After I clicked, my computer froze, and a threatening, Microsoft-branded warning popped up on the screen. A robotic woman's voice started talking authoritatively, instructing: "Important security message. Your computer has been locked up. Your IP address was used without your knowledge or consent to visit websites that contain an identity theft virus. To unlock the computer, please call support immediately. Please do not attempt to shut down or restart your computer. Doing so may lead to data loss and identity theft. The computer lock is aimed to stop illegal activity. Please call our support immediately."
Instead of calling "support," I wisely texted Don Eggert, Seven Days' creative director, associate publisher and self-taught IT guy. He responded immediately: "That is a fake alarm. It's trying to trick you into giving up remote access to your computer. Don't click on anything or call anyone. You could get locked out, and they might steal your personal info."
He continued: "Are you able to use the computer at all?"
The answer was no. And I was afraid to touch anything on my MacBook Pro. Until this got fixed, I couldn't work. So, I drove over to Don's house in Winooski. It took him seconds to force-quit my web browser, Google Chrome, and remove the adware app. I felt like an idiot when he noted, "Because you don't even use Microsoft Windows, that's a dead giveaway." Temporarily relieved but with an ongoing feeling of digital insecurity, I got back to the paper.
Don does this kind of intervention for everyone at Seven Days — in addition to his other marketing and design duties. Unfortunately, he's not available to help the other Vermonters who are increasingly falling for scams like this — and, in some cases, losing millions.
In this week's cover story, Derek Brouwer reports that Americans ages 60 and older lost nearly $3.5 billion to cyber cons last year, up from less than $1 billion in 2020. Closer to home, he writes, "More than 150 older Vermonters told the FBI that they'd been scammed last year for a collective $4.8 million. The true tally is almost certainly much higher. Cyber scams often go unreported by victims who feel shame or humiliation. As Vermont continues to grow older, more residents will enter the target zone."
In "Bilked and Bereft," Derek tells the stories of two Vermont victims — both educated, intelligent women in their sixties and seventies — who got sucked into computer pop-ups like mine that wound up costing them everything they had. Derek documents the rackets in excruciating detail, from the red flags to the cognitive dissonance and collateral damage. Both women have been fighting income tax bills levied on the money that was stolen from them.
The mental health toll has been enormous. One of them talks openly of suicide; the other hasn't told her family what happened yet.
That Derek was able to speak with both women on the record makes this cautionary tale truly powerful. These are not anonymous accounts that you can dismiss; they are real people like you and me. There but for Don's tech support go I.
We thank both women for their courage. They shared their sagas to keep others from falling into the same trap. In isolated Vermont, that's the first step to putting an end to this growing, ruinous form of abuse.