It was around midday when the call came through on Catherine* and her husband Peter’s* landline at their Sydney home earlier this month.
Catherine answered the phone and was greeted by a man who told her he was from the NBN (National Broadband Network).
It was the beginning of a seven-hour ordeal for the elderly couple – both aged in their 70s – which left them $5000 poorer and questioning who they can trust.
“It’s very embarrassing, particularly when you normally pick these things and this was such a bizarre kind of experience,” Peter told 9news.com.au.
The man on the phone told Catherine there were NBN engineers in the area and a virus had been detected on both their home laptop and Catherine’s mobile phone.
“He said there was an engineer on his way, he was just up the road. He has been held up, but would be there soon,” Peter said.
“He talked quite a bit about the NBN office in Mount Street, North Sydney and how they worked out of there.
“There was that sort of chat, it seemed to make it more convincing.”
Peter was out at the time the first call came through.
The man convinced Catherine to download a free remote access software called TeamViewer onto the laptop.
After several calls over a few hours the man eventually hung up, Peter said.
Then, Catherine began to feel uneasy about the software and deleted it, he said.
“She got rid of it but the same…
